Online home search: Make sure you get the complete picture
By Gino Blefari
President and CEO
Intero Real Estate Services
There are lots of places to search for properties online. National sites, local sites, broker sites, agent sites.
After a while they all start to look the same.
But they are not the same.
In fact, there are important differences you probably didn’t know about.
Let me explain.
The electronic life of a property listing begins the moment an agent enters it into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). There are thousands of MLS’s nationwide, and they serve as central regional databases that all REALTORS use to share information on properties. They are as close to a complete picture of what’s on the market as you can get.
In the past, REALTORS shared this information only amongst themselves. But in 2000, the National Association of REALTORS formalized something called IDX (Internet data exchange). IDX allows brokers and agents to show each other’s listings on their own websites.
So, for example, if you visit broker A’s website, you will see broker A’s listings, but also the listings from brokers B through Z. This is good for brokers – who get to market their listings more widely – but also good for consumers, who get a full picture of homes for sale in their market.
Everybody wins.
Now consider some of the most popular home search sites on the Internet – those run by media companies or start-ups, not real estate brokerage companies like Intero. These sites look good, but what you may not know is that many of them show you just a slice of the listings. Because they are not members of the MLS, they cannot participate in IDX.
And you, the consumer, see an incomplete picture.
Think about it: If you were shopping for digital cameras online, it might be OK to miss a few models. But homes? Not seeing all your options is a big deal.
So next time you go online to look for homes, make sure you’re on a site that gives you a complete picture.
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