What is a good website to search for houses in Phoenix? (broker, buy)

[R3ady4aChang3]

I've been looking on Trulia but not sure how good it is... Please send me a link.

[Captain Bill]

Trulie, Zillow, and all the national sites are not updated regularly.

On my site you can search directly into the MLS. I can't post the link, but you can go to my City Data Profile and find the link there. It's a very sophisticated search and there are 4 brief videos that will quickly bring you up to speed on various ways to use the searches.

[Border Scot]

What Capn. Bill said !! The MLS is the only way to go.

[esnox82]

I agree with Captain Bill. His website was most helpful! A Flex MLS is the only way to search.

[Robert A]

Windermere.com appears to grab an MLS feed, though I don't know how extensive it is. The site allows you to search by map and is the most user-friendly I've found.

[coorsleftfield]

Bill,

Any way to search by number of garage spaces on your MLS search?

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by coorsleftfield

Bill,

Any way to search by number of garage spaces on your MLS search?

I notice the criteria "Parking Spaces" is not on the list.
The criteria "Parking Features" is there, but it doesn't cover number of spaces.

I sent an email to support to find out why that criteria is not there and should have a response on Mon or Tues. I'll post the answer here.

Regarding Search Sites:

This is my opinion of the order of "best search sites":

• MLS search for Realtors who are members of a given MLS (Obviously having direct access to the MLS is best, and we pay a lot of money to have that access)
  .
• FlexMls Idx, such as I, and a few other local Realtors, have on our web sites. (This is an extra fee for Realtors who have this service, but it's the best search available for the public because it's also direct into the MLS with the same search criteria that Realtors have, with the exception of direct access to Pending listings and Sold listings. There is a work around for getting Sold information. MLS data is updated every 4 hours, and the FlexMls Idx is updated at the same time)
  .
• Realtor.com (This is the second best for the public. The reason is that every listing on the mls [unless a broker opts out] is propagated automatically to Realtor.com. There can be a day delay for a listing to show up on the site, or to be removed, but it is current within a couple days)
  .
• Other Realtor site searches (Many Realtor web sites come with an mls search section included. These searches are limited because the provider buys only a limited amount of data pull from the mls in order to keep their costs down. The search criteria is limited, and is not updated at the same time the mls is updated.)
  .
• Third Party Sites (This is sites like Zillow, Trulia, etc where listings are syndicated to. Not all brokers syndicate their listings to these sites. Those sites are are not updated regularly. The purpose of the Zillow listings is to sell listing leads to Realtors.
  
  Therefore, it is in the best interest of these companies to leave as many listings on the site as then can, for as long as they can. A listing may be Sold a month ago, and is still showing Active on those sites. So a customer asks for more information on that property. The "lead" is sent to one of the advertising Realtors for that area. It's easy to see why the more listings they can show, the more "leads" they can sell. It doesn't matter to the company if the property has already sold.)

[Jkgourmet]

Thank you, Capt Bill. For those of us (like me) who are considering relocating, this information is VERY helpful.

For a consumer in a research only mode (not lookinfoot buy right now), Is there a way for to find a site that has the FlexMLS in other areas of the country? Some magic search string on google that will pull those sites instead of the limited search sites? Or is realtor.com the easiest, best resource for getting a general feel of the RE market in another area of the country?

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by Jkgourmet

Thank you, Capt Bill. For those of us (like me) who are considering relocating, this information is VERY helpful.

For a consumer in a research only mode (not lookinfoot buy right now), Is there a way for to find a site that has the FlexMLS in other areas of the country? Some magic search string on google that will pull those sites instead of the limited search sites? Or is realtor.com the easiest, best resource for getting a general feel of the RE market in another area of the country?

For what you're looking for right now, Realtor.com is probably the the best because it would have the widest reach from one search engine.

[rjrcm]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

...

This is my opinion of the order of "best search sites":

• MLS search for Realtors who are members of a given MLS (Obviously having direct access to the MLS is best, and we pay a lot of money to have that access)
  .
• FlexMls Idx, such as I, and a few other local Realtors, have on our web sites. (This is an extra fee for Realtors who have this service, but it's the best search available for the public because it's also direct into the MLS with the same search criteria that Realtors have, with the exception of direct access to Pending listings and Sold listings. There is a work around for getting Sold information. MLS data is updated every 4 hours, and the FlexMls Idx is updated at the same time)
  .
• Realtor.com (This is the second best for the public. The reason is that every listing on the mls [unless a broker opts out] is propagated automatically to Realtor.com. There can be a day delay for a listing to show up on the site, or to be removed, but it is current within a couple days)
  .
• Other Realtor site searches (Many Realtor web sites come with an mls search section included. These searches are limited because the provider buys only a limited amount of data pull from the mls in order to keep their costs down. The search criteria is limited, and is not updated at the same time the mls is updated.)

Bill, there are other IDX applications providing MLS access used on Realtor site searches that are much better than Realtor.com. Some also provide additional features not offered by FlexMLS IDX. If we are allowed to push our favorite IDX's, I happen to like DiverseSolutions IDX applications, but I agree, FlexMLS is also very good.