How To Find The Best Home Search Tool For Buying A Home
In an effort to maintain the best home search tool for the Tallahassee real estate market, I scour the internet several times each month. I look at the newest websites, I read customer reviews, and I take the time to see how many of them work.
The results of my research leads me to believe that many homebuyers will continue to be frustrated. The majority of websites show houses that sold and closed already, while others feature homes that are not even for sale.
The reality of the internet is that it is nearly impossible for an uneducated consumer to discern between the great from the poor, so I figured I would share what I have learned so that you can find a better way.
Of course, if you are shopping for a home in Tallahassee, just use our property search tool that is updated 96 times per day. But if you are in a different market area, here is some simple guidance to help you find what you are looking for.
The Worst Home Search Tool
Most of the national home search tools are not very current with the information that they provide. They have to pull their information from a variety of sources, and many of these sources are updated infrequently.
What's worse is those search tools that show properties "not for sale" right along with the ones that really are for sale. They know that the more houses that they list on their site, the more time consumers will spend "browsing," even if the information is not valid.
As a consumer, you have no idea that they are combining current listings with old listing, and even properties that are not listed for sale.
So what are you to do?
Real Estate Is Local
The national branded websites want to pull traffic. They spend millions of dollars each year to drive traffic to their websites, and they know that most homebuyers who are just starting to look are just happy to see pictures of houses and prices.
But when you are ready to start getting serious, the last thing you need to do is spend your time getting excited about homes that are not available. Nothing is more aggravating than seeing a home that you really think you'd like, only to find out from an agent that the home sold two months ago.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution.
Find the local blogger in your market area and use her/his home search tool.
Real estate bloggers understand what you are looking for. They know what you like, and more importantly, they know what you will hate once you become a serious homebuyer.
By way of example, we continuously modify our property search tool in Tallahassee based upon the feedback we get from our customers.
We have drop-down menus that allow our homebuyers to search by neighborhood. We allow them to control whether or not they see homes already under contract, and we even allow them to segregate distressed homes for sale from those that are arms length.
I interact with enough real estate bloggers around the Country to know that each local real estate market has a great real estate blogger who maintains an excellent home search tool. Take the time to find that real estate blogger, and you'll end up with a much better online home shopping experience.
If you are getting ready to buy a home in Tallahassee and would like some assistance setting up your home search criteria, just drop me a note and we'll have a real estate buyer's agent get you started right away.
Post a Comment