Real Estate Agents
When you begin your home search, most begin on the internet. A fast Google search will produce 1000s of homes for sale in your location. If you discover a home that you like on a real estate site, you can almost always view the images 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 inquire what the current owner bought it for, check the real estate taxes, or have an knowledgeable real estate agent run comparables. Basically, they compare what has sold in that community 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 suitable and useful, often times you can be lead off target. The amount of information and strain of verifying its accuracy is a hurdle many would prefer a professional to deal with. With so many websites to use online a home buyer will get overwhelmed with data that is often bad.
Even from the most respected websites the information is often outdated within days. Real estate agents must obtain a license in every state. A licensed real estate agent has access to information 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 maintained up to date by all participating agents and brokers or they will be fined. frequently they have real estate information that has not even been submitted yet. This frequently occurs inside of large brokerages where many agents work together to make sure their clients get the best properties 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 locations. The first purpose of an MLS is to allow participating real estate agents to make offers on homes to other agents when they find a buyer. The MLS home data is often accessible through other sites on the web. Although, there is no need of third party websites to keep their information updated and accurate for many occurrences, for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) houses cannot be directly uploaded to an MLS, because the owners is not a participating member of the local Realtor association.
FSBO homes can be difficult to locate, although web savvy FSBO properties are able to get the word out on their home nowadays.
What is a Realtor?
frequently 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 abide with a strict code of ethics and behaviour. Often real estate agents now have their own websites with their local MLS data shown. together with non-real estate websites that offer data on FSBO, foreclosure sites, county assessor sites, and valuation and marketing information sites. The excess of real estate data on the internet makes sorting through and actually figuring out more difficult than ever. Regardless the flood of real estate data available, most properties are still purchased through real estate agents listings on the MLS. With the rise of the web the homes listed on the MLS are there for all to see. Gone are the days of print advertising. With so much real estate information available it can be hard to pick the best real estate agent for you. Many agents specialize in a type of property or in specific client. Picking the one that best fits your requirements will allow for a smoother 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.