But it's our feeling that the majority of these home buyers and sellers aren't using the potential of the Internet to its fullest.

This page is designed to help YOU get the MOST out of the Internet. While the Internet can't replace a good real estate agent (naturally!) it can give you a HUGE amount of information to help you get the best home, sell your existing home for the best price, find a good agent (if you are in Phoenix, look no further!), and much, much more.

What can you do on the Internet to help you be better prepared to buy, sell, or invest in real estate? 

A short list might include:

1. Search for listed properties
2. Search for FSBO (For Sale By Owner) homes
3. Search for "HUD" and foreclosure properties
4. Get maps, aerial and satellite images of neighborhoods and areas you're interested in
5. Research crime rates
6. See if a registered sex offender lives near by
7. Research school information -- from Kindergarten to Medical School
8. Find recent home sales
9. Find home pricing trends
10. Get historical real estate appreciation rates
11. Find out property tax information
12. Get local area information such as:
    1. The job market
    2. Attractions & Events 
    3. City/town government
    4. Local news
    5. Population demographics and trends
13. Find out how far it is to the closest grocery store, doctor, vet, nail salon, pizza joint, etc.
14. Find out how long your new neighbor has owned their home
15. Find out how many homes around you are "owner occupied" and "renter occupied"
16. Get current mortgage rates and trends
17. Understand credit scoring systems
18. Calculate your monthly payments
19. Calculate how much home you can afford
20. Get a loan (though we don't recommend Internet only lenders)
21. Find other real estate related professionals such as:
    1. Mortgage lenders
    2. Appraisal services
    3. Home inspectors
    4. Escrow/Title companies
    5. Renovation and repair services
22. Understand state real estate law -- even if you are not an attorney!
23. Look up local zoning rules and regulations
24. Research different ways to take title
25. Understand real estate contracts including:
    1. Seller's obligations
    2. Buyer's obligations
    3. Agent's obligations
    4. Contract contingencies
    5. Time lines and deadlines

That's only 40 different things (I told you it was a short list).  The "complete list" probably can't be printed as it grows almost daily.

Search for Listed Properties

The vast majority of homes for sale will be in a local Multiple Listing Service (MLS).  Once available only to licensed real estate agents, the ability to search the MLS has been made available to almost anyone with an Internet connection.

There are many ways to search the MLS. Contrary to popular belief, big national sites like realtor.com and big brokerage sites (century21.com, remax.com, etc) do NOT provide access to the MLS. Those sites pull listings from MLS and let you search what they pull. You may, or may not, be getting access to the actual MLS. The biggest drawback to using national real estate sites to search for homes is they are horribly outdated.  They simply don't refresh their listing data frequently enough.

The best way to search the MLS is on a local REALTORS® web site. Many agents provide MLS search capability for their website visitors. Some require you to "register" before they let you search. Despite claims that "registration is required by law", the fact is that agents use registration for one thing, to gather your contact info. What they then do with that info depends on the REALTOR®. You may find yourself signed up for newsletters and mailings that you really don't want (or worse, getting unwanted phone calls).  Some REALTORS® (like us) do not require any registration to search the MLS.

The easiest way to find a REALTOR® website with MLS search is to Google "Your town MLS search" (obviously you want to replace "Your town" with.... your town's name).  In almost Anytown, USA you'll be presented with dozens to hundreds of agent sites to chose from. If you don't want to register to search the MLS, just try different ones until you find a non-registration site.

For an example of an MLS search page, see our Phoenix MLS Search page.

Search for FSBO Homes

Many people are convinced they can save money either selling their homes themselves or by buying a "FSBO" home. (I could direct you to a lot of statistics that say that isn't true). But if FSBO is what you want to do, you can search for FSBO homes on many national FSBO listing sites. (See the note above about national MLS sites. If you think THEY are horribly outdated, you haven't seen outdated until you search a FSBO site!). 

Just Google "FSBO Listings".  Keep in mind there is no "standard" FSBO listing site, and you'll need to search many of them to get the most FSBO listings. Also remember that many FSBO homes aren't listed ANYWHERE (remember, these sellers are trying to save money, so many won't pay sites to "list" their homes). Sometimes the only way to find certain FSBO homes is if you happen to drive by and see it.

Some (but not many) REALTOR® web sites will display a few FSBO homes (we do, but don't have any currently shown). If you are trying to sell your home FSBO and would like it displayed on our site (for free), click here!

HUD and Foreclosure Homes

What is a "HUD home"?  HUD stands for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. You may have heard of "FHA loans" (Federal Housing Administration -- a part of HUD).  A FHA/HUD loan is insured by the federal government. When the holder of one of these loans defaults (can't make payments), then HUD pays off the lender and takes ownership of the home--it becomes a "HUD Home". HUD will then sell the home at market value as quickly as possible.

There are a lot of misunderstandings about buying HUD homes. You can NOT buy a HUD home at a ridiculously low price. They sell the homes at market value (and sometimes over market value in hot selling areas) with a sealed bid process.

There are a lot of rules and regulations regarding buying a HUD home. You *need* a REALTOR® to help you through this process. And I'm not saying that because we are REALTORS®! In fact, we don't really enjoy dealing with HUD homes, though of couse we will for our clients. The fact is, only licensed real estate agents can access the bidding system. Don't worry, HUD, not the Buyer, pays our commission.

Why are HUD homes a hassle? All you need to remember that the federal government is involved. Paperwork on a regular home sale/purchase can be staggering. You can only imagine what throwing the government into the mix does to the paperwork...

Condition is the critical factor to investigate in any HUD home. There are some amazingly beautiful HUD homes for sale, but a majority of them are in some need of repair. It's important to throughly inspect a HUD home prior to purchase so you know exactly what you are getting into. Especially considering that all HUD homes are sold "as is". HUD will not do ANY repairs.

The single best source of information on HUD homes is the HUD website at: http://www.hud.gov/ (lots of good info on this site, it's not all just about HUD homes).

Maps, Aerial and Satellite Images

This is one of the coolest ways to learn about a neighborhood you are not familiar with. If you've never played with Google Earth, you've got to check it out (it's free).

Here's a really quick example of what you can see on Google Earth. This image is part of my subdivision. You could look up specific addresses and see how close a home is to a major street, if it's on a cul-de-sac, how close it is to schools, parks, and shopping, and much more. You can zoom in and out, label streets and various points of interest, even measure distances between things. (and if you don't want to use it to research neighborhoods, use it to take a virtual trip to Paris, London, New York, the Grand Canyon.....  Get your kids on it, it's incredibly educational.)

Google Maps is a very nice mapping tool.  Below is a search I did for local Pizza places in Google Maps. Like Google Earth, you can zoom in  and out as well as get directions to and from different locations. A panel also is displayed with addresses, phone numbers and web sites for places you search for. It's a must have whether you are new in the neighborhood or have lived there for years!

Research Crime Rates

Whenever we show a home it's almost a given that our client will ask, "What's the crime like around here?". Unfortunately, we can't legally or ethically answer that question. Imagine if we told you, "Oh, the crime rate here is no issue" and a week after you move in someone breaks into your house. Or we say, "The crime here is horrible" and you miss out on the perfect home only to find that our idea of horrible crime and your idea are completely different. We can't legally answer questions regarding crime, racial, age or gender demographics or the age old question, "Is this a nice neighboorhood?".

But we can direct you to places to find information on crime rates. And the Internet is probably the sible best place to look.  To begin your search, just Google "your town crime rate" or "your town crime statistics".

If those searches don't produce the results you need, you should also try Googling "your town police" as many local police department websites carry crime statistics (and some of these sites aren't well indexed in the search engnies). Some state level organizations also carry crime stats broken down by local area, so try "your state crime rate" as well.

The FBI's website section on the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) is also an excellent resource (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm).

Probably the easiest way to search for crime rates is by zip code, if that capability is in your area (and it is inmost major metropolitan areas). Try Googling "your city crime rate by zip code".

For examples of various ways to look up area crime rates, see our Phoenix Area Crime Rate page.

Sex Offender Information

The U.S. Congress has passed three laws that require States to keep track of sex offenders; the Wetterling Registration Act in 1994, and the Lynchner Tracking and Identification Act and Megan's Law in 1996. On March 5, 2003, The Supreme Court ruled that information about potential predators may be posted on the Internet.

Now all 50 states have Sexual Offender Registry's (SOR) available on-line. For a list of State SOR websites, please click here.  In addition to state SORs, the Department of Justice maintains a Federal SOR here.  Another excellent national level resource is the National Sex Offender Public Registry (NSOPR).

