TEXAS – There are many sources homebuyers can use to find homes for sale in their area, but not all of them may be trustworthy.
A recent analysis of multiple real estate industry reports by the Texas Association of Realtors revealed that home-listing sources vary widely in reliability, with real estate portal websites providing significantly less-accurate data than data offered by real estate professionals.
According to a 2012 Redfin study conducted by the WAV Group, more than one in three homes (36 percent) listed on real estate portal websites are no longer available and inaccurate listing prices varied by 20 percent or more.
In addition, these websites were found on average to be missing 20 percent of the available homes within an area — and post homes-for-sale listings seven to nine days after they first went on the market.
Shad Bogany, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors, commented, “Texas is home to some of the fastest-selling housing markets in the country, so it is crucial that real estate sources provide the most up-to-date, accurate, and complete information possible to avoid disappointments in the homebuying process. In housing markets like ours, a one-week delay makes a big difference in decision-making for homebuyers and sellers.”
Conversely, the study showed that multiple listing service (MLS) systems — to which portal websites do not typically subscribe — and real estate brokerage websites contained 100 percent of an area’s available homes-for-sale listings on average.
The vast majority of local MLS systems offer real-time data and real estate brokerage websites are updated with current listing information as often as every 15 minutes.
