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How to Search Online for a Home - 08/14/08
When searching for a new home, how should you organize your search criteria?
You can do what real estate agents do! Come up with your own list of items that you must have in a purchase and keep that list handy. You will use type in that information at the various sites you visit when looking for homes.
Most real estate agents have a website of some kind. The best of the best have spent a lot of money to make home browsing easy and fun for you at their site. All sites are different but there is always a screen of some kind where you'll enter specific house-hunting information. This screen is either after a "sign up" page if one is required or if none is required, you'll type house search information almost right away.
The Must-Haves
ZIP Code - location is really everything! Pick up to four viable ZIP codes for your search.
Number of Bedrooms - OK, obvious.
Number of Bathrooms -- consider using the "half" bath option if one is offered up as a choice. Some agents, when entering MLS data, round this number up. Make sure you know if you're about to tour a 2 bath house or a 1.5 bath house. A full bath is considered to be one with tub and shower. Tub OR shower is consider a 3/4 bath. Sink and toilet only is a 1/2 bath.
Floors or Stories -- some buyers must have a one-story house. That's OK!
Price - an obvious "I must get this right" for 99% of buyers. Billionaires need concern themselves with this option.
Pool or no pool -- why look at houses with pools if you don't want one? They are expensive to maintain and some families view them as a liability. But they sure are pretty!
After this basic criteria of must-haves is entered, you can let the properties that come up dictate any wish list items. You may wish for a two car garage for example, but the perfect property you find has everything you must have but only has a one car garage. This compromise may have to work for you.
If you're shopping for a townhouse or condominium and have pets, please keep the pet option Yes/No as a mandatory selection. And choose Yes as your option. We highly recommend shopping for property that accommodates your pets. They need to be in your new home, too. Shelters have too many animals abandoned because the owner's new condo didn't allow pets. In that case we say: Buy Another Condo! Open House Genie loves animals and considers them part of the family.
If you have more questions of a specific nature about how to shop for properties, how to find a decent site for searching or you need some bizarre code, language or real estate abbreviation translated, just ask!
customercare@openhousegenie.com
Article by Open House Genie
Copyright 2009
Used, copied or quoted with permission only.