Six Secrets of Internet Home Buying
With the worst housing slump in a generation slashing home prices across the country, the dynamics of the market have shifted squarely in favor of buyers. And as the real estate industry grows increasingly Web-savvy, house hunters can now scour through neighborhoods, inspect front porches, and even peek inside bedrooms from the comfort of their desktops. But while this surge of new information can help you find that perfect home, it can also—at times—make the whole process overwhelming. Here are six ways to ensure that your online real estate search is as efficient and effective as possible.
1. Know when to say when. There are plenty of ways to waste time on the Internet. When it comes to home buying, searching through properties you admire—but can't afford—tops the list. So before you grab for that mouse, contact a lender and get preapproved for a mortgage. That way you'll know exactly what you can afford. "It's not difficult," says Elizabeth Deal, senior vice president of ICBA Mortgage, a subsidiary of the trade group Independent Community Bankers of America. After contacting a lender, prospective home buyers will typically be asked to provide information about their income and debts, Deal says. (In some cases, lenders will want to see a credit report as well.) From that information, the lender will be able to issue a letter outlining the price range that the buyer can afford. The whole process can take as little as a half-hour, Deal says.
2. Find the right tools... Real estate search engines are getting better and better. Pat Kitano, a cofounder of Domus Consulting Group, which works with real estate brokerage firms on technology marketing strategies, calls Trulia.com "the most complete national site." Kitano also recommends DotHomes. Jay Thompson, of Thompson's Realty in Arizona, suggests using Zillow.com or Realtor.com, the official site of the National Association of Realtors. Realtor.com "has probably the most listings of any national site," Thompson says. "Just about anything that is on a local [multiple listing service] will be on realtor.com." But rather than limit your search to national search engines, Thompson says, it's a good idea to visit the Web sites of real estate agents and brokers in the market that you are considering as well.
3. ...and put them in a belt. Instead of trying to pinpoint the one "best" search engine, home buyers should put together a list of resources and use them in tandem. After all, no single search engine can provide a complete picture of the entire housing market. But by using several as a group, prospective home buyers can get a much better look at the inventory. "A consumer has to go to multiple sites to figure out the whole landscape," Kitano says
4. Don't forget the indies. The majority of Internet search tools enable users to look through homes that are being sold through agents. But if you use those exclusively, you will miss the sizable chunk of homes being sold independently. "Agents list about 77 to 78 percent of the homes on the market, so there is another 22 to 23 percent of homes that 10 to 15 years ago people wouldn't be able to find," says Greg Healy, vice president of operations at ForSaleByOwner.com, which markets the homes of sellers who are looking to cut out the agent and save on commission. "Using sites that are not agent-related is really critical."
Joshua Dorkin, the founder and CEO of BiggerPockets.com, a real estate networking and information site, says that Craigslist is a great way to find non-agent-affiliated listings that might not show up on mainstream real estate search engines. "It's the classified powerhouse of the world now," Dorkin says.
5. Be alert. Some online real estate resources now offer e-mail alerts or RSS feeds that provide instant notification of new listings and other information of interest to prospective home buyers. Sign up! This is a great way to stay on top of the changing real estate market as your home search progresses. "Rather than actually pulling the information from a particular source, you want that information pushed to you," says Douglas de Jager, cofounder of DotHomes. "It saves you time."
6. Find a good blog. Few resources allow home buyers to take the pulse of the national and local markets like real estate blogs. "Real estate bloggers know in real time what is going on in the market," Kitano says. Like anything else on the Internet, some blogs are better than others. Shop around. Use your favorite search engine to find a couple of blogs that cover real estate in the markets you are interested in, bookmark them and click through them every day. (Pay special attention to the blogs with the most comments and postings.) By and large, the real estate blogging community understands the dynamics of today's housing market in the way few others do. They've emerged as an important voice on housing issues and a wonderful resource for prospective home buyers.
Reader Comments
Thanks Rueben Soto
Thanks Rueben Soto. From one South Floridian to another, you said it best!
Do you remember, there once was a funny looking little guy named Ross Perot, that everyone laughed at, but his prognostication was right on the money. He warned that if NAFTA ever got enacted, all America would hear was a giant sucking sound, as all our jobs were being sucked out of this country and into others. He was correct, and we have been hosed!
We have the biggest gap between the rich and the poor of any Industrialised nation on the planet, and the gap will grow larger as the rich get richer and the middle class gets poorer.
Why is gas is only $2.20 a gallon in Mexico ($4.20 locally today) and many of our truckers are going across the border to fill up? Well, Mexico has PRICE CONTROLS on fuel. Why is it we cannot do the same? Is it because we have the big oil men in office? Another thing to ask our so called Elect.
Quite frankly, this housing speculation boom would never of happenned if the Fed hadn't of lowered the prime rate to almost zero, making money extremely cheap to borrow. Of course it was all done as a bail-out reaction to the boys who lost their shirts in the Dot Com Bust to help the poor guys out trying to make a fast buck. So now we have the Housing Bust, the beginnings of Bank and Investment Houses bust, and in time it will be the commodities bust. We will just go from bubble to bubble with the next guy holding the bag. Pretty soon there won't be anything left to bubble for the monopoly players to make a fast buck on and America is going to have to enact new legislation to get our jobs back or perish. And we need to disconnect from the Federal Reserve, which is not even Federal but privately owned, and give Congress the power to print our money, in an effort to stop these international bankers from manipulating our economy.
Owning vs renting
As for owning vs renting, it depends on your situation and the local RE market.
In MY case, owning makes much more sense. I rent here in NY, but intend to
relocate to upstate SC by early next year, and perhaps more importantly, intend to
stay there for good, work a few more years, and then retire there. My total housing
costs will be about $250 a month, *including* taxes, insurance and all utilities. Were I to instead rent this same place, my rent would be about $350 PLUS utilities(about $500 a month total) So In THIS case, (for ME, anyway), owning is a no-brainer.
YMMY, I suppose, but...
I Just bought a 3bdrm, 1.5 bath fixer-upper in a nice little town in upstate SC with VG demographics, rising home prices, tons of jobs nearby, super-low taxes, low
HVAC costs, excellent schools, on a beautiful level, lot with many huge old oak
trees for shade,and a creek running across the back of the property line - for the price of a modest used car. Obviously, the seller was rather desperate and pressed for time, but I would not have ever found such an economic fallout shelter
nor been able to be a virtual johnny-on-the-spot., cash-in-hand, on a property some
800 miles from where I live, had it not been for the internet. This is the second
property I bought this year online. The other is a buildable waterview lot in WV I
picked up for the price of a cheap used car. Again, without the internet, I would`ve
never found this deal, either.
There`s a lot of garbage/junk properties for sale online,without a doubt, but if
you know what you are looking for, and are willing to spend much of your spare time searching, doing research and due dilligence, and are patient, you can
seperate the wheat from the chaff, and find jewels for $.25 cents on the dollar.
Add your thoughts
All comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.advertisement
