With lots of PR and advertising money behind them, and plenty of
gee-whiz media coverage, the big national real estate web sites (Trulia, Zillow, Cyberhomes, etc) have advanced the notion that they are the best places to search for a home, no matter where you're looking.
So as this wave of hoopla has been building over the last couple of years I've occasionally gone to one of these sites to do a home search and see what all the brouhaha is about. And I've always ended up walking away wondering, "what's all the brouhaha about".
And I've always concluded that a consumer would be much better off using a local MLS based internet search in the area where they're looking for a home.
My searches on these sites have always been for homes in the Tucson Foothills, the area where I work and am familiar with, so that there would be no guessing about the results. And though the results always seemed pretty wide of of the mark, I'd never actually compared the results of these searches, from one site to another, and to what's listed for sale in the MLS.
So today I thought I'd try it again, and be a little more, but not too scientific about it.
First I went into the Tucson MLS and set up a search for single family homes, both new constructions and re-sale, in the 85718 zip, priced between $750,000 to $850,000. That's it. I kept it simple so as to not risk confusing some secret algorithm or magic formula that fuels the big sites. Then I entered that same criteria on my web site, thefoothillstoday.com, and on Trulia, Zillow, & Cyberhomes.
From the MLS I got 41 homes for sale
From my web site I got 41 homes for sale
From Trulia I got 33 homes for sale
From Zillow I got 14 homes for sale
From Cyberhomes I got 67 homes for sale
Who's to know.
So again I'm wondering, what's all the brouhaha about.
see my web site thefoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes
