Top Websites to Find Deals & How MLS boards work - YouTube

Hi guys, Bradley tuning in. I wanted to put this video together for those of you who aren't realtors, but want to understand how the system works, which will only work to your benefit when you go to buy or sell a property.

Specifically, I want to share with you some of my favorite websites for finding deals as well as explaining how the boards work. When you list the home or when you buy a home, there isn't just one realtor.ca board.

There are many boards and the way the information is uploaded can have serious consequences on the success you have in buying and selling a property.

Before I get started, my name is Bradley. We do videos like this every week. To keep you up to date in the latest tips and tricks.

I want you guys to feel like you are in the know that you have information that goes beyond the general public, that will allow you to Excel and you go to find opportunities in deals out and across the GTA.

So you log into realtor.ca and bam! There's this beautiful listing with all the photos and virtual tours and you just think it's wonderful. Perhaps you're even looking out of province. It doesn't matter.

Recognize that here in Ontario we have 38 boards, so when you're looking at a listing, it's not just visible on realtor.ca. It is being uploaded in a different board for different regions. Now, why does this matter?

Because if you as a realtor are looking for information, whether that's open house information or sale data or just general information on the property in the history that is only available if you are associated with the board to which that property is listed.

So yes, you might see all the pretty pictures, but to get a real information to get a true picture of what you're going to either buy or sell, you need to actually have access to the board in which it was listed.

I think this is best explained with an example. Let's say you're listing a home in Oakville. The local board is the Oakville Milton board.

However, if you are expecting that they're going to be agents who are part of the Toronto real estate board, which is the largest board in downtown Toronto and the GTA. Those individuals won't be able to see the same information about your property unless they were a part of that Oakville Milton board.

So the idea here is if you're going to list your home, you're going to want agents to be able to get access to new listings, to updates, to price, to open houses, any changes in history that happened in your area before they bring you an offer, you're going to want it to be as transparent as possible to give your home the best opportunity to sell.

The tricky thing here is is how can you get the Toronto real estate board agents to see your listing. And this is where we have this fun program called inter boarding.

Now if you watch any of my other videos, I talk about this a lot because this is the best way to maximize the different boards. Even if the agent in which you're working only has one board. Now keep in mind agents are paying fees to each of the boards they're associated with.

So it doesn't make sense for them to be a part of every single board. So what we do here at Watson Estates is we are associated with several boards and we have partnerships in order to allow us the most access to the most areas. But there is a cost to inter boarding.

So if you're planning on listing a home in an area, first thing you need to do is identify what board your home is a part of. What is the most common board in your area as well as what is your target market?

And asking the agent before they list the home, if they're able and willing to take on that additional costs and legwork to ensure that it's represented on various boards to allow you the most buyers possible.

But if we were to take it on the other side, let's say you are purchasing a home again in Oakville, but you live in Toronto and the agent that's representing you is only part of the Toronto real estate board. You're gonna want to make sure you have access to all listings.

All of this information that we just went through because that agent themselves wouldn't be able to get access to it. So again, partnerships becomes an important factor. But before we share specific websites that you as a consumer able to go on to find the best deals, the websites that I prefer the most.

I also want to introduce you to another concept that continues to overlap all of these boards, which is very interesting.

These partnerships that are happening. And I specifically picked Oakville because just recently the Oakville Milton board and the Toronto real estate board just went into a partnership where they're sharing full access to sale data over the last X period of time. I think it's before beginning of 2018 but these partnerships, they happen all the time.

They, they want to make sure their membership had the most access to information. And so the question becomes, well why wouldn't you just create one board and allow everyone access to it? And this is the cry of agents across the GTA, across the province. But unfortunately it's not the case.

As promised, I want to share with you some of my favorite websites for finding the best deals. Even if you're not a realtor, these are the places you want to check out.

First off is redfin.ca or.com realtor.ca which many of you are familiar with, and you can also set up a program called collaborate, which I've also done a video on.

It's an amazing platform where you can edit your own search and have automatic listings come to you. I really like it. In the US there's a massive company called Zillow that has started making its entry into Canada.

We also did a video on that, but this idea of a Zestimate can be really helpful when it gets going because it's still in its infancy to assisting in helping you value your home.

The last one is TheMLSonline.com these are all websites I would recommend you take a look at it if you're looking to find the best deals and to be in the know of what's going on in the real estate market. I really hope this video taught you a little bit about the boards and how they work.

You don't want to just slap your listing on realtor.ca and say, okay, I am good because it's not true.

It's a lie. The main thing you want to do here is make sure you're familiar with what board is part of your home or where you will be searching for a property and familiarizing yourself with how to get the most exposure. There you have it.

Those are some of my favorite websites for looking up listings, but at the same time, I hope you guys got value and understanding how the boards work. It's not just about slapping your listing up or going on realtor.ca and searching.

There is a lot more going on, so the most important thing you can do before listing your home as it relates to this is understanding what boards your realtor you're working with is a part of what exposure you're going to get when you list your home or how are you going to get access to information before you submit an offer.

I'd love to hear comments down below. Do you guys agree we should have one board? Maybe videos like this should be completely redundant.

I think there should be one board, but I'd love to hear from you guys or if you think that having it separated gives you the competitive edge and allows you to get ahead. I'll see you guys next time. Make sure you slap that subscribe button. Take care and keep it real.