Deepening Deluge of Real Estate Resources

We still recommend going with a real estate professional when it comes time to buy or sell a home, but if you're just probing the market or curious about the value of your home or others in your neighborhood, you've got an increasing number of online resources at your disposal. Just bear in mind that none of these have the complete information available from your local Multiple Listing Service, which your real estate professional can tap into for you.

For comparison, we checked listings in the popular West Olympia zip code of 98502. The local MLS shows 432 current home listings.

Roost (www.roost.com) show 376 listings in the same area; Trulia (www.trulia.com) lists 322 homes; Zillow (www.zillow.com) lists 434 homes -- which sounds impressive until you realize that their search criteria somehow included homes as far away as Shelton, WA; and Redfin (www.redfin.com) reports more than 500 results in a search for homes in the 98502 zip code. We're still puzzling over that number.

Obviously, you need to take these numbers with a grain of salt. As you do with home value estimates from Zillow or Eppraisal (www.eppraisal.com), which can vary by many thousands of dollars. So we'll stick with our advice to use these resources for rough research, then contact a real estate professional when it's time to proceed with a purchase or sale.

Should Homebuyers Use a Real Estate Professional?

With just the stroke of a few keys, you can find myriad resources on the Internet to help you in your search for a new home. Besides property listings, you can find out about specific communities, schools and mortgage options. Prudential Real Estate has made three great resources – Environmental Profile, Property Profile and Value Range Estimate – available on prudential.com/realestate that provide detailed real estate information just by keying in a U.S. property address.

With this wealth of information at your disposal, do you really need a real estate professional to represent you? Absolutely.

Think of it this way, when you go to an unfamiliar place, sure you could do a self-guided tour. However, your tour is much more rewarding and enriching when you have someone who is familiar with the location to guide you along because he or she has inside knowledge on the history, culture and stories that you may not have otherwise received.

The same can be said about sales professionals. Their role is more than someone to drive you around from property to property. They can be a great resource, especially to homebuyers relocating from other communities. He or she knows the local area including home values, taxes, utility costs, and school data, and may even be knowledgeable about resources pertaining to your special interests or needs. For instance, should you require help relocating an aging parent with you, your real estate professional may be able to direct you to local services or organizations for the elderly.

A sales professional can familiarize you with the processes involved in buying a home, alert you to potential risks, help you determine how much house you can afford, explain alternative financing strategies, as well as provide tremendous moral support.

Another benefit is having a strong advocate during the negotiating process. Sales professionals can help you objectively evaluate an offer then work to negotiate a favorable contract. During the process, he or she will review the contract and obligations before you sign, explain how contingencies and release clauses work, and so on.

And something easy to overlook is our familiarity with the complexity and risks inherent in the process. In the years I have been practicing I have been continually amazed at how quickly a seemingly simple transaction can grow legally complex and risky. When complex questions arise, a sales professional can help you quickly locate an attorney or other licensed professionals whose services you may require, such as home inspectors, engineers, surveyors and lenders.

As your single point of contact, a sales professional can manage the entire transaction including coordinating inspections, keeping in touch with the other real estate professionals, managing the documentation for the loan process, monitoring deadlines associated with contingencies, providing applicable paperwork, estimating closing costs, and helping prepare for a smooth and uneventful closing.

If you’re about to begin the process of buying or selling a home, consider involving a real estate professional. When the stakes are high, it’s comforting to have a specialist by your side.

Prudential Olympia, REALTORS is an independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial company. Equal Housing Opportunity.