The battle for listings
Consumer real estate search sites like zillow and trulia claim millions of listings. And other tech firms are investing millions of dollars to get a chance to be the winner in the listings battle. TechCrunch analyzes the fray with an excellent article (and read the comments, most of the real estate industries big hitters chime in).
My opinion, I'd say real estate is local so search local and you can do so right here with my map based MLS search from Diverse Solutions, an IDX provider with all listings updated directly from the Charleston MLS.
But I noticed a very interesting thing in the TechCrunch article that stated that most real estate consumers search on a variety of different sites. I suppose they want to make sure that they are seeing everything available for sale. My best advice, narrow down your search criteria, if you know what you want, it's easier to find.
Did you know that there is a little box on the listing form we use that must be checked "yes" in order to have your home for sale placed in electronic marketing mediums including but not limited to, the Internet, MLS Internet Data Exchange (IDX) and other similar online marketing services. Now in today's real estate search world, why wouldn't a seller want the most possible exposure for their home for sale and yet, there is probably 1 or 2 percent who don't have that little box checked. What's up with that.