USA Today had an article Friday about websites the consumer uses to access information about homes of interest to them. The article listed 5 websites. Of the 5 I had heard of 2 of them. Being a Realtor I use MLS but found it interesting to learn about what the consumer uses other than Realtor.com. Here's some info on the USA Today listed:
Have you heard of?
Zillow.com - I had heard of and used zillow.com to compare the accuracy of information. I believe it to be fairly accurate. If you get in areas where there are varying amounts of data - your data can be skewed.
Redfin.com - Redfin actually sells Real Estate being an online brokerage. Redfin is not available in most metro areas.
Realtor.com - I think this one MOST individuals have heard of and is the most common out of the 5.
HotPads.com - New to me. Great website to find homes to Rent or to buy.
Last but not least...PropertyShark.com - get details about prior sales, demographics of the neighborhood,etc. PropertyShark.com is from M-F from 3 to 6 only.
It is true most home buyers start their search on the internet. There is a plethora of information on each of these websites but the consumer can spend hours going through it. A good realtor would be able to get you specifics in just a few minutes with just a few clicks.
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REALTOR magazine has made a big stink about getting agents to focus on International. Well, if you type in: international mls into Google, this site, Kayyah.com shows up page one, #2.
The site has been gaining momentum with many Realtors largely because of three things;
1.) They don't sell the leads out the back door to the lead sharks,
2.) It's a great mix of residential, commercial and even FSBO's.
3.) If you work with a local Kayyah-certified photographer, you get FREE showcase listings on Kayyah. Nice idea hear considering most of us are paying $2,000 a year or more to biggie size our listings with add on virtual tours to Realtor.com
The site is vendor agnostic to 360 tours and it also includes Video tours, Google 3rd generation maps and a lot more.
The site has more than 10,000 photographers listed that agents can search for and the site also has a REALTOR directory.
If you're an agent and you want to get listed, they are providing FREE directory listing and a text link to your Website. This is BIG because Google lools for one way incoming text links and considering that Kayyah is alreay page one #2 for international MLS, then this is a great thing for you.
- Bart