How (and where) to buy a house online
Still think the housing market is in a slump?聽Realtor Magazine聽begs to differ. According to its research, houses are flying off the market in some areas:
- San Francisco, Calif.聽鈥� 45 days on the market (median)
- Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.聽鈥� 45 days
- Bakersfield, Calif.聽鈥� 44 days
- Fresno, Calif.聽鈥� 43 days
- Anchorage, Alaska聽鈥� 43 days
- Denver, Colo.聽鈥� 33 days
- Oakland, Calif.聽鈥� 24 days
If you live in one of those markets, you鈥檒l need to hustle to find a house before someone else snatches it up. If you live outside of those markets, you鈥檝e got a little more time 鈥� about 84 days on average, says the magazine.
Home-buying websites (and their apps) may be speeding up that process. They鈥檝e got loads of listings, tons of photos, and easily sorted databases that could save you time. But in reality, some are a waste of time. We checked out the biggest鈥�
1. Zillow
Zillow聽is my favorite home-browsing site, if only for the sheer volume of information available. You get listings,聽mortgage聽rates, advice columns, and local info. In my area, they have more listings than any site mentioned here. They contain photos, information about the property, the number of days it鈥檚 been listed on Zillow, and the selling price. And best of all, Zillow estimates your monthly mortgage payment in the listing 鈥� so I don鈥檛 have to do the math before I think, 鈥淲hoa, I can鈥檛 afford that.鈥�
Zillow also has聽apps聽for Android, Android tablet, Blackberry, iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire, and Windows Phone.
2. Trulia
If you browse the Sunday home listings in your local paper, then聽Trulia鈥檚 layout will look familiar. The listings are posted down the front page, starting with the newest. You can sort them by the usual ways 鈥� size, location, and price, for example 鈥� but Trulia also has a few unique search features:
- Type of listing聽鈥� sort by price reductions, newest listings, and upcoming open houses
- Foreclosure type聽鈥� sort by houses under a notice of default, those going to auction, and real estate owned property
- Keywords聽鈥� sort by anything you want
The only problem I found with Trulia was that the site automatically pulled my location 鈥� and missed it by about 40 miles.
Trulia also has an聽app聽for the iPhone.
3. Homes.com
In my opinion, the layout of聽Homes.com聽is its best feature. The listings are posted in a grid, with the two most important things prominently displayed: a photo and the price. In fact, this was one of the few sites that showed large enough photos on the home page that I didn鈥檛 have to open the listing to see if I liked the house.
Of course, if you want more information, Homes.com has that too. You can search by specifics such as listing type, year built, size, and features.
Homes.com also has聽apps聽for Android, Android tablet, iPad, iPhone, and Windows Phone. They also have a mobile website accessible on any smartphone.
4. HomeFinder.com
HomeFinder.com聽had a few features I liked. For example, every listing shows information about the neighborhood, like the percentage of renters vs. homeowners, nearby schools, and recent tax assessments. But I couldn鈥檛 get past the ads 鈥� multiple ads on every page. And their mortgage estimate info links to a single mortgage company.
HomeFinder.com also has聽apps聽for Android and iPhone. There鈥檚 also a mobile website for smartphones.
5. ChoiceofHomes.com
ChoiceofHomes.com聽is an ironic name, considering that other sites found more than 100 listings in my ZIP Code 鈥� and this site found only聽one. And they鈥檙e the only one of these sites without an app.
Those are my five favorite (and least favorite) home-buying sites, and while they may help you find a house, you鈥檒l still need to do another search for a mortgage.聽
Angela Colley is a writer for聽, a consumer/personal finance TV news feature that airs in about 80 cities and around the Web. This column first appeared in Money Talks News.
