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I am in the process of finding a few houses that I'd like to consider looking at. I do not want to get an agent as of yet, as I am not sure which town I'll be buying in.
I always wondered, do all houses get listed? Am I missing some that are perhaps sold "under the table" the moment they are available for sale? What is the best website to get most recent updates, realtor or zillow?
In the present market, which is slow, very few homes are sold immediately upon being listed. Most homes need some time on the market to attract a buyer. However, some well-priced homes will sell immediately because they are perceived by buyers to be a really good value.
The most up to date site is always going to be the public section of the local MLS itself. So if you are looking in Bergen County, and a few sections of Hudson County, with some additional coverage in Passaic County, that would be www.njmls.com. For the rest of northern NJ (Sussex, Warren, Somerset, Hunterdon, Morris, Essex, and Union) that would be the Garden State MLS: www.gsmls.com. Other areas like Middlesex, Ocean, etc, have their own MLS systems that you can search on.
The MLS systems feed the other sites like Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and Realtor.com. But there is a delay of a few hours to a few days depending upon how that agent enters the listing. So the most current data is always on the MLS site itself in the area in which you are looking.
Is every house in the MLS? No. But in northern NJ, most are. Probably 85% plus. The other 15% or so is spread between for-sale-by-owners, exclusive listings (rare, these days), and other private sales by REO companies, attorneys, municipalities, auctions, etc. Agents also provide access to expired listings. Sometimes I can find a home that expired or was withdrawn last year and is nowhere to be found, but would be a match for my buyer. I then call up the expired or withdrawn listing and see if they have interest in selling. It's a longshot, but it does happen. Agents also sometimes have access to information about properties preparing to come to market. There is a bit of a grapevine effect. For example, if I know a buyer wants to live in a specific area, I can canvas the other agents who sell there regularly to see if they know of anything coming to the market soon. If I get lucky, I can get my buyer into the property the day it is listed and get a jump on others. Again, not a huge issue in the current slow market, few homes are selling that fast.
Once you find a buyer's agent, they can set you up with an MLS feature that will download new listings to your e-mail each morning. That e-mail can also include listings with price drops, back-on-market listings, etc. Most buyers agents will also actively search for and negotiate with for-sale-by-owners if they are available in your market area. So an agent will provide you with access to 90%-95% of all listings. And will get the information to you faster than Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, etc. This type of thing is very easy to set up, and costs the agent nothing, so don't hesitate to pursue this if you are interested. It does not obligate you in any way to use the agent who sets up the search and provides the morning download.
In the present market, which is slow, very few homes are sold immediately upon being listed. Most homes need some time on the market to attract a buyer. However, some well-priced homes will sell immediately because they are perceived by buyers to be a really good value.
The most up to date site is always going to be the public section of the local MLS itself. So if you are looking in Bergen County, and a few sections of Hudson County, with some additional coverage in Passaic County, that would be www.njmls.com. For the rest of northern NJ (Sussex, Warren, Somerset, Hunterdon, Morris, Essex, and Union) that would be the Garden State MLS: www.gsmls.com. Other areas like Middlesex, Ocean, etc, have their own MLS systems that you can search on.
The MLS systems feed the other sites like Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and Realtor.com. But there is a delay of a few hours to a few days depending upon how that agent enters the listing. So the most current data is always on the MLS site itself in the area in which you are looking.
Is every house in the MLS? No. But in northern NJ, most are. Probably 85% plus. The other 15% or so is spread between for-sale-by-owners, exclusive listings (rare, these days), and other private sales by REO companies, attorneys, municipalities, auctions, etc. Agents also provide access to expired listings. Sometimes I can find a home that expired or was withdrawn last year and is nowhere to be found, but would be a match for my buyer. I then call up the expired or withdrawn listing and see if they have interest in selling. It's a longshot, but it does happen. Agents also sometimes have access to information about properties preparing to come to market. There is a bit of a grapevine effect. For example, if I know a buyer wants to live in a specific area, I can canvas the other agents who sell there regularly to see if they know of anything coming to the market soon. If I get lucky, I can get my buyer into the property the day it is listed and get a jump on others. Again, not a huge issue in the current slow market, few homes are selling that fast.
Once you find a buyer's agent, they can set you up with an MLS feature that will download new listings to your e-mail each morning. That e-mail can also include listings with price drops, back-on-market listings, etc. Most buyers agents will also actively search for and negotiate with for-sale-by-owners if they are available in your market area. So an agent will provide you with access to 90%-95% of all listings. And will get the information to you faster than Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, etc. This type of thing is very easy to set up, and costs the agent nothing, so don't hesitate to pursue this if you are interested. It does not obligate you in any way to use the agent who sets up the search and provides the morning download.
Good luck!
Thank you so much for all the useful information. I never happened to use GSMLS, so good to know!
Why not get an agent?
You can deal with one but tell them up front that you are still looking on your own. You do not pay them, their commission comes out of the comminssion the seller pays, after the sale.
That could motivate them
The good agent does so many things for you. paperwork wise.
they know the ropes, they know what to do, who to do it with and where to do it. You will have to figure it out on your own with your time.
Why not get an agent?
You can deal with one but tell them up front that you are still looking on your own. You do not pay them, their commission comes out of the comminssion the seller pays, after the sale.
That could motivate them
The good agent does so many things for you. paperwork wise.
they know the ropes, they know what to do, who to do it with and where to do it. You will have to figure it out on your own with your time.
or pay your lawyer to do it.
Agents come free of cost to the buyer and they do so much paperwork, its a no brainer not having one.
There are a lot of homes waiting to be listed or being prepped for sale. Most realtors know of a few homes that sellers want to sell and are not yet listed.
look into Rockland County too. Thiells, NY is really nice.
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