Using the Internet to Buy Your New Home February 20, 2006
I have recently been enlightened on how grossly inadequate many of the home viewing sites are and how misleading they can be.
Maybe I should have known this before, but frankly, those sites rarely come into play in my everyday life. I use the mls and clients use me. I truly haven’t considered until recently how people use the internet in the home buying process and why they do that.
Now that I am viewing the world through your eyes a bit, with the help of my most recent clients, I would like to “give back” by making a few suggestions on how to use the internet more effectively.
Do not use a site that does not give you both ”Active” listings and “Offer STI” listings. My site does do that, but I wish it would also give you Pending and recently Sold listings as well. This is why. If you base what you want on what is for sale, you will be buying the barking dogs of the marketplace. Don’t get sucked into that.
Here’s an example. Go to my site and do a realistic search, not homes you personally can’t afford. Look at all of the inside photos of a few Active and Offer STI properties and you will quickly see that the Offer STI properties look a whole lot better than the Active properties, by and large. That is because the very best that life has to offer you in your price range is more likely to have been sold yesterday or be listed tomorrow and not ”Active” today.
(Agents who want to yell at me right now for telling people this, don’t waste your breath. I know how you feel about my telling people not to just let you open doors and say “Do you want to buy this one?”. Get over it, we both know I’m right. Buying a good property is more about the next one out the gate than the one that is easiest for you to find and sell.)
I really didn’t realize that most people didn’t know this until I started paying attention. My clients over the last 15 years have just depended on me to know this, so they didn’t have to. But if you are using the internet in the home buying process, you really do need to learn this very quickly or you will be buying all of the homes that agents are not selling to their clients. We all have buyers in that price range, but we are saying “don’t buy that one” for some reason, or it would be sold. That’s just common sense, isn’t it?
They are not “for sale” for weeks and weeks with no good reason, and most are not “bargains” even if you negotiate them down. A few are simply at the wrong price, but if you rely on that fact, then look over your price and not at it, or you will be buying a lesser home than you should. Not the best strategy, but better than buying a home you will later have trouble selling. Hold out for the better ones and don’t touch a stale one until you really, really know why it is not sold. Don’t guess, don’t, don’t, don’t rely on the seller’s agent’s advice in that regard, and look really hard for “the monster” that is causing it not to sell.
Multiple bid situations are not created because the market is “hot”. Multiple bid situations are created because most times the property listed an hour ago is better than all of the ones no agent has sold yet. We all jump on it at the same time like cats on a mouse. Because it is better, priced right, and in the best location.
We (at least those of us who understand that “we represent people” for a living and do not sell houses for a living.) are overlooking most of those homes you might be buying through “that really cool site. They are just not good enough for our clients for some reason. Do you really think that some companies have removed their liability for selecting the home, without good reason? If a company is going to sell only from the “Active pool of homes”, and not look for the next best one out the gate, they make you the one primarily responsible for the selection of the home. That’s good business for them and bad news for you.
Did you really think with all of the agents in this marketplace that you found some treasure on the internet that we all missed? Get real. If you are using the internet to buy a home, do it with some smarts. Use that RSS feed thingie that Robbie knows how to do and catch the next one out the gate. Look at the STI listings really, really hard, and know that you want the next one like THAT and not just the best of the leftovers.
If you do not have an agent who is looking hard at what is coming on market versus just what happens to be for sale today…dump them. If you look at 8 homes and they don’t hate 6 of them…dump them. A good agent isn’t the one who does what you tell them to do, it is one who refuses to let you be your own worst enemy.
A dog has 6 pups. Four people on the waiting list rush in and grab the four best ones. You get there and there are two left. Do you take one of them? Or do you put your name on the waiting list to be the first in line for the pick of the next litter? Think about it.
- Posted in : General Real Estate
- Author : ARDELL
Comments»
Ardell:
Thanks for the insight — very helpful. Perhaps you could include a link to your site so readers could jump to your page. You’re right, not every search engine shows “Offer STI” listings. One question: what does “STI” stand for? Thanks.
Craig
FSBO Law Blog
What does offer STI mean? Is it a Seattle thing or what, cause I have never heard of it
STI stands for “subject to inspection”.
Essentially, this means that an offer has been agreed to but the buyer has a limited time to get an inspection and pull out should the inspection turn up something they don’t like.
Ardell,
I’ve been snooping around the two search site, and I must say that RCG’s search beats yours in some major ways. The “RSS thingy” is only a minor part of his search and in reality it can be used to do all the searches that your site offers (including homes that are subject to inspection).
Have you played with Google Earth? (If you haven’t you really should as it is amazing AND free!) The search tool exports any search to Google Earth! I simply love being able to search around the homes in Google Earth and turn on/off coffee shops, gas stations, parks, etc. to get a feel for the different neighborhoods.
In addition, you can sort on things like “$/sf” and search by home “remarks”. All VERY cool features that simply aren’t available on other home search tools!
Ardell,
It appears your site is designed & hosted by Logical Dog. I’d love to hear about what you think your current site does well, before I tell you about what I could do better and try to win your business.
