Real Estate Agents
When you begin your home search, many begin on the internet. A fast Google search will produce 1000s of homes for sale in your location. If you find a home that you desire on a real estate website, you can almost always see the pictures online.
It is even becoming more common to take a virtual tour or see a video tour of the home. If you have purchased a house prior to finding out the value of the home is not too difficult. You can check what the current owner purchased it for, check the real estate taxes, or have an knowledgeable real estate agent run comparables. Basically, they compare what has sold in that area that is of similar specification and can tell you with great accuracy what this home should sell for. While the simplicity of the internet is convenient and useful, often times you can be lead off target. The volume of details and difficulty of verifying its accuracy is a hurdle many would like a professional to deal with. With so many websites to use online a home buyer will get overwhelmed with information that is often bad.
Even from the most respected websites the information is often outdated within days. Real estate agents must secure a license in every state. A licensed real estate agent has access to data that regular people do not. The most accurate data on every property in their area. This information the real estate agents use has to be kept up to date by all partaking agents and brokers or they will be fined. Often times they have real estate information that has not even been published yet. This often happens inside of large brokerages where many agents work together to guarantee their clients get the best houses available.
The database that real estate agents use is called the Multiple Listing Service or MLS for short. Every location in the United States has an MLS. While some MLSs cover more or less area depending on the population of those areas. The primary purpose of an MLS is to allow participating real estate agents to make offers on properties to other agents when they find a buyer. The MLS home data is often available through other websites on the internet. Although, there is no requirement of third party sites to keep their data updated and accurate for most situations, for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) properties cannot be straight added to an MLS, because the owners is not a paying member of the local Realtor association.
FSBO homes can be difficult to find, although internet savvy FSBO homes are able to get the word out about their house nowadays.
What is a Realtor?
Oftentimes real estate agent and realtor are used interchangeably. often, they are not technically the same. A Realtor is a licensed real estate agent who is also a subscriber of the National Association of Realtors. Realtors have to comply with a strict code of ethics and conduct. Many real estate agents now have their own websites with their area MLS information shown. together with non-real estate websites that provide data on FSBO, foreclosure sites, county assessor sites, and valuation and marketing information websites. The excess of real estate information on the internet makes sifting through and properly figuring out more difficult than ever. Regardless the flood of real estate information available, most houses are still sold through real estate agents listings on the MLS. With the rise of the internet the houses listed on the MLS are there for all to see. Gone are the days of print advertising. With so much real estate data available it can be tricky to choose the best real estate agent for you. Most agents specialize in a type of home or in specific demographic. Picking the one that best fits your needs will allow for a easier home buying experience than with a real estate agent that you don’t get along with. All experienced agents will have reviews available online for you to look through as well.