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Below are my notes on the future of real estate search. Far from being static, this page is fluid and constantly being updated, so consider bookmarking this page and returning in the future to find out what’s new and innovative in real estate search! Also, if you know of a real estate website or tool that should be on this list, either email me or leave a comment in this post.
Table of Available Search Tools (see notes below for more information)
| Name | Coverage | Type of Listing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rain City Guide Search | Seattle Area (King Co. and beyond) | Complete MLS | Export to RSS/Google Earth, |
| Zillow | National | No home listings (yet!) | Zestimate of your home’s value |
| Propsmart | National (but not everywhere…) | Partial MLS, FSBO | Aerial Maps, Comments on Listings, RSS feeds, Google Earth |
| Realtor.com | National | Complete MLS | National Site run by Realtors |
| Craigslist | National | Partial MLS/FSBO | Also see Housing Maps |
| Homepages | National | Complete MLS | Neighborhood information, Sale Price of Homes |
| Redfin | Seattle Area | Complete MLS | Sale Price, Aerial Maps |
| Trulia | Nationwide | Incomplete MLS | Sale Price, Aerial Maps, Sale Statistics, Heat Maps |
| PropertyPoint | Western US | Complete MLS | Aerial Maps over Google, RSS Feeds |
| OnOneMap | UK | Unknown | Aerial Maps |
| Sunday Dash | San Francisco Area | MLS | Aerial Maps over Google |
| Movoto (formally iGenHomes | San Francisco Bay Area | MLS | Aerial Maps over Google, School Details, Open House finder |
| ForSaleByOwner.com | ForSaleByOwner | RSBO | Aerial Maps over Google, Export to Google Earth |
National Sites
- Not really innovative, but it forms the basis that all other sites will be compared to since it has the most up-to-date nationwide MLS database
- Company that runs this site (Homestore) recently received a huge investment that could lead to new innovations in the future.
- Includes some FSBO listings and some MLS listings
- HousingMaps.com displays Craigslist listings over Google Maps.
- Has many regional sites like this one for Seattle
- Zestimate of over 60M homes in the US.
- Includes (nearly) nationwide MLS database
- Includes neighborhood information
- Includes sold home information
- RCG coverage of Homepages
- RCG initial review of the site
- Includes aerial maps, comments on Listings, RSS feeds, Google Earth
- List of homes are screenscraped from agent sites.
- Comment announcing the site
Regional Sites
- Complete MLS Search for King County, WA (Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, etc).
- Includes sale history of most properties
- Limited to Cities within California and New York
- Great user-interface for real estate search
- Incomplete MLS data from opt-in real estate agent sites
- Limited to San Mateo and and Santa Clara Counties in California
- Clean search of MLS data over Google maps
- Complete local MLS data
- Open House finder tool
- RCG original article on Movoto back when they were iGenHome
San Francisco Bay Area MLS Aerial Maps over Google, School Details, Open House finder
Windermere’s PropertyPoint Beta:
- Complete MLS search over Google Maps for most of the Western US (including Seattle)
- UK Property Search over Google Maps
- Real estate search over Google Maps for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut
- Real estate search for New York
- Sellsius blog has a nice writeup on Property Rover.
Specialty Sites
- Local company building some innovative map-based real estate search tools for real estate brokers and agents including John L. Scott’s Neighborhood search.
- RCG Coverage of Google Base
- Some listing information, but very sporatic and not much of interest (yet!)
- Only includes sold home information
- Only available in King County, WA (Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, etc).
- RCG coverage of ShackPrices
- Nationwide neighborhood information
- Useful search tools cost money
- RCG coverage of Neighborhood Scout
- Includes owner name and address, parcel map, last sale price, tax assessment, permits, square footages & room counts
- Similar data is available (in Seattle) from the City for free at this site.
- Requires registration (and possibly fees)
- Includes Seattle data
- For a government site, this is about as innovative as home search information gets
- Includes owner name and address, parcel map, last sale price, tax assessment, permits, square footages & room counts
- Maps out property data AND neighboring properties at the same time
- Works on a PC or Mac, I.E. or Firefox
Vaporware (until proven otherwise!)
- Currently, not much worth writing about on their site. But they are building a new brokerage service for the Pacific Northwest that will likely include some new search tools.
- Story from the Seattle PI
DEFINITION OF TERMS:
MLS: (Multiple Listing Services). Database of all homes for sale by professional real estate agents in a given area.
FSBO: (For Sale By Owner). Homes for sale without a listing agent.
RCG: (Rain City Guide). Seattle’s Rain City Real Estate Guide.
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