Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Which resources do you use, to pick homes to look at???
I personally can't stand Realtor dot com ! So I mainly use eHBSR (Home Buyers Scouting Report), CL (Craigslist) and FSBO websites . I'm curious what methods others are using to find homes !
I used a realtor's site that has its own search feature (it searches the MLS). But it was specific to the area (Hawaii). Moderator cut: URL removed
I did not use that realtor, though. We found our houses on there and asked her to take us to see them (most were by appointment only, and by the way, that didn't bother my sister - who was actually doing the looking - at all. If she couldn't see it right away, she could at least drive by and check it out.).
Last edited by Marka; 05-29-2008 at 12:25 PM..
Reason: no realtor links, please
Which resources do you use, to pick homes to look at???
I personally can't stand Realtor dot com ! So I mainly use eHBSR (Home Buyers Scouting Report), CL (Craigslist) and FSBO websites . I'm curious what methods others are using to find homes !
I tried to use HBSR but they wanted me to log in before I was able to read anything about the company. Since I had no log in they wanted me to contact customer service. Do they have a website you can access without having to send them an email first.
If you have all day to scroll through I guess craigslist is ok.
Trulia is pretty good.
Redfin is only in a few markets so really of no consequence to me.
Zillow is still showing a house I listed as for sale but it closed a month ago. I have always found zillow to be not very useful.
I had a client send me a list of homes he found on a website. He was upset that I had not emailed these homes from the MLS and thought I was holding back listings.
From the list, 6 out 8 homes had sold and closed back in March. So many of the websites are continually out of date this time a year with homes going under contract at a fairly quick rate. (at least in this market)
Which resources do you use, to pick homes to look at???
I personally can't stand Realtor dot com ! So I mainly use eHBSR (Home Buyers Scouting Report), CL (Craigslist) and FSBO websites . I'm curious what methods others are using to find homes !
First, what is it abut Realtor.com that you dislike? Second, it appears that you are missing the single most important listing site; your local MLS. The overwhelming majority of homes for sale get listed on the local MLS. Do you have a specific strategy or reason for NOT searching that?
When we listed our home, I noticed the listing appeared immediately the SAME DAY on the yahoo.com real estate feature.
Now that we're looking, I notice that the yahoo.com listing continues to be updated first and often has listings (not phantom or old) that don't appear on Realtor.com or on other realtor websites. In fact, one of the few houses I asked to tour was listed on Yahoo.com for a full week before the other realty sites picked it up. It went to contract in two weeks, so speed was of the essence.
I use yahoo.com pretty exclusively for looking. The Prudential realty website in town gives me a thorough listing for open houses. Trulia I use for data and comps. Zillow I look at, but don't trust.
Realtor.com is lame because the same listing appears multiple times and the listings aren't updated as quickly as yahoo.com. It also takes FOREVER to load.
The worst for phantom and stale listings is the Google real estate feature. Although it is pretty useful for checking original listing prices once you know what a house sold for. LOL!
You will have the same access you have always had.
What the settlement means for:
Consumers: Consumers have always been able to access and view all publicly available listing information on the Web site of their broker of choice.
NAR members: The proposed order ensures that the online environment in which listings are displayed is the fairest possible. It preserves the right of seller clients and brokers to protect the proper display of the listings while ensuring the widest possible online display.
Broker-owners: The proposed order provides clear rules for operating a virtual office Web site (VOW) and preserves the right to determine whether or not listings are displayed on other brokers' Web sites. It also gives sellers the right to prohibit certain features, such as home-value estimates and blog posts, to accompany the display on VOWs.
Association and MLS executives: If a state or local association owns and operates its own MLS, NAR will request that the MLS adopt and implement the revised Virtual Office Web site (VOW) policy within 90 days of the effective date of the order — which we anticipate will be late summer.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
! So I mainly use eHBSR (Home Buyers Scouting Report), CL (Craigslist) and FSBO websites 
. I'm curious what methods others are using to find homes 
!
