Inaccurate Listings = Buyer Frustration

Ever browsed through popular housing sites, such as Zillow and Trulia, found the house of your dreams, only to find that it’s not really for sale?! This is incredibly frustrating when home buying is one of the largest purchases you’ll ever make in your life.

This is due to inaccuraccy’s listed on sites like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com and more… The bottom line is, if the property isn’t on MLS, it’s not for sale.

What’s MLS? 

MLS = Multiple Listing Service is a suite of services available to real estate agents and brokers. The information within MLS is proprietary of the agent/broker that obtained the listing agreement with the property’s seller. MLS allows agents/brokers to list homes that are actually for sale and search for homes listed for buyers.

What’s really for sale?

While  most sites like Zillow, Trulia, etc. obtain some of their listings from agents and private sellers, they are able to obtain homes from MLS feeds, though, they don’t update their sites regularly. I have had many buyers contact me regarding a home they found on Zillow, but the home is not actually on the market, nor has it been for quite some time. As cliche as it sounds, your best bet is to always hire a realtor to assist you in the home buying process, rather than spiral down the rabbit hole of websites that do not have accurate information.

A good, skilled agent, can set up a feed directly to your e-mail from MLS, so you’ll know as soon as homes in your budget hit the market!