Real Estate Search Sites | Online Home Search - YouTube

According to statistics, well over 90% of prospective home buyers start their

search online. It shouldn't be a surprise, because there's a lot of information out

there for buyers right on their phones and desktops. But is it accurate

information and should it be trusted for more than an initial wade into the

new home buying pool? You may not know it but those third-party sites like Zillow,

Trulia and Homes.com, they're using you as much if not more than you're using

them! You're a revenue stream and they've

become massive players in the real estate world and they're making a lot of

money, and it's not from you surfing through the listings. It's from one thing

you may be doing or have already done, and I'll tell you what that is and a

better way to shop here today...

Hi I'm David Seal with Von Ruden and Seal Team of Atlanta Communities. If you're

interested in all things real estate in Cobb County and the surrounding metro

Atlanta area, this channel is for you. So subscribe below and if you ring the

bell you won't miss any future videos. Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com,

Homefinder, Redfin, there is an endless supply of online home search sites with

new ones popping up all the time. They all get feeds from various sources, with

varying degrees of accuracy. Realtor.com receives a direct feed from the local

MLS's through their affiliation with the

National Association of Realtors. So their information is a fairly accurate

representation of the homes on the market and what stage they're in: Active,

Pending--meaning Under Contract and Sold. Some get partial feeds with manual

inputs from brokerages for exposure, For Sale By Owner and so on. Some even allow

just anyone to post homes for sale. So if you find out someone has decided to help

you move by listing your home, you wouldn't be the first. Realtor.com is the

only one of the third-party search sites that you know the home is listed on the

MLS. So if you're wondering how they got so big, it's simple...if you've ever seen a

house on one of the sites and push that Contact Agent button or Request

Information, you're thinking you're asking for information from the agent

who knows all about the house and has it listed for sale. Well you haven't! What

you've done is help Zillow, Trulia or whichever website you're on pay their

bills. But how? There's no money in showing you endless pages of houses in

every ZIP code in the country. And some of them don't even care if the

information is correct, because the volume of homes is what gets you on

their site. And the money is in you finding one you're interested in and

pushing that Contact Agent button. Are you still confused?? It's simple...agents

pay that third-party website a lot of money to be the agent behind the Request

Information button. Sometimes it's an upfront monthly or yearly cost and

sometimes they charge a percentage at closing. And when you push that button

your information gets sent out to 3, 4 or 5 agents. And if you request

information on one house on Zillow and another on Trulia you may get 7, 8

10 agents texting, email and calling. There's a much easier way. Use

them, surf their homes, look at the prices, just don't click anything that requests

information or would send your contact information to anyone. Unless of course

you enjoy fielding the calls, texts and emails from people you don't know.

Find your own agent. One who can help you with your home search. My video "What is a Buyer's Agent"

will give you some tips on what to look for. But do yourself a

favor and hire a full-time agent who's busy helping clients buy homes everyday.

They're busy for a reason...it's because they're good! Subscribe below and I'll

see you next Monday right here, when we're talking real estate.