I get it now — thanks for the clarification, Dustin. So the benefit of “Offer STI” listings is mostly educational for the prospective buyer — the property itself is under contract and therefore, at least right now, not available for purchase (someone, please, correct me if I’m still off base).
Craig
FSBO Law Blog.
Right, STI means it’s under contract, not available for purchase, until if/when the inspection contingency is disapproved.
RE: Using “Caffeinated Software” v.s. Logical Dog. Unfortunately, most agents have no control over who gets them their MLS feed. The NWMLS only allows the designated Broker to sign an agreement with a third party to provide computer services. The Broker of the company decides who they’re going to go with. In my case, my Broker signed a contract with Logical Dog years ago. I’m stuck with using their search. Can’t help it. Can’t change it. I think mine is pretty much like Ardell’s, except I’ve added a “quick-search” option to view my preferred geographic area: Seattle Dream Homes Search. My company, CBBA, however, has a little more interactive-type of map search. I think this must be a little beyond Logical Dog’s capabilities, they must have hired someone else to do this: CBBA Search.
In Logical Dog’s defense, however, I think the gal who runs it, Jan Chapman, is self-taught and I think she did a pretty good job for someone who’s just making it up as she goes along. It’s easy to forget how new a technology this all is….. We’ve only been using computers about 20 years now, so of course there are going to be bumps along the way.
Robbie, the way to get more agents to use your software is to go directly to the brokers. There are still so many real estate companies that have static webpages (if any at all!). They’re the ones you need to talk to…:)
Marlow,
I believe, both John L Scott & C.B. Bain uses another local company Real Tech for their main site.
Also in Logical Dog’s defense, having spent the past couple of months working on “Caffeinated / Rain City” search, I can imagine how difficult doing standard home search site is for somebody that doesn’t have a software background. For example, one annoyance I had when developing the site is that images from the MLS are not in a standard size. So I had to write a page that does dynamic image re-size on the fly. Granted, it’s not hard, but it’s code that you have to implement in order to be taken seriously. I also admire the fact that they do personalized sites for their clients instead of the “frame-ware” that Superlative, appears to do. However, it’s my understanding Logical Dog is more expensive than Superlative, but Logical Dog is a company who’s success I wish to emulate.
However, I spent over 10 years at Microsoft and having been attached to computer keyboards since the days of Atari & Commodore. I should be able to do this kind of stuff while sleep walking. I know what’s involved to keep up with the Zillow’s & RedFin’s of the world.
You may be surprised to know that you probably can change. In my case, the agent I was working with to get my data feed was a CB Bain agent. Although, she eventually went with Superlative, it wasn’t until after I got my MLS feed from CB Bain, and after I had already developed the guts of the site you see today on Rain City.
You may want to contact the IT person in your office about what’s involved (who in all honestly, may or may not know). Your correct in that your broker has to provide access to computer consultants. However, since your broker is the one that provided my access originally, I suspect it can be done w/o much trouble (at least in your case).
If your interested I’d be happy to send you a copy of my Form 110 (NWMLS download agreement). After which, you probably need to forward it to Dennis Holland & Ben Nordlander of CB Bain’s IT Dept at their HQ on Mercer Island for approval.
Jan Chapman of Logical Dog does mine also. She was recommended by the mls and she’s a great gal. The dog attends all meetings
Hi Robbie,
Sorry I didn’t see your comment up there. Was rushing to get the entry done this morning and then was tied up most of the day. Mondays are a bear!! Even holiday ones like today. Tomorrow will be worse when escrows open and mortgage companies. Lots to do in a short week. I’m also trying to hook up with a Staging Company for the storefront. Meeting tomorrow.
To your question, I just like that mine updates every 15 minutes and I can click on Kirkland and price range and go. It gives me accurate info. Sometimes it takes forever for some of the major sites to catch up, as if they have an overnight download instead of a 15 minute sweep.
The ones that are “bad” in my opinion are the ones that show property without a status noted, just to get buyers to call. Clients call me and say, how about this one? They saw it on another site and think it is for sale. I can’t tell you who does that because of my “inside” position, I’m not allowed. But it really burns my butt.
Quite obviously I need a site. That one is just a quick site because I pointed my SearchingSeattle.com (which is mine as an agent) for the company to use temporarily. Now that I bought the domain SearchingSeattleBlog.com I have to take it back and join them together. Can I get Google Earth on my personal agent site SearchingSeattle.com? Can I connect the blog to the site better? Jan just “attached” it for me with the big block button temporarily.
I obviously need help
I like Jan, but I have been reluctant to go past the quick start site because I couldn’t get her to work on a lot of things I find less than satisfactory. Her system doesn’t manipulate much as to presentation. But I do like that she keeps me in compliance with the mls “rules” that keep changing.
I’ve never searched property through Rain City. Will go try it now. Is that “your work”?
Oh no, Robbie!! You are on the “bad boy” lame list!
Go to Kirkland $900,000 to $900,000. That house is NOT for sale (it was a hell of a steal, underpriced IMNSHO). OMG!
Redfin doesn’t show it at all, they drop everything off they can’t just “write up” for 1%.
