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I wish - as the "flagship" website of our profession - that Realtor.com was the best daggum website for searching and beat the pants off Zillow, etal. But they've made many missteps along the way. I would assume your filter issues aren't unique to the triangle MLS, but I'm sure it's also possible that only 1 MLS system nationwide has translation problems.
But if you have a realtor locally, then you have zero need to search on ANY of the ancillary (non-local) websites. You could use Zillow to catch "Make me Moves" and For Sale by Owners.
I think it has to do with how the listings were marked in MLS to start with.
A listing may be a single story, and it's description may or may not say single story, but I don't think the search you are doing is looking at either of those factors. I believe (and any realtors on here may be able to verify or bunk this) that it matters what the person listing in it marked for its features.
For example, it's an option to search for a home with a dining room. Yet, when I do the search you suggested, but switch "single story" for "dining room" STILL nothing comes up. I doubt that there are no homes on the market with a dining room. I think it's not a feature commonly checked off when listing a home.
Unfortunately, that's not it. Individual features like "dining room" or "eat-in kitchen" are certainly available data fields to search, but they're not required. And you're correct, the accuracy of the data is in the hands of the inputter.
The design of the house (1 story, split level, etc) is a required field.
I think it has to do with how the listings were marked in MLS to start with.
A listing may be a single story, and it's description may or may not say single story, but I don't think the search you are doing is looking at either of those factors. I believe (and any realtors on here may be able to verify or bunk this) that it matters what the person listing in it marked for its features.
For example, it's an option to search for a home with a dining room. Yet, when I do the search you suggested, but switch "single story" for "dining room" STILL nothing comes up. I doubt that there are no homes on the market with a dining room. I think it's not a feature commonly checked off when listing a home.
When I tried to duplicate the results you saw, I could not. If I make dining room the only advanced feature selected, I get back 317 results, but if I remove dining room and make single story the only advanced feature selected, I get 0 results.
I had our realtor set up a search while we were looking. Also, used realtor.com mobile app. Better than the full site, imho.
I finally got around to looking at the mobile app this morning. I had downloaded it at some point in the past, but for whatever reason didn't stay with it so I wanted to take another look to see if it solved the filter issue. The first thing I noticed is that the mobile app is unaware of the saved searches I had previously saved on the website (frustrating). I don't recall seeing that particular problem in the past.
I do really like the nearby for sale/rent feature (Zillow mobile app does that also). Very useful when on the road, in a neighborhood you're curious about etc.
For an industry that would seem to have so much to gain from the adoption of some consumer-oriented marketing and search technology, it amazes me how antiquated the real estate biz can be sometimes.
Just an update to my last message, the mobile app did eventually grab my saved searches, I guess it took time to synchronize everything after the initial install.
If you go to many cities, and you go to "More Filters" and check "Waterfront", the system sees your "Waterfront" filter selection as "Single Story" rather than "Waterfront".
Clearly the system is malfunctioning and they haven't repaired it. I assue the same problem people are experiencing with zip codes and filters is all related to the same programming issue.
For example, go to "St. Petersburg, Fl" and select "Waterfront" and then see the listings you get. The "Waterfront" filter has changed automatically from "Waterfront" to "Single Story", so that's what you get for listings.
With the exception of some operations I've seen where key technical employees have jumped ship (and the organization is barely keeping things afloat), I don't think I've ever seen such show-stopping bugs remain unfixed for such a long duration on a website of this size, especially for one that apparently wants to still be in business a few months from now?
I solved my immediate issue by just having my agent set up notifications for me, and right now it's more of a casual curiosity than anything else, but still -- man, talk about sitting on one's hands. Shocking considering the number of people who view that site.
What's worse the individual filter bugs seem to be city or zip code specific. WTF??!
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