Web site for finding a home in Minneapolis (Edina: for sale by owner, real estate)

[ecopia]

When I was in Indianapolis, there is a web site MIBOR | Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of REALTORS® to find most available home, are there any similar web site in Minneapolis?

Thanks a lot!

[Slig]

I used the MLS and realtor.com

However, the best way is to get a realtor who can set up a search based on your requirements for a home and the area you want to live in and he/she will generate reports for you. That's how I found my home.

[Minnehahapolitan]

I know nothing about the company; but Edina Realty has a really dandy website.

[ecopia]

Thanks!, These two sites are not inclusive. I am trying to find a house by myself now since I had some home owner experience and I knew what I want. Are you really going to miss a lot without a realtor? Most realtors just drive you around and push you to buy a house.

[Slig]

The challenge is finding a good realtor. Thankfully I found a really good one who specializes in Minneapolis pre-World War II homes. This was important because the homes I was looking at were alot of times over 100 years old so looking at them with somebody who can tell if the foundation/roof/piping had problems was key.

[nick is rulz]

Trulia - Real Estate, Homes For Sale, Sold Properties, Real Estate Maps

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by ecopia

Thanks!, These two sites are not inclusive. I am trying to find a house by myself now since I had some home owner experience and I knew what I want. Are you really going to miss a lot without a realtor? Most realtors just drive you around and push you to buy a house.

Most real estate companies have complete MLS listings on their site. You will see a notation of 'broker reciprocity' by listings that are not their listings. A very small percentage of people won't allow an MLS listing and those will be the only ones you don't see on most sites.

Are you going to miss a lot without a realtor--yes. You won't be able to make an appointment and see ANY house without a realtor unless it is for sale by owner.

[lalife]

My coworker just bought a house. He found it thru Fishmls.com. He says that it is the best site out there and I believe him. The site has properties from ALL of the agencies in town. He was addicted to it and now so am I.

But, your realtor probably won't like Fish. They are worried about their commission since they will likely have to share the percentage with other realtors. Myself, I just want the best property possible for my budget. I could care less about their commission and am not the realtors' friend.

[Gruffalo]

My favorite for the minneapolis area is movingtominnesota.com

This site has a map search function that is different from those used by Edina and others. Like the other sites, you can register and then save your searches and receive automatic updates on new listings and status changes.

Also if you are doing a lot of the legwork yourself, there are brokers that provide more limited services, BUT will rebate a portion of the buyer's side commission to you at closing. The average seems to be about 1% of the sale price. Some of the discount brokers will open houses for you, others leave that up to you. All will prepare and present offers. Personally *began rant* I think the current brokerage system is archaic and is in obvious violation of anti-trust laws. If the National Association of Realtors didn't have such a powerful lobbying group, the internet would have had the same effect on them as it did on travel agents. I'm currently looking for a house in the area and will easily put in over 100 hours of research, compiling housing data, tracking sales, researching schools, etc. Why should an agent who pops the key out of the lockbox on maybe 10 houses, and puts in about 10 hours of work beyond that make $7500 to $15000? (and also, why should the seller be the one paying them?) I've been a real estate agent, and even when I was the one collecting the fat checks, it didn't seem fair. The system's broken, feel free to work it to the best of your abilities. Just beware "procurring cause" and never sign a register at an open house.

ps Just to make things clear before I get a lot of hate-mail, there are agents who provide excellent service and it is a very time-consuming job (I can remember negotiating contracts with the opposing agent at midnight, picking clients up at the airport and showing them houses all weekend, etc.). The compensation system is just patently unfair and inflexible.

[Gruffalo]

Sorry, I got a little off topic with the last reply. All of the above-mentioned web sites are getting their data from the local MLS (multiple listing service). I've found that using a local office's website (like Edina) will give you the most up to date information because their search interface is essentially a portal directly into the MLS system. Using other sites like realtor.com, yahoo, or fishmls may give you data that's not current. For example the house has sold or the price has been changed. I'm not sure how often their data is refreshed, but I have definitely seen instances of "old" information on these sites. Of course, using any of the sites will show you only houses that have been listed with a REALTOR(r). If you want to pick up everything on the market you would need to look at zillow, trulia, craigslist and all the "for sale by owner" sites. And of course drive through all the neighborhoods as well looking for yard signs. An exceptional buyer's agent would be doing almost all of this for you. In reality, most of them won't stray outside of the MLS listings because there's no uncertainty about their commission with those listings. I agree with Slig that if you know what you want (neighborhood or style of house) your best bet would be to find an agent who specializes in that. They will be in the best position to evaluate a given house and are probably spending their downtime scouting for properties in their area of interest that are for sale but not in the MLS. Happy hunting.