Real estate online search - you deserve better
I've written previously about the problems with inaccurate information on real estate listing sites. Now the LA Times did a study on searching online for a home at the most visited real estate websites. They found between 49 and 168 homes based on their search criteria.
The results:
Zillow 168
Home Gain 142, 48
Zip Realty 126
Yahoo! real estate 107
Realtor.com 103
MSN real estate 103
ReMax 91
Trulia 71
Coldwell Banker 29, 96
AOL real estate 49
Why the discrepancy in how many homes are available. Because in many cases, it depends on real estate agents submitting their listings to the real estate search sites. Realtor.com does get their listings directly from the MLS and MSN now uses Realtor.com for their real estate search. But Realtor.com is "clunky" compared to the super cool tech toys available at some of the newer search sites. Coldwell Banker wants you to see their listings before all the available listings. Some sites want to sell you to an agent as a lead (that's right, they want to sell you as a lead and I'm not sure that's the best way to find a real estate agent to help you with the purchase of your next Charleston home).
I don't want to brag (ok, maybe I do) but the new map based search on my website has more cool features and listings updated daily directly from the Charleston MLS. If you want the most accurate Charleston real estate listings and all the cool tech toys, this is the place to search.
You deserve better.