6 Things To Know if You Use Zillow or Trulia
6 Things to Know if You Use Zillow or Trulia
We have had several conversations in the last week with folks who found a home they like on one of the large online home search sites, only to find out that the home is not actually available. In this week’s #ProTipTuesday, we are going to talk about what you could be missing out on if you only use Zillow or Trulia.
- Zillow and Trulia get much of their information from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
Realtors® must go through an orientation program, pay dues and become a member of a local Association of Realtors® to gain access to the MLS. Homes that are listed for sale through a Realtor® are entered and can be seen by other Realtors®. Third party real estate search sites have permission to pull information from the MLS to place on their site.
- Not all homes for sale are on these sites.
Even though they have permission, for one reason or another Zillow and Trulia do not capture every home for sale. There are legitimate homes for sale in your area that may not show up in your search. You could possibly miss out on the perfect home for you because you aren’t aware that it is available.
- There is often a significant delay between homes being entered onto the MLS and them appearing on the search site.
When the homes do appear on these vender’s sites, we have seen them not show up for several days after being posted in the MLS. In certain price ranges a home could come up for sale, be shown several times, get multiple offers, and go under contract before it ever makes it to Zillow or Trulia. This has been frustrating for clients we have worked with in the past.
- There can be more of a delay between a home being taken off the market and the change being reflected on Zillow or Trulia.
This is the scenario we see most often, we will have a client ask why a certain home did not appear on the list we sent them each morning. They might say, “this is the perfect place I want to see this one.” At first, we were a little embarrassed that somehow, we missed the perfect home. After looking it up we find that the home may have been sold 2 years ago. Or it might have been under contract for several days, weeks, or months. The reason it didn’t show up on the list we sent was that it isn’t available for sale.
- Zillow Group, who owns Zillow and Trulia don’t check the accuracy of the information being posted.
Much like Craigslist or SwipSwap, they allow anyone to post a property for sale without checking that the information is accurate. They don’t exclusively pull from the MLS. If a homeowner wants to gauge interest in their home, they can post it for sale. This opens the door for scammers to post something on the sight to lure you in. My suggestion is, at very least, have a Realtor® check to make sure the listing is legitimate. Of course, we would love to work with you and help you with the search from beginning to end.
- The estimates are basically useless.
Don’t get too excited or depressed about a property because Zillow says that the price it should be is much lower or much higher than the asking price. The estimate is on-average within 10% high or low, it could be much further off than that. That is a wide rage! Their algorithms often do not account for improvements or they might over-estimate them. An extra bathroom could be worthless as far as they are concerned, or it might be the most valuable half-bath you have ever heard of. If you are curious, you can always give the Stahl & Stahl Group a call to find out. We’ll do a market analysis of your home free of charge. Or pull comparable properties to the one you like, to see if it is a good deal or not.
These sites have their place. They are a great way to kill some time, snoop on neighbors, or check out For Sale by Owner properties in a certain area without having to drive around the neighborhood. Just remember a couple things: that house might not actually be for sale or rent anymore, the deal may not be as great as it looks based on the sites estimate, and you might be missing some really great homes. You can search for homes right on our website. At the bottom of the home screen at Jacksonvillehomes365.com there is a search bar. The information provided there is being linked directly from the MLS. Or give us a call and let us do most of the work for you.
Kavie: 904.591.5332
Christian: 904.382.0027
