When you are looking for anything, you most likely grab your phone and look it up online first. We would like to make the case for not conducting a home search online, even though you are reading this online! I doubt anyone who has spent any amount of time on the Internet will be surprised to learn that it's filled with misinformation, some of it intentional some unintentional. The internet is really the last place you should be looking for a Realtor or a house. Listing information can be outdated. Zillow's "Zestimates" and every other automated valuations (including ours) provide rough valuations at best. While "Best Realtor" websites are deceptive, and more. This week we are going to discuss when the internet is and is not your friend in real estate.
Get Matched to "Top Realtors" Sites
Websites promising to match you with top Realtors in your area are flat out lying. My NC Homes investigated several of these sites in-depth and found that they do not screen agents. What the do is pay to have high web rankings and SEO, and either charge agents a monthly or annual fee to be on their lists or charge a referral or per lead fee. None of this is illegal however consumers need to realize that these sites aren't operated by experienced Realtors, but by experienced limited online marketers needlessly inserting themselves into your transaction. Top Agents don't work with them only neophytes with no other source of business. Reviews are frequently bogus and/or inflated. In order to investigate these sites, our Brokers registered and set up profiles. We listed our work area which is the Research Triangle and supplied all requested information. We began receiving leads for areas we'd never heard of before which when we looked them up turned out to be 50-100 miles outside of the Research Triangle. Upon contacting the various site to let them know we didn't work in these areas we were told to respond promptly to the leads. The only positive thing we can say about these sites is that the way they presented us to consumers made us seem like we were the best thing since sliced bread.
Realtor.com (which in reality has nothing to do with the National Association of Realtors and has never been owned by them) was planning on publicly listing experience, number of closed transactions etc. on their site. This created a lot of concern and after heavy lobbying by many of the major national real estate firms; they finally abandoned this idea as the major firms didn't want the fact that the majority of Realtors do very little business and would be embarrassed to have their stats made public.
Finding the Best Real Estate Websites
If you're going to use the Internet for real estate, use a local real estate agent's or firm's site rather than a national third party site. Smart agents have IDX on their website, so unless they have "pocket" or off-market listings, you will have access to the same listings as everyone else who uses a multiple listing service. By the way, it's rarely to a seller's advantage to agree to have the firm not list their listing publicly, as this limits the number of potential buyers who might purchase their home. In our combined 70+ years working as full time Realtors, we have only had one Seller ever request that we not list their property in the MLS system. My NC Homes website is updated in real time, so when we or any other firm that's a member of the Triangle MLS lists a property for sale in the MLS, it's on our website within a matter of minutes. The better local real estate firms who have websites operate the same way. If you are a buyer trying to find a new home in any area also, we have extensive new property sections in our site.
IBuyers - The Cost of No Showings
Orchard, Offerpad, Mark Spain, Opendoor and others like them who offer to purchase your home with no showings only exist during a strong seller's market. When the market shifts to neutral (a Neutral market has 6 months of inventory available for sale) or when it is favoring buyers (Over 6 months of inventory), they will vanish because their business model of flipping homes fast won't work. There's nothing wrong with using them if you do not mind leaving between 7-12% on the table. This is the "price paid" for no showings. In order to get top dollar, you need to expose it to the open market. You want to be prepared for showings in order to get the best price and terms for your home; though with the shortage of available inventory many sellers receive sight unseen offers anyway. Use the local market and information online to see if it is a seller's market, if yes, unless your employer is prepared to make up the money you'll be leaving on the table, it's without question to the advantage of most sellers to avoid the Ibuyers.
No Such Thing as a National Real Estate Market
Buyers and Sellers need to understand that there's never been; nor will there ever be a national real estate market. Real Estate is 100% local and requires local expertise. What is considered of value in one area may be worthless in another. Example: What's considered of desirable in Florida isn't going to be what's considered desirable in Maine and vice-versa. This is why it is critical that you have local experts on your team during your transaction. For Sellers we have resources like staging, professional photography and videography, handymen, movers etc. For Buyers we have personally vetted lenders, inspection companies, and much more. The internet can connect you to many Realtors like ourselves, who are committed to sharing industry and local insights and information with potential clients. It pays to check that your agent uses up to date information and frequently updates blogs, social media, and their website with the best local real estate news and data.
Because there truly is no national real estate market the only true information you're going to find will be directly from local Realtors, otherwise it's going to be generalized information that may or may not apply to your area of interest. We reguarly report on the latest and local news and data in The Triangle. We offer complimentary home analyses right on our site, click here, though we warn you that while we do the best we can, it's only designed to give you a rough idea. If you really want to know what your home would sell for, contact us for a free personalized evaluation. It continues to be a strong Seller's market though with interest rates rising it's anyone's guess as to how long this will last. We offer the most comprehensive marketing plan to all of our Sellers combined with decades of real estate experience and success.
Posted by Larry Tollen on
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