Why do you show STIs as if they are for sale, Robbie? Say it ain’t so…
I checked Windermere, CB and John L Scott. All three show as mine does. The “subject to inspection” or STI appears on the site.
No, no, not the lame list! :0
I really should put a big BETA accross the top of the site, since it is a work in progress. (despite some of the unique features it does have)
Anyway, my site updates every 30 minutes. I could update it more often, but I figured 30 minutes is a good trade off between having current information vs. having my server wasting it’s cycles when nothing changed.
MLS updates are kind of ‘chunky’. There will be times when nothing changes for hours, and then the clock strikes 4 PM and 400 new properties come in and 200 disappear into the bit bucket. But yeah, sometimes things slow did a little bit.
Not having the status was an ommission on my part, and if you look at property details, you’ll notice that I now do include the status. Should we add have the ability to search for the status or put it on the search results page? I’m making it up as I go along, so I’m open to anything.
Rain city search is “my work”. I developed all it from scratch with lots of TLC & SQL.
However, there’s so much more I want to do with it. I won’t be done, until Zillow & RedFin have a bidding war over me (I’m dreaming, but if you’re going to dream, dream big). 
The 30 minutes is fine Robbie. It’s not a race. I only like the 15 minutes because I can enter a listing in the mls at someone’s house, and then show them their listing “on the internet” before I leave the listing appointment. We can upload the photos together. This way the seller is more involved in the process. They can see all of their cleaning and staging efforts were worth it! But I can talk to them for an extra 15 minutes
Searching by status would be PRIMO! No public site has that feature, that I know of. Of course we do. Have Anna show you (or some other mls friend) the map feature. I use that all of the time. I wish a public site had that ability. All that flying makes me airsick
In the mls, I just draw a box around the area and hit submit and I get all of the properties located in the box. The other feature I use a lot is radius search as in “I want to see all property within 1/4 mile of this one (by mls # or address).
A map search and radius search would be great! Most people don’t know all of the neighborhhod names, the way mine expects them to.
Your presentation is Primo! I met with Jan about the font and colors of things, and the limitations were not acceptable. I want mine to say Call Ardell to see this home with my phone number right there, and I don’t want it in fade away gray lettering with 8pt font.
I’ll go see what you changed.
OK, use this as the test before it goes pending Robbie. Kirkland from $900,000 to $900,000. That should say Offer Subject to Inspection.
I further suggest you put “Call Anna to see this house today!” on the Actives only and not on the STI properties. That will help people notice the distinction. On the STI’s you can say “Call Anna if you want to know if this one comes back on market after the inspection”. Something like that.
You are in violation of some rules regarding acknowledging the source. You need the mls trees, I think or Courtesy of John L. Scott. Look at my site and see what it says there. I think mine has both the trees and the courtesy acknowledgment.
Kim (the Broker in my bed) tells me the mls sent out a huge warning about “written” permission now to advertise. They are really cracking down on the rules right now, so be careful…BETA or not. I think Anna will be the one to be fined, and not you. They had a big “emergency” meeting about it and came up with…as my main man Bill Maher would say “NEW RULES!”
Ardell:
If you look at the details page for the property, you should notice that..
It does say subject to inspection and it also credits the NWMLS and the listing broker (Re/Max) at the bottom of the page. The layout of the details page is pretty bad right now, so it’s probably difficult to notice, but it’s there.
Anyway, I don’t know the old rules (much less the new ones), and I’m sure my future clients would appreciate it if the sites I develop are compliant. If there are any gaffs, let me know.
Dustin:
Can you e-mail me a “Call Anna if you want to know if this one comes back on market after the inspection” bitmap?
Pretty sure status and the courtesy acknowledgement of source have to be on the “first peek” page. Status may not me an mls requirement, but it’s a credibility factor, so I’d move that forward as well.
Robbie, I like the recent changes… I look to getting you an updated bitmap tonight!
[...] Monday 10:05 P.M. - email - Hi Ardell, my name is “Jack”. I just moved here from X and am on a mission to find a house before June when my wife and children join me. I thought I could do this using the internet but I’m finding this more and more difficult as houses I like seem to disappear almost as soon as they hit the market. I just read some of your articles including the one titled Using the internet to buy your new home and you made me realize that I need help. I’m pretty sure I know what I’m looking for and where I want to live. Here goes: Quiet and clean residential neighborhood, good elementary school. Single family house with 3 bedrooms with an additional room for an office. Two car garage. Ramblers are not my first choice. My budget is _ and am pre-qualified with my bank. MLS# 26xx is a good example of a house I like that is currently STI. Is there hope? Can you help me? [...]
[...] Back in February I wrote three posts: Bottom Feeder Sites, Using the Internet to Buy Your New Home and Redfin-Something to Thing About. Since January, when I began “writing for” Rain City Guide, I have been running an experiment based primarily on these three posts. [...]
[...] Do you have any favorite posts? I loved this post and I especially loved when the client commented. It totally surprised me. This was my favorite, but it just slid by. I must have been the only one who liked it…oh, and my sister loved it. Most people, like “Jack” in that first linked article, came to me from this one. So I’d have to say that is one of my favorites as well. [...]