Finding Home Listings

In the not-so-distant past, just about the only place to find houses for sale was via real estate agents and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), but not so today. Many buyers are looking to these other sources for the information they need due to being unable to access the Multiple Listing Service directly, or because they are unsure how the Multiple Listing Service works. See the complete list of home finding resources.

The MLS

The great majority of homes for sale in a given area will be listed in the local MLS. Real estate agents who are members of the local MLS can show any property listed. They also have access to detailed information about each property, including home owner information, property tax assessments and school districts.

However, you also have the option of simply going online and looking up listings for yourself.

This is a good way to get a feel for what's out there before you start trekking around from house to house. Open a search engine and just type in MLS and the name of the city you're interested in. A number of Web sites should turn up.

Often sponsored by a real estate agency, these sites may ask you to register and enter your search criteria. They will then send you daily or weekly e-mails with results of the search; in some cases the e-mail notification occurs as soon as a home is listed. If you're house-hunting long distance - whether in another part of the state or even clear across the country - this is a great way to jump-start your search.

Most MLS sites will return basic information (listing price, lot size, total square footage of living space, number of bed/bathrooms). An agent will be able to pull a sheet with additional information for any houses you want to visit. Be sure to get your own copies of these for your notebook.

Cartography Is Your Friend

If you haven't already done so, get yourself a good, up-to-date street map, preferably one that will encompass where you now live and work as well as the community you're interested in moving to. If you're moving out of the immediate area, of course, such a map is even more essential to becoming familiar with your new community.

Where can you find one? The Web, of course, but also bookstores or the local chamber of commerce if you want a printed map. In some parts of the country, notably the Eastern Seaboard, grocery stores, drugstores, and convenience stores carry quite detailed regional maps that show ZIP codes (very useful for online MLS searches), hospitals, schools, and some public transportation routes.

Mark up the map to locate such things as:

• Your place of employment (What will the commute be like?)
• Your day-care provider (Will this move require that you drop the children off earlier or pick them up later? Will you need to pay late fees for late pick-ups?)
• Public transportation (Where are bus or subway stops and how frequent is service?)
• Schools (Will your children be able to attend the nearest schools? In a community experiencing shifts in demographics, school district boundaries may shift between one school year and the next. Get accurate answers about boundaries from the school district office.)
• Recreation areas (Are there jogging and bike trails? Is there a community swimming pool? What about community soccer or baseball fields or basketball courts?)
• Hospitals and emergency medical facilities (Which is nearest to where you might live?)
• Grocery stores, banks, and pharmacies (Will you be able to run errands conveniently on the way to or from work? Or will you need to spend weekends driving some distance to accomplish these tasks?)
• Areas to avoid (Are there flood zones? Are there nearby contaminated properties?  Are there any zoning changes in the offing? )
• Police and fire stations? (Where are they? Which city or county is responsible?)

If you review MLS     and other listings with your map in hand, you'll be able to tell whether or not a house or condo that has the amenities you want is also located in an area that matches the public services you need. You'll have a better sense of whether you want to follow up with a visit.

At the same time, use Zillow maps to see Zestimates where you are looking. Zoom in until you can see Zestimates for all the houses in the neighborhood. You can print out the map and use it with the map described above. Or if you prefer to work online, use it at the same time as you use other real estate sites: Open two browser windows and compare houses for sale with their Zestimates.
 

Beyond the MLS

Just because most homes for sale will be listed in the MLS doesn't mean the MLS is the only way to find them. (In most areas, 10-20 percent of homes are sold without ever appearing in the MLS, although many of these transactions are between parties who already knew one another.) Sellers are listing their homes in lots of other places, such as those listed here.

In addition, good old-fashioned conversations with real live people can often get you right where you want to be:

• Ask family, friends, and work colleagues if they know of anyone thinking of selling their house.
• Walk around the neighborhood you'd like to live in and ask residents you encounter if they know of anyone selling their house.
• Have lunch in a neighborhood restaurant or coffee in the nearest coffeehouse and ask people there if they know of homes for sale.
• Visit the local library and ask the librarian about the neighborhood. He or she may also know of someone looking to sell.
• Drive around your favorite neighborhood and look for For Sale signs. If there's a box with an information sheet attached to the sign, be sure to take a copy. Otherwise make a note of the listing agent's information. If you see an Open House sign, drop in and see what they have to offer.
• In addition to monitoring real estate ads in the region's larger papers, be sure to read the smaller weekly neighborhood papers. 

Real Life Example

The buyer: A young woman who sang with a community choral group learned that the fiance of one of her fellow choristers was planning to sell her house. The woman and the seller worked out an arrangement for both of them to use the seller's real estate agent and concluded the deal without the house ever being listed.

The seller: The seller, who worked from her home office, was delighted to skip the hassle of sprucing up the house for showing a stream of agents and potential buyers, and not having to interrupt her work whenever someone wanted a walk-through.

The outcome: Because they used just one agent, the seller paid half the commission she would have, and she gave the buyer a lower sale price. And the agent, who shepherded both parties through the paperwork, was happy to conclude a sale without a protracted round of marketing and negotiating. 
 

Next article: How to Read a Listing
Previous article: Home Buyer's Game Plan

Related Links

• How to Pre-Market a Home
• How to Read a Listing
• Navigating Open Houses for the Buyer
• Try Selling 'By Owner' first for FREE