In addition to the free state and local SOR sites, there are countless pay sites available. Some of these provide services such as automatically emailing you if a sexual predator moves into your area. Just be sure to review your states SOR before you pay for such a service as some offer the auto-email notification for free.

Search for Arizona Sexual Offenders

Research School Information

Certainly one of the most important factors in where you live is the quality of the schools.  You don't have to be a parent to need school information.  The schools surrounding your property can make a huge impact in property values, even if you never intened to have children.

There is a wealth of information on the Internet about schools--from day care to graduate school. Standardized test scores, student-to-teacher ratios, average classroom size, district boundaries and policies and more can all be found with just a little research.

For K-12 info, GreatSchools.net is an excellent resource no matter where you are considering a home. You need to register to receive some of the more detailed information, but I've never received a single piece of spam from being registered with them. Their "parent reviews" of individual schools is well worth the registration.

Virtually every school district in the country has their own web site. You should be able to find it by Googling "Anytown School District website". If you see a web site with the domain "xxxxx.K12.state abbreviation.edu (or .us)" you can be assured you've reached an "official" site. However, not all official district sites use the .k12.state.edu/us domain. But many do and that domain is reserved for true education sites.

School district boundary maps can be invaluable in deciding where to live or invest. The single best source for finding a boundary map is on the school districts web site.  Our school district boundary map collection is HERE.

Finally, your states Department of Education web site is another excellent resource. I haven't checked all 50 states, but I can't imagine there not being a web site for all of them. Google "Your state Department of Education" to find it.

Find Recent Home Sales

Probably the single most important factor in determining the market value of a home is what is called "Comparable Sales". A "comparable sale" is simply a recent (usually in the past six months depending on the market) home sale of a property similar to yours.  For this purpose, "similar" typically means a home of roughly the same size and condition located within a mile or so of your home. It's important to note that to find a good comparable in regards to size, you need to look at the number of bedrooms and bathrooms--not just the square footage. If you have a 2,000 square foot 3 bedroom, 2 bath home then you need to look for 3/2's inthe 1800 - 2200 square foot range. A 4 bed, 2 bath home, even if the square footage is identical to yours really isn't a good comparable.

There are a lot of ways to find recent comparable sales. Any real estate agent worth the paper their license is printed on will provide you with a "CMA" (Comparative Market Analysis) free of charge. Of course some agents do a better job than others when it comes to building a CMA. (You know who to call for the best CMAs in the Phoenix area...).  Some agents will bug you incessantly after they give you a CMA. (Remember, the agent giving you the CMA *really* wants to list your home or sell you the home they did the CMA for.) Some agents (hint hint) will not bother you other than the occasional follow up.  If you are just curious about the value of a home, tell the agent that. Most will still provide the CMA and most will then leave you alone. Any agent *should* stop contacting you if ask them to. If they don't, just politely ask them for their broker's name and number. That should get even the most irritating agent to back off.

There are a LOT of places on the internet that offer "Free CMAs". Most of these require you to fill out info on the home and submit it. It's then distributed to one or more agents that have signed up with the company and the agent then completes a CMA for you.  Of course the agents pay (sometimes dearly) to sign on with these companies, and they will no doubt be following up with you. (if they don't, they really aren't very good at what they do). Sometimes you'll get a CMA very quickly from these services, sometimes you'll never get a thing.

There are a few places on the Internet you can get an "Instant Home Valuation". We subscribe to such a service. These services automatically search public records and provide a reasonable list of comparable sales. Just keep in mind that no automated service can do as good a job as a human. Public records are notoriously behind so the sales you get may not be all that recent. But they are great for getting an immediate idea of comparable sales. If you're in the Phoenix area and would like a more detailed and current CMA, just fill out our Free Detailed Home Evaluation Form and we'll get back to you very quickly with a detailed, hand developed CMA (with the promise NOT to bother you repeatedly to list your home!)

Deeds for all states in the US are "recorded"--meaning they are an official document that is listed in a government agency. That agency is typically the County Recorder's office. They are also "public records" which means they can be viewed by anyone. Most counties have access to recorded documents on line. If you are interested in searching them, just Google, "You county recorders office". However, most deeds will contain the amount of the LOAN, not the purchase price of the home.