Real Estate Agents
When you start your home search, most begin on the web. A quick Google search will produce 1000s of homes for sale in your area. If you discover a house that you like on a real estate site, you can almost always see the photos online.
It is even becoming more common to take a virtual tour or see a video tour of the house. If you have bought a home prior to finding out the worth of the home is not too hard. You can inquire 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 community that is of comparable specification and can tell you with amazing accuracy what this home should sell for. While the simplicity of the internet is suitable and helpful, often times you can be lead off target. The volume of information and difficulty of verifying its accuracy is a barrier many would like a professional to handle. With so many resources to use online a home buyer will get overwhelmed with data that is often bad.
Even from the most trusted websites the information is often old within days. Real estate agents must secure a license in every state. A licensed real estate agent has access to information that regular home buyers do not. The most accurate data on every house in their location. This database the real estate agents use must 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 submitted yet. This frequently happens inside of large brokerages where many agents work together to guarantee their buyers get the best homes 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 be contingent on on the number of residents 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 information is often accessible through other websites on the internet. Although, there is no need of third party sites to maintain their information updated and accurate for most situations, for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) houses cannot be directly added to an MLS, because the owners is not a participating member of the local Realtor association.
FSBO properties can be tough to find, although internet experienced FSBO properties are able to get the word out about their property today.
What is a Realtor?
frequently real estate agent and realtor are used interchangeably. often, they are not really the same. A Realtor is a licensed real estate agent who is also a member of the National Association of Realtors. Realtors have to abide with a strict code of ethics and behaviour. Many real estate agents now have their own sites with their local MLS data shown. Along with non-real estate sites that provide data on FSBO, foreclosure sites, county assessor sites, and valuation and marketing information websites. The excess of real estate data on the internet makes sorting through and actually understanding harder than ever. Regardless the flood of real estate information available, many properties are still sold through real estate agents listings on the MLS. With the rise of the internet the homes listed on the MLS are available for all to see. Gone are the days of print advertising. With so much real estate information available it can be tricky to pick the best real estate agent for you. Most agents specialize in a type of home or in specific client. Picking the one that best fits your needs will allow for a smoother home buying experience than with a real estate agent that you don’t connect with. All experienced agents will have reviews available online for you to read through as well.