What sources do you use for researching real estate?

User Forum Topic
Submitted by Oxford on May 6, 2009 - 6:38pm

What sources (online and offline) do you use primarily for researching real estate and/or finding a home to buy?

My agent set me up with a cool Sandicor feed where I get an email with a link to properties and descriptions every few days.

I used realtor.com before that. And I just signed up to REDFIN today which is kinda cool too.

What's your pipeline?

OX
...on a maddening digital quest

Submitted by jpinpb on May 6, 2009 - 6:50pm.

I use SDL and Redfin. HOWEVER, lately there are listings that do NOT show up on SDL or Redfin, BUT they do show up on Houserebate.

MW on SDL told me about Houserebate and sure enough there are listings that are active for weeks that are NOT showing up on SDL and SDR here on Piggs confirmed it is not a mistake and they are active listings. It is much more than just a couple a month. Every day there's anywhere from 2 to 8 listings that are not showing up on SDL - and that's just the ZIPs we're watching.

Submitted by JACKQLYN on May 6, 2009 - 6:52pm.

All of the above are good but try doing it old school on a Sunday drive around the areas you are interested in.

Even if you don't see any signs. Pay close attention to the banks posted letters in the windows or doors.

Submitted by Oxford on May 6, 2009 - 6:53pm.

jpinpb wrote:
I use SDL and Redfin. HOWEVER, lately there are listings that do NOT show up on SDL or Redfin, BUT they do show up on Houserebate.

MW on SDL told me about Houserebate and sure enough there are listings that are active for weeks that are NOT showing up on SDL and SDR here on Piggs confirmed it is not a mistake and they are active listings. It is much more than just a couple a month. Every day there's anywhere from 2 to 8 listings that are not showing up on SDL - and that's just the ZIPs we're watching.

I was trying to find an awesome home I saw yesterday. It just appeared on my Sandicor feed and does not show up on REDFIN. I have my doubts about REDFIN.

Submitted by tc on May 6, 2009 - 7:02pm.

I like zip's website. But I don't like the company.

Submitted by jpinpb on May 6, 2009 - 7:12pm.

Oxford wrote:
I was trying to find an awesome home I saw yesterday. It just appeared on my Sandicor feed and does not show up on REDFIN. I have my doubts about REDFIN.

Does it show up on Houserebate?

I used Redfin b/c SDL does not show multiple unit listings. Otherwise, up until now, I really liked SDL.

Submitted by mattgoyer on May 7, 2009 - 12:17pm.

Hi jpinpb,

At Redfin we're pretty obessed about making sure we have all the homes for sale.

So I'm curious, what's the address of the listing we're missing?

If you ever find a listing missing you can email us at techsupport [at] redfin [dot] com and we'll find out why. Or you can reach me directly at matt [dot] goyer [at] redfin [dot] com.

Submitted by flu on May 7, 2009 - 12:19pm.

mattgoyer wrote:
Hi jpinpb,

At Redfin we're pretty obessed about making sure we have all the homes for sale.

So I'm curious, what's the address of the listing we're missing?

If you ever find a listing missing you can email us at techsupport [at] redfin [dot] com and we'll find out why. Or you can reach me directly at matt [dot] goyer [at] redfin [dot] com.

Now that's customer service!

Submitted by jpinpb on May 7, 2009 - 12:24pm.

I'm going to get on it and make my list and email it over.

Submitted by mwtosd on May 7, 2009 - 2:13pm.

J,

Feel free to send them the ones i sent you. i did not check to see if these were on redfin. But in the past when SDL did not have them, redfin did not have them, but houserebate would!

Submitted by OgreB on May 7, 2009 - 2:28pm.

Are there any sites that are useful for those of us searching in the Temecula / Murrieta areas? I use redfin and realtor.com. I just looking for more sources for houses as the come on the market.

Submitted by greekfire on May 7, 2009 - 7:09pm.

mattgoyer wrote:
Hi jpinpb,

At Redfin we're pretty obessed about making sure we have all the homes for sale.

So I'm curious, what's the address of the listing we're missing?

If you ever find a listing missing you can email us at techsupport [at] redfin [dot] com and we'll find out why. Or you can reach me directly at matt [dot] goyer [at] redfin [dot] com.

My wife and I have noticed that some of the listings received from a realtor using Sandicor were less expensive than the same listings on Redfin. It would also be nice if price/sf could be used as one of the search criteria rather than just being able to sort by it after a search.

Submitted by jpinpb on May 12, 2009 - 8:55pm.

I emailed Redfin, but got no reply. These are listings that show up on Houserebate, but I was unable to find them on SDL or Redfin. Though I haven't had a chance to check today.

2525 GERANIUM STREET is listed for 675k
2396 Geranium St List Price: $399,900 MLS#: 090026461
4468 CLEVELAND
4833 MOUNT HAY DRIVE
3529 Buena Vista St
721 Deal Ct
725 Salem Ct
3234 Mcgraw St
4558 W Point Loma Blvd
3955 Camino Calma
13611 Tiverton Rd
3684 Richmond St
3644 RUETTE DE
1003 SAPPHIRE ST
8178 AVENIDA NAVIDAD 33
3925 NOBEL 25
090026395 4120 kansas st #7
090021964 3644 Ruette De
090026385 2234 River Run Dr #215
090026338 1810 Grand Ave
3755 UDALL #206 MLS # 090026736

Submitted by mattgoyer on May 18, 2009 - 10:41am.

Sorry, our product management team who also doubles as our tech support team is understaffed at the moment and is having a hard time keeping up with tech support emails.

What I think is going on in this case is that a few weeks ago Sandicor made a change that increased the number of "agent only listings". Unfortunately we can't show these listings on the Internet. We're a little concerned by the sudden up-tick in these and are digging into it to better understand it. When we do I'll post something in the forums here.

Matt - Redfin

Submitted by mwtosd on May 18, 2009 - 11:10am.

Matt, can you please clarify what "agent only listings" means. I agree there has been a great increase in the number of these homes (whether they are agent only listings or something else). SDL has been having the issue for at least 6 weeks if not longer.

Submitted by strawberryfields on May 18, 2009 - 11:51am.

This may be a fluke, but I just found a house on Homerebate that was not on the listings with Redfin or SDL. Checked the sold list on SDL and there it was...

Submitted by mattgoyer on May 18, 2009 - 11:01pm.

mwtosd wrote:
Matt, can you please clarify what "agent only listings" means. I agree there has been a great increase in the number of these homes (whether they are agent only listings or something else). SDL has been having the issue for at least 6 weeks if not longer.

What I mean is that listings are flagged by the agent so that they don't show up on sites like Redfin or SD Lookup but do appear on the agent-only MLS site.