According to National Association of Realtors research, 90 percent of people looking for a home start their search on the Internet. It is easy and requires little commitment other than the time it takes to search. I will share some sites with you that buyers find helpful.
There are several iphone, iPad or other smart phone apps that will help you locate homes and open houses. My favorite is Kurio.mobi. This app is used by many Realtors on the go. Kurio’s data is directly from First Multiple Listing Service, (FMLS) in Atlanta. Load kurio.mobi through your smart phone browser and you will see instruction on how to put an app button on your smart phone.
The mother of all real estate websites is Realtor.com. This site is composed of listings from across the country. Most MLS services have a contract with Realtor.com to feed their listings to the site. Realtor.com is not a part of the National Association of Realtors but is managed by a public company, Move.com. The registered trademark “Realtor” is licensed to move.com for use on Realtor.com.
Realtor.com also has a mobile site. Select your app icon and search Realtor.com to download the free search program.
Real Estate is local and the real estate industry has a unique feature to help spread the word about a new listing via Internet Data Exchange or IDX. IDX maximizes exposure of homes on the Internet. Lets say that Jane Brown has a new listing. Hundreds of brokers and agents have IDX websites. This means that Jane Brown’s listing will be distributed among hundreds of websites throughout the area and across the country in just a few hours.
As a broker or agent, why let another broker advertise your listing? Exposure! Why would another broker want to advertise Jane Brown’s listing? Buyers!
The industry has evolved into one where often one broker represents the seller and another represents the buyer. The IDX is a win-win situation for brokers as well as buyers and sellers.
How does one find an ‘IDX” website? Simple, many if not most brokers and agents have IDX listings on their website. For instance, one of my personal websites AtlantaHomeDirectory.com has in addition to my listings, the listings of most brokers in Metro Atlanta. A great feature of most IDX websites is that you may save a search on the site and have automatic updates sent to you at your convenience.
Looking for an open house? The perfect place is right here on PeachtreeCorners-BerkeleyLakePatch. There is also GeorgiaOpenHouse.com an open house locater provided by First Multiple Listing Service in Atlanta.
Zillow.com is a national real estate website. It has listings, history, maps, square footage, days on market and etc. As a seller or buyer you may also want to check out their “Zestimate” This is an estimate of the value of your home. All you do is enter your address. Zillow just does not always have enough information to provide accurate answers but they will always try. Another place to check out “estimated” home values is eppraisal.com. Then if you really want to know the market value of your home call Nancy Minor at 404-955-7653 or your real estate agent for a local and accurate market price of your home.
Trulia.com is another site very much like Zillow. you may go on this site and sign up for new listing notifications. Trulia and and Zillow both have apps for your phone.
Listingbook allows you to search like an agent searches. It allows you to organize the homes you are interested in seeing. An axample of a Listingbook site would be on atlantahomedirectory.com.
Your agent can set you up on searches for homes in your criteria. you will be notified whenever a home comes on the market or price changes.
nancyminor.com is an example of a personal web site where you may visit and tour our listings and then jump over to our IDX website listings.
Craigslist.com is another place to view homes on line. Craigslist is not structured for home sales so expect among other challenges, limited photos and quickly dated information.
These are just a few of the sites on the Internet where you may begin your search for the perfect home. if you would like to be set up on home searches or if you would like to be set up with interest updates please feel free to email us at homesearch@minor.net.
Which sites have the most up to date information? In my opinion, sites partnering with the local MLS’s have the most timely information. Examples mentioned here would be kurio.mobi, GeorgiaOpenHouse and Listingbook.
Overloaded with too much housing information. Pick one local website such as AtlantaHomeDirectory.com (listingbook) or Kurio.mobi. Sign up for updates. After dozens the first day or two, the number will drop to a manageable number of new and fresh listings that you may evaluate. See one that catches your eye? Drive by first or jump right in by calling a Realtor and schedule a tour and remember most Realtors can show you any home on the market regardlless of who has it listed.
For more information contact Nancy at Nancy@Minor.net or call 404-955-7653.
OPEN HOUSE Sunday 2-4 Peachtreen Corners at 4940 Riverlake Drive in the Wellington Lke Subdivision. This home is priced at $525,000.
Editor’s note: Nancy Minor is a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Chattahoochee North. Her office is located in Peachtree Corners.