I use redfin.

Trulia. I like getting updated alerts for my specific wants and needs. I also like visually the way the site is set up.

Living in a hot RE area, I find both zillow and trulia lag behind quite lamentably. I generally use Estately and Zip Realty around here. Zip is faster to get the listings but Estately updates with photos quicker than zip does.

If you're thinking of FL, robo, try them.

My friends who are looking are always sending me listings from zillow/trulia that turn out to have been sold for 6 mos.

ETA I do find Trulia useful for things like the crime maps, though.

I use Zillow and Realtor. Zillow because I like being able to see prior listing and sale prices, and Realtor because I like being able to filter for only open houses.

Thank you, this is very helpful!

Estately

My SO (post-pastry chef, post-commercial interior designer) is a real estate agent and said that clients will often find properties on Zillow and Trulia and ask why they weren't presented as options. And it's because they do lag behind on the status of certain properties sometimes up to a couple of months for some reason.

Our own apartment was listed on one of those for some time after it had closed. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason, some things seem to be up to date and others are not.

Redfin. Or Realtor.com. I like both.

Are you moving? Or just looking?

Beagles there was some idle talk this week with the in laws about vacation homes around longboat key but I think mostly just talk. Always fun to look, though!

I use either Zillow or Realtor but I am not house hunting, just being nosy. I actually find that my local Berkshire Hathaway site is the best for local listings.

If I'm actually looking to buy-I look everywhere (redfin is my favorite), including local real estate sites (these sometimes require one to sign up before you can see what's happenning..but if you're narrowed onto a specific neighborhood they might be the first ones getting info and presenting it very nicely), comparing all...info appears on sites at different timing, different sites will have better info on different things (say walk score, or picture size, or more clear maps..they strangely will have schools rating different sometimes too..)). One should be getting mls, then cross checking it with everything one's familiar with . Since mls itself is not very user-friendly. That's the opinion I formed when we were house hunting in 2013-14.

I checked everything early morning then cross checked it against several sites then wrote done the ones I'm interested in seeing, with all the main info.

It helps that I read pretty fast.

I knew all the properties coming on the market several hours before my then-realtor.

Which wasn't a good thing-I'd expect it being the other way around, lol.

(but some listings never reach mls too)

This time, when we looked more leisurely, being less pressed-I checked my notifications on redfin, trulia, zillow, zip realty, etc(yes I never signed out lol)-plus sites for neighbors like Craigslist, Nextdoor, etc..sometimes realtors or sellers advertize there before they want to hit mls, or instead.

We'll see what happens.

In between..I still look at listings. Lol. I mean I open emails but check out only the ones that catch my eye.

Just tried joining Redfin. it appears that I cannot just browse. When I chose a few homes, a pop up says I have to contact the agent. How are those using this site getting around this?

Then, I tried Estately. I didn't get a long list of what is available. maybe I'm doing something wrong here as well.

For those who feel Trulia is out of date, does that also mean when you get alert for new listings? That those, in fact, are not?

I, too am just browsing, so I am assuming that the current homes are available. True, they might not remove a sold house, but I usually look at how long something in on the market.

We knew we'd unfortunately have to list our previous townhouse pretty soon after we bought it..much sooner than expected. All this took time, but as we knew for sure, and got a feeling of what our timeline is, we started checking the market so to say so one of the agents we asked to show us a house, she was from redfin..I think. Then she moved to zip realty so I still get her emails ..but another redfin agent who took over her kept us on the list

I might be confused since it was several years ago, and very crazy back then

but I think I get notifications each day from four or five sites..since back then. Well it includes Big Bear listings( a mountain area couple hours from us), I signed up to see them just for fun, we have some friends there.

Eld, I use the Redfin app on my iPad. Didn't have to join and I can see all of the listings and pictures.

There is a site locally anyone can use that has ‘mls’ in the title, but it is specific to this area. Perhaps you have one similar but you didn’t hit on it. Do you have those free realtor circulars/magazines you can pick up around town? Perhaps one of those has a link to a site. On ours you can search by specific zip code, school system, and narrow down by other criteria (type of home, price range, # of bedrooms, etc).

April, in Nova Scotia there is a site that lists houses as soon as they come on the market, as fast as the realtors get them. So I definitely see my houses of interest at the same time or earlier than my realtor. I’m OK with it because searching for one house is my full-time job and he has other clients!

Def. fun to look. Longboat Key's a pretty area!

robo, you're right of course:) but it's not just seeing the listing, it's getting there in time..I can't get there without my realtor, they won't let me. Until she writes me back-I miss on a property. It was a very hot market that year.

anyway..she was a nice lady, it was just very crazy time.

Our relationship was kinda strange too and it's on me, partially..I was fascinated with her Southern accent..what I couldn't predict-that she'd become fascinated with my Russian accent, and try to erm..speak like me. She also thought I'm very little and cute, out loud too many times, and I felt like a gnome or something..:) Which is fine, I do have some gnome eerm..attributes, I guess lol. But I was too stressed to actually enjoy all that. Now I remember it and the truth is, it was funny as hell. I usually am highly amused in such situations. It just was a hard year.

She btw was pickier than me..I really tried to like houses since I was desperate.. while she would say "no, honey, it's not good enough"

she wouldn't take us to our-now house, she said it'd be too small

so we went ourselves to open house. and then we were torn. and then we brought her, to hear her advice. and this house, with all the shortcomings which were many, kinda won her over too. it's a cute house. it's a house fitting for a gnome:) like a toadstool, you know. she said "it becomes you".

well she was right. it becomes me. took us 27 months to actually remodel lol..if I knew that I wouldn't be in such a hurry..)))))

but it becomes me. a perfect toadstool. lol.

We have found that Redfin updates quickest for our area.

Realtor.com

Lake house.com

I use a local site and realtor.com

Based on my browsing one would think I am seriously seeking to move, but that is not why I look. I like to keep my eye on the market.

Another Redfin user, it seems the most accurate and includes any HOA fees. When we were in the process of trying to find a property to buy I also looked at Zillow and Realtor, as occasionally a house would show up on one of the sites that would appear to be exclusive to the site. Currently I look to keep up on the local real estate market and just because I enjoy looking so Redfin is enough.

Redfin was recommended on GW to me and I've never looked back. It gives updates instantly vs. realtor.com. I get notifications of new homes on Redfin that don't have pictures yet because the listing are minutes old. It takes days for realtor.com to send me the same homes. Signing up for redfin was simple and there is NO mandatory participation with realtors. It works just like realtor.com.

I was a realtor for 10 years and I won't use any other site now.

Jo

Thanks so much for all this information! Maybe I will set up a notification for longboat key just for fun.

I've stayed in LBK twice and absolutely loved it there. Loved watching the pelicans "go fishing" each night and morning. Such a magical place.