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The Absolute Best Way to Find Your New Home

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Phoenix AZ Horse Property AZDRE#BR634533000

f you are looking for a home in the Greater Phoenix Metro Area, the source for the listings you will search is ARMLS, (Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service). While there may be a few “For Sale By Owner" listings out there, the MLS is going to have all the rest. That includes the foreclosures, HUD homes, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, all those nicknames and acronyms that describe property the lender now owns. Short sales are included as are regular sales, rentals, purchase options etc. Single family, multiple family, investment property, lots, land, income property are all in the MLS.

ARMLS provides (for a fee) their IDX (internet data exchange) feed to others, so that a multitude of websites exist for property seekers. Some businesses purchase the ARMLS feed and resell it to others. They have the same feed and because they sell it to lots of sites, they can sell it Free Phoenix, AZ MLS searchcheaper than the cost of the original feed, the processing through their own servers isn’t “instant”, their servers are updated with changes on some schedule, daily, every few days, whatever. Sites offering repurchased IDX feeds are current for a few minutes after updating, and then fall behind as ARMLS changes are constantly occurring.

Sites that purchase the IDX feed directly from ARMLS, are updated as fast as ARMLS itself. as soon as a home is sold, goes under contract, has a price change, it will be reflected on those websites. This site and our sister site “PhoenixAZResidentialProperty.com” both have live ARMLS IDX feeds. These sites have all current listings, current information and are free to use and free in the sense that you will not be hassled by a flood of calls and emails because you signed up here or used the site.

There are websites that charge a fee for MLS feeds, one of those is Realty Store.com, charging up to $49.00 to use their site. Why would anyone do that if they understood that the listings all come from the same place? Why would you sign up on a site that will call and email you daily (some of them hourly”!) because they now have your phone and email info?

Another scam recently reported is that some unscrupulous agents have taken copies of old SOLD listings and put them up on Zillow, Trulia, and other sites. They hope to gain customers by advertising homes listed and SOLD by other agents. In one example, a home in Scottsdale that sold for over $400K was “listed” for $89K on one of these sites.

I have clients who haven’t found the exact home they want in the area they want to live because it isn’t listed at the moment. They often call me to say they saw a home on another website that meets their needs. I waste time researching the listing, to date it has never been current.

As soon as one scammer is shut down, it seems another takes his place. If you feel you need to pay to view listings, there are places you can do that. If you just want to see the most current, updated instantly, feel free to shop here! Call me with any questions, or to see a property of interest. Call me if you need a more specific search set up, or if you want new listings emailed to you daily.

Happy Hunting!

Marge

Michael Eisenberg
eXp Realty - Bellingham, WA
Bellingham Real Estate Guy

It is amazing how low some people will go,hard to believe any one would pay to see listings when there is so much for free available.

Aug 30, 2011 04:58 PM
Marge Piwowarski
Phoenix AZ Horse Property - Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix AZ Horse Property, LLC

I can't imagine paying to see listings but evidently people are doing it! 

Aug 30, 2011 05:19 PM