Are you looking to find one of the best property websites? When looking for a home, there is no shortage of housing sites to comb through. There are numerous websites for home buying.
Buying a home is a big decision that can be made easier with the help of the right real estate website. We will look at eight of the best real estate websites to help you find the perfect home.
By searching with one of the popular websites, you will undoubtedly find a home quicker and easier.
Recently, we tackled the best home rental websites for those seeking a rental property.
We have also reviewed popular apartment rental sites.
It only seemed fitting to review the sites with homes for sale.
You will quickly realize that some preferred rental sites are also the best home-buying sites.
Before offering on a house, using one of these featured sites will likely lead to an excellent experience.
Let’s dig into what you should know about the best websites to buy a house.
What Are Real Estate Websites?
Great real estate sites bring prospective buyers and sellers in the real estate market together. Excellent real estate website design provides visitors with ease of use and a great user experience.
A great real estate company provides property listings to help buyers find their next home while also giving exposure to home sellers.
Many buyers view property images, videos, and features before agreeing to a live tour. Doing so is beneficial because sellers post their homes on these websites: thousands of prospective buyers can view the home online without seeing it in person.
Real estate websites can also be marketing channels for other industry professionals contributing to the transaction. Realtors, mortgage lenders, and home inspectors can advertise to increase their online presence and generate leads.
The highest-rated real estate listing sites will have plenty of robust features. Some of the most vital elements of the top real estate sites are beautiful design, maximum exposure, sound technology, integration with social media, and responsive customer service.
Not only can you view the list price of homes for sale, but you can also see what properties are sold for. Most websites will also provide the days on the market for a property. A website for buying a house should have this information so potential home buyers can better understand the current real estate market.
What Are The Best Real Estate Websites For Buyers to Use?
Potential buyers can browse listings on their computers before meeting with a real estate agent or setting foot in a home.
Technology has made the home buying and selling markets much more open and accessible than ever. Websites allow buyers to get home prices, negotiate rates, and see a wider variety of properties than ever before.
You can research and learn about homes quickly. Information is updated fast, providing a better user experience.
But what are the best property websites for buyers?
Many buyers will ultimately partner with a real estate agent when buying their home. Still, many will do additional research online before signing on with an agent or in addition to what the agent tells them.
Websites that are excellent for finding real estate information are easy to search, have high-quality images, and keep track of the housing market trends.
Home buyers want a website they can easily navigate while hunting for the ideal house. Buyers don’t want to fool around. They want the most valuable real estate sites for their needs.
Using Technology to Be One of The Best Websites For Real Estate
A website for buying a house should have the ability to filter your search results. It is one of the essential desires for most home buyers.
Without a way to narrow down your search, you’ll be scrolling through hundreds of listings that don’t fit your criteria.
For example, if you need a home with four bedrooms and 2.5 baths, seeing three-bedroom and 1.5-bath homes mixed into your search will waste time. It would just make the process of finding a worthy home take a lot longer.
The same would be true if you only wanted to look at properties with an acre of land or more.
Narrowing down your options can help you find the properties you want to discuss with your agent. Some sites can help you save money by finding fantastic mortgage options or by helping you select a real estate agent.
Although we don’t recommend using a review website to find an agent, there are much better avenues for finding a top-producing Realtor.
We have compiled a list of the popular real estate websites for buyers. These sites feature supreme data analytics, search tools, and easy-to-use features.
Many of these top sites will be familiar unless you have been hiding under a rock. Some have large advertising budgets; you can see them on television or hear their ads on the radio.
A few websites are less established, but you’ll see how they work and how they take advantage of their features.
8 Best Real Estate Websites For Buyers Reviewed
What is the best website for real estate listings? In my professional opinion, there are three – Zillow.com, Realtor.com, and Trulia.com. I like to call them the “big three in real estate” due to their heavy volume of search traffic.
These three sites are at the top of the list for helping buyers achieve their goals.
It’s no wonder they are the three most visited real estate websites. One of these three should be on your radar when you want a top-shelf website for buying a house. Let’s take an in-depth look.
Zillow.com
One of the most well-known websites for real estate is Zillow.com. Zillow is now almost synonymous with searching for housing to purchase.
