Tools for Buying a Home in Colorado Springs.There are many tools available for buyers in the Colorado Springs area. So many that it can be over whelming when trying to find the right tool to search for your next home. You need to be aware of the different tools and how they obtain their listing information. Knowing this will help you determine which tool is best for where you are at in your property search.
Agent/Broker websites: There are two basic types of tools that you will find on agent or broker websites. Their featured listings and a third party tool managed by another company, but receiving the data from the local Colorado Springs MLS.
Agent featured listings: This is a good place to look when you are researching agents for listing your own property. How are they advertising their current listings? Are they putting accurate information in their own website with good pictures? I have found that many of the agents do not maintain this data, so it should not be used as a primary source when searching for a new home. Often the listings are out of date with inaccurate pricing, or no longer one of their listings. In fact, I ran across an agent with all his past listings (6 years of data) where all the properties were listed as “active.” The only reason for doing so, is to generate what our industry calls, “buyer leads.” At Murray Knoll, we use our featured listings on our website because we market our website heavily and want to brag about our great homes. With our website, we also have a handshake arrangement with nearly 200 other agents in the Colorado Springs area, which allows our listings to appear on the websites of many other agents around town. But again, this is not the most accurate information. It only includes the listings that other agents have manually entered into their websites, providing a very limited pool of properties that are actually available.
Advantages: Tells you a lot about how an agent markets their listings.
Disadvantages: Data is not always reliable and does not always include ALL properties in the MLS.
Third party tools:
Third party tools are web applications that agents pay to appear on their website or are available for the general public, such as Trulia.com, Zillow.com, and Realtor.com. The tools are searchable allowing the user to enter their own criteria. The display of the output can be a list of properties and/or a map with the properties marked with a bubble or flag. These tools are typically populated from the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors (PPAR) Multi-listing Service (MLS), which services Colorado Springs Realtors. They are great for doing quick checks on neighborhood properties or getting a general idea of prices for the different Colorado Springs neighborhoods. They are great tools, if you are just beginning your search and are not ready to ask an agent for assistance. But they do have their limitations. Most third party tools continue to show pending or under contract properties as available. They are also often out of date, taking 3-7 or more days to update price changes. If you are waiting for your dream home to drop within your price range before taking action, these are not the tools you want to be using.
Advantages: Populated from the Colorado Springs MLS. You maintain control of the criteria and remain anonymous until you save a search.
Disadvantages: Data is not always up to date and may show unavailable properties as available.
Custom Property Websites. This is our tool of choice for our serious buyers. Yes we provide all of the above tools, because not everyone is at the same stage in their research, and each tool provides a different purpose. But if you are serious about buying and only want to be bothered with the most accurate information on only the properties that meet your criteria, whether they include price, bedrooms, walk-out basement, etc., this is the tool for you. When you are provided a custom property website, you will receive email updates directly from the Colorado Springs MLS on when new properties are posted to your website or when the price changes, or the status of the property changes. This way, you are only looking at available properties that meet your minimum criteria. You can easily sort the properties so you aren’t bothered with the “rejects,” or if your partner is conducting their research in a different location, you can make notes for each other on the most interesting properties. When it comes time to hit the streets, we have a good list of properties to start with, working more efficiently, and narrowing down the search to only the top dozen or so.
Advantages: Most accurate information available to buyers. Limits properties to only those that meet the buyer’s minimum criteria. Buyer can receive email notification on property updates.
Disadvantages: Requires contacting a real estate agent to create the website and when changes are needed to your criteria. Not all agents understand how to set up the search with only the buyer's top criteria or how to set up the property website. Not all agents respond quickly to change requests.
Google Maps. Don’t forget about this incredible tool. No, it isn’t a search tool, but This is an essential tool for checking out the location of a property and now you can even get a birds eye view of most properties in the Colorado Springs MLS area. Here’s how it works: If you want to see your favorite properties in street view go to http://www.google.com, select "map" in the upper left menu, then type in the full address of the property (it works best if you include the zipcode). When the bubble pops up with the picture of the house, select "street view.” Then you can “walk” the little orange man to the property to view it. Turn him around and view the neighborhood. It is really cool.
So, if you are in the market to buy a home in the Colorado Springs area, work with an agent that understands the differences in the search tools, has knowledge of the Colorado Springs MLS custom property website setup and configuration, and is available to assist you with your search. Good Luck!
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Great information. I have reblogged this as I think many miss the point that the search tool isn't good unless you have an expert in the field understand how to interpret it!