It seems that whoever controls the Internet, controls the market. As Gen X’s and Millennials initiate their pursuit of their first home, they will naturally rely upon platforms that they are most used to navigating. For the last few years the primary real estate platforms have been Zillow.com and Realtor.com, but now it seems that Homes.com has done a massive renovation to their site, and it is not just cosmetic. They have put the time, effort and energy into providing buyers with the data and information that is buyer-centric, not just seller-centric.
Zillow is still, by far, the most visited real estate website, with Realtor.com recording half as many visitors. Homes.com was a distant third or fourth, with Trulia.com and Redfin.com in the rear of the pack.
Originally, the Realtor.com site was a lead acquisition platform. It provides photographs and even details about the property, the construction, lot descriptions, size, heating and cooling facts, interior features, as well as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
It also provides property price details with respect to history and property taxes. There are times such details are absent.
It does rate environmental risks as to floods and fires.
It rates the schools within the market and their quality.
Homes.com
The Homes.com website provides descriptions for properties in a bit more buyer-friendly format. Since it is not sellers who need to know about where they live, the details are presented in both a simplified and visual format.
Most real estate websites offer detail as to the number of units, square footage and other aspects of the listing.
But in the case of Homes.com, they seemed to button-up a lot of the information.
■ It provides a snapshot of the Google map location.
■ It provides some history as to the neighborhood with photographs and some details as to attractions.
■ It gives photos and rankings or ratings of the local schools.
■ It provides photos and descriptions for parks and recreation in the area.
■ It lists the transit access points such as New Jersey Transit bus routes.
■ It also provides rankings as to crime level, walking access, bike scores, and transit score.
■ It also lists tax history for the property and assessment as well as price history for the property.
Overall, the difference between Zillow.com, Realtor.com, and Homes.com is that Homes.com presents the information in a more visual sequential fashion. Not all Realtor.com listings provide tax information, whereas most Zillow.com listings provide tax information and price history. Homes.com does both.
If you have any questions about this information or title insurance, please contact Ralph Aponte: 732.914.1400.
Counsellors Title Agency, www.counsellorstitle.net, founded in 1996, is one of New Jersey’s most respected title agencies, serving all 21 New Jersey counties with title insurance, clearing title, escrow, tidelands searches, and closing and settlement services for commercial or industrial properties, waterfront properties and marinas, condominiums, townhouses or residential single-family homes. Counsellors Title also features its own Attorney Settlement Assistance Program™ [ASAP], which is an individual resource customized to fit the needs specifically of real estate attorneys, including, Documentation, Preparation, Disbursement of Funds, Attendance at Closing, HUD Preparation or Post-Closing Matters.
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