The website is an excellent resource for buyers, sellers, renters, landlords, agents, and real estate professionals. The tools are easy to use.
Home buyers can maximize their search results by filtering them by price, location, features, and property type. You can see information about the home’s neighborhood, such as commute times and school statistics.
Their integrated Bing maps are a popular feature that will give you an overhead view of an entire neighborhood. If something nearby may cause concern, you’ll likely see it on Zillow.
Looking at the price tool, you can get an idea of how much the monthly costs would be for owning the property, such as a mortgage, insurance, and taxes.
If the property has an HOA, Zillow will list that, and the last reported monthly fee.
Zillow will also provide what they refer to as a “Zillow estimate” or “Zestimate” for a given property. It is the one feature most real estate agents will agree is not worth looking at.
For all of Zillow’s greatness, the home value tool fails at one of a professional real estate agent’s finest strengths – giving an accurate housing value.
When looking at Zillow, keep this in mind. Have your real estate agent prepare a comparative market analysis for an accurate home value. Besides the downfall of Zestimates, Zillow is one of the best home-buying sites.
Realtor.com
When folks ask my opinion on the top real estate websites, my answer always includes Realtor.com. Frankly, I think it is the best home-buying site.
Realtor.com is a website operated by the News Corporation subsidiary Move, Inc., based in Santa Clara, California. It offers real estate listings from its database and third-party sources.
As of 2021, the website has over 100 million monthly active users and is the second most visited real estate website, right behind Zillow. Realtor Information Network, founded in 1995, is a closed network for National Association of Realtors members.
Since its relaunch in 1996 showing property listings, Realtor.com has been considered the largest real estate website in the United States. In 2016, it was valued at $2.5 billion by Forbes.
Realtor.com has direct relationships with over eight hundred regional Multiple Listings services, making it one of the most accurate property listing websites. Properties listed for sale are sent directly to Realtor.com via a feed.
Besides excellent accuracy, Realtor.com has many valuable stats and data that home buyers can use to search for a property to purchase. Many resources are available about home values, market forecasts, inclusive details about schools and businesses in the area, and commute times.
The site even provides crime rates for each city so you can decide where to live.
Additionally, Realtor.com has a wealth of information about buying a home, determining your mortgage payments and helping you assess what homes are within your budget.
What makes it one of the best websites to buy a house is a direct interface with the multiple listings service across the country. The moment homes are listed for sale, they appear on the site. The content gets updated frequently.
Trulia.com
Like Zillow, Trulia is another great real estate website. Many people don’t realize this, but Zillow bought Trulia in 2014.
Trulia allows you to find homes in your area quickly and easily compare the properties.
Their website has a variety of filters, including narrowing your search by features such as price range, home style, number of bedrooms, and more.
Trulia gives you an interactive map that lets you comb the neighborhood through the eyes of various filters.
The map filters show the area’s statistics, including schools, community age ranges, commute times, restaurants, and stores. It is one of the home-buying sites that not everyone has heard about, but it’s often enjoyable once they do.
Redfin.com
Even though Redfin is technically a competitor to other real estate companies, they are a real estate brokerage with a home base in Seattle, Washington.
I have to admit they have one of the most valuable sites for real estate listings. It is a favorite of many home buyers looking to purchase their first or next home.
Redfin gives you an interactive overview of the home, so you don’t need to see it in person. The company uses its advanced technology to improve the process for both buyers and sellers.
Redfin strives to make the home buying process more user-friendly, from listing through selling. The calculator on their website gives you an idea of how much you can afford for a home based on your neighborhood, income, down payment, and total debt.
Redfin is a website for buying a house that also includes an estimate of property value. Again, never rely on these figures from a real estate site.
RE/MAX.com
RE/MAX is home to more top-producing real estate agents than any other brokerage.
The company was established to compensate agents fairly, allowing them to keep nearly all of their commissions and deduct broker expenses from that total.
The structure is different from most residential real estate companies, where agents share a commission on each sale. If you consider yourself one of the top real estate agents, you’ve likely joined RE/MAX.
