There are over 900 real estate sites worldwide where homes that are listed by Realtors end up being displayed. The big three which are most popular are Zillow.com, Trulia.com and Realtor.com. at least here in the United States. All these sites are great places for Realtors such as myself to advertise our listings and certainly all have changed the way the world now looks for their next home.

What I would like to do here is put out some cautions when using these sites.

#1) I have people contact me all the time about homes they find on these sites to get more information. I then research them only to find they are currently under contract and even sometimes are closed already. None of these sites are directly linked to the multiple listing systems and rely on downloads on a scheduled basis. Also, as in the case of our MLS, we have a Contingency status that we place on homes while they are going through a due diligence period. Technically, these homes are under contract but apparently the contingency status is not recognized by many sites so remain posted as active. It gets worse for sites that accept For Sale By Owner listings such as Zillow.com. The only way FSBO listings get removed is for the seller to report the home as sold which in many cases never happens.

#2) Dont believe everything you read. Some of these sites add their own statistics or pricing schemes in their attempt to advise you if the home is properly priced. Zillows Zestimate is a prime example. Rarely are they accurate and in many cases actually undermine the Realtor who has taken the time to properly determine pricing using real comps. In Zillows case, they use an algorithm only they understand to determine what they consider a proper price and many times its not even in the same ballpark as the CMAs that we as Realtors use. I recently had two homes for sale where the Zestimate was over $40,000 less than what I felt the homes could sell for based upon actually using real comps within the same neighborhood. Do not get hung up on ZESTIMATE!

#3 When looking for a website to search for homes, I strongly encourage people to use websites that are owned and maintained by a realty company or an individual Realtor. Our sites contain home search engines which are IDX driven which means they are linked directly to the local Multiple Listing System and dont rely on uploaded feeds from the MLS. If you are not sure where you want to move, then these national type home search websites are your best place to start. Just dont believe everything you see!!