Looking for a House Online
Searching for and buying a house from afar is a lot easier than it used to be, thanks to the internet.
Today, it’s possible to find a home, visit the home in a virtual tour, and take a virtual walk of the neighborhood. You can get an appraisal of the property that interests you, check property taxes, a neighborhood’s crime statistics, and demographic info. If you want access to the Multiple Listing Service, you can get that too, usually for a small price. You can even hire an online agent to make an offer and negotiate a deal. Or you can skip the agent altogether and do it yourself.
With the advent of the internet, you’ve got options.
Below, find links to real estate web sites that can help you conduct a housing search from wherever you happen to be:
Finding a Home:
Redfin.com. An online real estate broker. You do the research online, they handle tours and negotiations. Agents are paid a salary, not a commission.
Ziprealty.com. An online real estate broker with a network of agents. Ziprealty promises buyers 20 percent of their commission on buying a house, thus lowering the cost for buyers. Sellers can save up to 25 percent on commissions.
Boston.condodomain.com. An online Boston-based realtor for condobuyers that charges a flat fee for its services averaging about $10,000.
Open Service directories where you’ll find property listings:
Sellers and their agents list properties on these sites:
Yahoo.com
Google.com
Craigslist.com
ForSalebyOwner.com –These listings cannot be found in the Multiple Listing Service directory.
FSBO.com - These listings cannot be found in the Multiple Listing Service directory.
Research tools once you’ve selected a neighborhood:
Trulia.com . Offers demographic data, neighborhood and market information.
Policymap.com .Offers demographic and sales data by neighborhood, including crime statistics, neighborhood income, volume of home sales, etc.
Googlemap. Allows you to see the streets, at street-level, that interest you. You can even take a walk of a neighborhood.
Idealroute. Allows you to map out visits to tour homes.
Walkscore.com. Allows you to see how close properties are to neighborhood amenities such as grocery stores, public transportation, schools and restaurants.
Greatschool.net. Allows you to check out the quality of the school district you are thinking of moving into.
Home Valuation websites once you’ve selected a property:
Each allows you to see properties and appraised values based on their specific formula. Some of these sites also list properties for sale.
Zillow.com
Cyberhomes.com
Eappraisal.com
Realestate ABC.com
Rentometer.com (to determine what rent you could charge for an investment property)
August 16th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Brett Shaw from Cyberhomes:
Thanks for the mention! This is a great list. Just to let you know, Cyberhomes.com offers most of these services in one place. We have over 2.5 million listings coupled with demographics, neighborhood analysis, crime stats, school information with parent comments, economic trends, etc. There is so much you can do and find on the site. Just enter in an address or zip code and take a look around.