When it comes to searching for a home online, one of the quickest and easiest things to do is visit those high-traffic real estate websites or apps that are Zillow-like. Even if you’re not in the market to buy a home, we’re probably all guilty of searching on these sites to see how much our dream home is going for, or how much our new neighbors paid for their house. These sites are a lot of fun to browse around and look at pictures. There are a few things we’d like you to keep in mind though, as experienced real estate agents who have been buying and selling houses in Scottsdale for 20+ years.
Third-Party Real Estate Apps Are Not Designed to Find the Best Home for You
The first thing to remember is that these websites and apps are designed for advertising, entertainment, and marketing. This means they are not designed to help you find the best home for your lifestyle and budget. Sure, they have the nifty filters that you can set to tell the system how many bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage you want. But the reality is that like most other websites, these sites operate off clicks. Their goal is to get consumers to visit their website and use one of their third-party real estate brokers, to whom they can pay little to no commissions leaving more room for profit for the large corporation. This harsh truth is easily hidden behind flashy apps and features that were developed specifically to hook you. Think of how much you used to love window shopping when malls were more popular. Well-curated displays with the best and brightest stuff up front, but when you go inside, it’s rarely as appealing. These apps and sites are window shopping for real estate in the 21st century.
The Homes for Sale May Not Be Available
Another factor to keep in mind that we get a lot of complaints about when home buyers make their way to us is that the home you’re looking at on these apps or sites may be unavailable. All third-party real estate websites get their information from the multiple listing system (MLS). At times, it can take up to 48 hours for properties to populate correctly. If you’ve been involved in anything real estate since 2020, you know that 48 hours is a long time. We can’t tell you how many times a home buyer has come to us, with excitement in their eyes, telling us that they’ve found the home they’ve been looking for – only to be disappointed because the home sold a few days earlier.
You Are Not Working with the Home Listing Broker
Lastly and perhaps the most frustrating for us as dedicated real estate agents is when home buyers
find a house they love on one of these sites and begin the process of requesting a tour, they may believe that they’re interacting with the listing broker, but in reality, they’re interacting with a big brand name brokerage. This creates a negative experience because this is not the person who represents the home seller. These brokerages likely have never even met the home sellers and never will. This means they’re not technically authorized to sell the house. They just happen to have hefty marketing budgets to spend monthly on being featured in these apps and on these websites. This type of impersonal communication has one thing in mind – profit. They do not have your best interest at heart.
These third-party real estate apps and sites are not all bad. They are a good place to start the home-buying process and to get a good idea of what’s available. But as a rule of thumb, that’s where your shopping experience with these sites should begin and end. As experienced real estate agents, we are familiar with these apps and sites and we do use them because we know that consumers enjoy them. We know they’re not going away, and we understand that they’re a useful tool. However, when it comes to finding what’s truly best for you and your family, for your lifestyle, and for your budget, there is no replacement for a great real estate agent. If you’ve fallen prey to these third-party tools, don’t worry. We’re still here to help you find the home of your dreams. Reach out today. We can’t wait to build a relationship and really get to know what you need.