Real estate websites are the most prevalent means for buyers to look up their dream homes. As per the National Association of Realtors, almost 95% of the buyers leverage online tools in their home-search process.
Before the internet, agents and brokerages would promote their listing mainly in print and send out in binders that were kept at the local offices. Customers would visit these offices, go through the property pages, pick the ones they liked, and hop into the agent’s car to visit the home.
Then the internet came and swept the real estate industry off its feet. Today, advertising and promotion are all carried out simultaneously online. So, if you are wondering “what are the real estate brokerages near me” then first look up the internet.
This article presents the five best sites for real estate in the US.
1. Zillow.com
Zillow is among the biggest and best sites for real estate for both home sellers and buyers. In 2021, the website averaged 68 million monthly visitors.
Zillow was founded by two ex-Microsoft executives in 2006. It provides the most robust suite of tools for real estate transactions. Its products like Zillow Zestimate, Zillow Rental Manager app, Zillow mobile app, 3D virtual home tour app, and others are facilitating the home-search and home-sale journeys of buyers and sellers.
Homeowners can list their properties on Zillow.com for free. This maximizes the exposure of the property as listings from a hundred other websites and the local MLS are syndicated on Zillow.
However, the company’s reviews do not paint a very rosy picture of the website and the ratings are relatively lower than other alternatives.
2. Houzeo
A tech-centric real estate website, Houzeo was founded in 2017. Since then it has been at the forefront of disrupting the flat fee MLS model with best-in-class technology.
The company’s MLS listing service allows sellers to list your property for $349. This may help them keep thousands in their pockets by saving on listing agents’ commissions.
The paperwork is completely digitized by the company and sellers can finish the formalities in a maximum of 60 minutes. All Houzeo listings are syndicated to the local MLS and hundreds of other sites too.
There is a Houzeo App too, which lets you keep a tab on everything from the comfort of your device.
Home sellers across the US have given the company an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 on major review platforms like Trustpilot and Google.
3. Realtor.com
Affiliated with the National Association of Realtors, Realtor.com was launched in 1996. It uses MLS listings that are sourced from nearly 580 local databases. This makes it one of the most real estate websites.
The company also has its app, which has more than 300,000 reviews on Google Play, and the average rating is 4.7 stars. On the app, users can look for homes, see pictures and do video tours, compare neighborhood criteria, and much more. All the listings are updated in real-time.
However, there is no option for homeowners to list their houses for sale by owner because of its strict code of ethics. But if you list your property on the MLS using a broker or a real estate website, then your listing will be syndicated to Realtor.com.
4. Beycome
Among the best sites for real estate, Beycome’s name is worth mentioning. It is disrupting the real estate sector with its simple flat fee MLS offerings.
This Miami-based real estate company is one of the pro-good features and low-cost platforms. To sell your property with Beycome, you will have to submit a form where you outline the details about your property and establish their intended sale price.
As a flat fee brokerage, the company lets you bypass the listing commission helping you save thousands.
It has three packages ranging from $99, $399 and $599 + 1% commission. However, the sellers will have to do most of their work themselves. This DIY nature of the platform makes it challenging for first-time home sellers to navigate their way around the tools.
5. Trulia
Set up in 2005, Trulia has a website and app that are incredible at transparency. The app has more than 200,000 reviews on the Android platform and an average rating of 4.5 stars.
With the help of Trulia, users can see their potential neighborhood. Its advanced filters such as narrowing down the search based on the number of rooms, price range, and style come in very handy for buyers. Its interactive map offers information about schools, nearby stores, restaurants, and community centers.
Trulia is a subsidiary of Zillow and aims to be the one-stop shop for sellers and buyers. It is very popular among people who want to get a complete understanding of their potential neighborhood and not just the home. There are also reviews about the neighborhoods.
The app is completely free for users.
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