They also have a nifty website as well. If you want a home to purchase, RE/MAX.com is worth checking out. It is undoubtedly one of the better real estate websites.
In addition to their site, they also have an app.
Their home search app allows you to continue your search for available listings from the convenience of your smartphone or tablet.
The app is excellent if you want to keep looking while out or waiting for a listing that matches your preferences.
When trying to find a home you love, you can request information, schedule showings, and receive push notifications within minutes of homes hitting the market.
It may not be the best site to buy homes, but it’s among the leaders.
RealtyTrac
Do you have an interest in purchasing a foreclosure? If so, RealtyTrac is one of the top real estate sites for foreclosure listings.
RealtyTrac provides you with the ability to look over millions of foreclosed properties. If you subscribe, you can access the property’s address, loan information, and the locations and dates for upcoming auctions.
RealtyTrac is an excellent place to search if you are looking for a property that may need some work. All of the homes on their database have clean titles and do not have any liens or back taxes associated with them. The site is a fan favorite for real estate investors.
The biggest downside to bidding on items in an auction is that you have to pay the total amount in cash immediately if you win the auction.
RealtyTrac is one of the most visited websites for buying a home that has gone to auction or is foreclosed.
Auction.com
When you intend to purchase a foreclosed property, Auction.com is another excellent real estate website for looking at these properties.
Auction.com has thousands of properties listed for sale, giving buyers access to foreclosed and bank-owned properties.
Like RealtyTrac, you must win the auction to land your desired house. If their properties have multiple bidders, the price can increase like in a bidding war with traditional housing.
Auction.com will require a ten percent down payment when you are the winning bidder. It’s an excellent home-buying site if you don’t mind the risk of an auction.
FSBO.com
If you are looking for one of the exceptional home-buying sites for sale by owners, FSBO.com is it. FSBO.com is a website that allows home sellers to list their homes for sale “for sale by owner.”
FSBO.com offers a packaged offering with the option to list on the MLS and syndicated real estate sites, such as Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia.
From a home seller’s perspective, the enticing part of using a site like FSBO.com is the potential to save on the typical real estate commission. Real Estate commissions traditionally are in the ballpark of five to six percent of a home’s sale price.
Hiring a top real estate agent usually makes up for the difference in any commission saved due to bringing thousands of potential eyeballs through the local multiple listing services and an agent’s marketing expertise.
Selling a home on FSBO.com is not free. There are two listing packages. You’ll find an entry-level package for $99.95, including unlimited photos and the ability to post a video.
An MLS listing package includes an essential entry into the multiple listing service and syndication to some top real estate websites such as Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia.
If you are a buyer looking specifically for a for-sale-by-owner property, it is a great place to find one.
Best Real Estate Websites For Sellers?
Okay, it’s time for a personal plug. If you are looking to sell your home or want to be more educated about real estate, Maximum Real Estate Exposure offers a wealth of information.
I like to think of it as a real estate encyclopedia filled with years of knowledge and experience. Numerous topics are covered in all the blog posts – everything from financing, mortgages, moving, home improvement, and good old-fashioned general real estate.
You’ll find hundreds of articles on just about everything about buying and selling real estate. Thousands of people in the real estate industry follow to improve their business. The detailed information provided will be a great way to increase your knowledge.
Final Thoughts
What is the best site for real estate? Everyone will have their opinion, but these eight sites are considered top-rated.
By using one of these sites and connecting with a top agent, you should find the buying process goes more smoothly. The highly rated property sites will work seamlessly like a search engine. Finding a new home should be a pleasurable experience, which these home-buying sites deliver.
If you have any questions, reach out to me.
About the Author: The above Real Estate information on the best websites to buy a house was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill has expertise in mortgages, financing, moving, home improvement, and general real estate.
Learn more about Bill Gassett and the publications he has been featured in. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest towns for the last 37+ years.
Are you thinking of selling your home? I am passionate about real estate and love sharing my marketing expertise!
I service Real Estate Sales in the following Metrowest MA towns: Ashland, Bellingham, Douglas, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Natick, Northborough, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sutton, Wayland, Westborough, Whitinsville, Worcester, Upton, and Uxbridge MA.
