home searching websites

SmrBrd2012

Just wondering what everyone's favorite home searching website is. Realtor.com? Zillow? Trulia? Is there any real difference between all of them?

G2SoccerTaz

I recommend using Realtor.com. They keep everything up to date. Zillow and Trulia have houses listed that have sold months previously. Best bet is to find houses you are interested in and email the list to a realtor and they will be able to let you know if the house is still on the market, undercontract, or sold. Houses under contract still show up on most websites.

mcskatcat

Realtor.com is probably the best.  Their app is fabulous too.  We actually listed our house (we're moving) this past weekend and Realtor.com was the first to have it up, which means they go through the MLS listings more often and update more often.  

 I've also found Zillow to be wildly inaccurate, so I'd steer clear of them.  

Are you working with a real estate agent?  They will also be able to search for you on the MLS web site - something you won't have access to otherwise.  Generally the buyer doesn't pay for the real estate agent, so I would recommend it if you aren't already.   

Unknown

If it's available in your area, try www.redfin.com. They update their website every 15 minutes and are directly linked with the MLS website. We were able to find our house through this website and everything was updated with amazing speed! We ended up meeting our realtor through the website, since she was leading a free class on first time home buying that my husband attended, which was put on by Redfin. I highly recommend them if they are available in your area!

R.Wilsonny

I also 2nd redfin if it's available in your area....we used them to search for our home and open houses and they have a phone app that you can hone in on open houses as you are driving around. Def recommend. (Realtor.com is also good)

GeorgiaRiah

I recommend redfin as well.  I even found my Realtor on this site.  I picked the one with the best reviews in my area.  He was awesome!

SmrBrd2012

Thanks everyone!! I don't know much about Redfin so I'll check that out. I'm not 100% committed to finding a house right now because we're still trying to save up a good down payment but if a sweet deal came our way, we'd probably check it out.

sunshine608

I used realtor.com most but I really liked homesnap.com and redfin as well. Zillow seemed to take forever to update info.

SmrBrd2012

I am really loving Redfin so thanks again!

Kat174

Does your real estate agent have a page?  I used mine and her MLS was more thorough than a lot I found because it listed HOA fees, what kind of loans the properties qualified for and etc.  Made for a great resource to nix a lot of stuff.  Also it had a neat feature where you could search just by looking at a map of the area and rolling your mouse over the homes labeled for sale to see the price. 

theteno

i really loved zillow because it allows you to search by mapping which i couldnt do using realtor.com. i found zillow very accurate.

moonprincessd

I like Zillow, but I suggest getting an agent, Coldwell Banker had an amazing system where it posted houses available and updated it frequently! They also sent us an e-mail every time a new house was available right away! The only thing is you have to get a realtor and they'll set it up for you. 

Zillow, as well as other house sites, will often say the house is available, but in reality it's "pending" which means the seller approved of an offer. They are also slower to list houses that are available meaning by the time you see it, someone might have already put an offer on it. 

girlasaurus

Ditto on Redfin! I play with their iPhone app all the time when I'm checking out new neighborhoods I like. LOVE the mortgage payment estimator there.

Janessadawn

We used Zillow primarily, because it's got the most features. The huge caveat to using Zillow is what many here have told you--the info can be extremely outdated. The same can be said for Realtor.com, I've found; the house we're purchasing took a couple of weeks to show up as pending on there, but it tends to be updated faster than Zillow or Trulia. Redfin isn't available here.

When I found a house I liked on Zillow, I'd google the address and look at its listing on other sites that may be more updated. Sometimes even then I'd send our realtor listings that were already contingent, but more often than not I was able to weed those out without asking him to look up a ton of properties. The only way to truly see their status is through the MLS but this way makes it a little easier.