Taurus' Thoughts on Those Popular Real Estate Web Sites

Zillow was my first real estate website love. I think I discovered it last year at some point (possibly during the time frame that Mr. Cap and I were planning to move to Portland). I loved that it was easy to navigate and to filter. And I really loved that giant map they had--one thing that makes this girl happy is to actually be able to see where the houses are in relation to where we work. 

But then I discovered Trulia through a co-worker. And oh my--this one had an EVEN BETTER map. This map had overlays with Crime levels, Transportation, Amenitities--Trulia became my new go-to website.

One day while making my usual rounds on Trulia, I decided to type in an address into the Google search engine to see if I could find some additional details on the property. It was at this point that I discovered Estately--and my love blossomed once more. Estately did awesome things like give you taxes rates, HOA fees, and breakdowns of the property (sq footage of rooms, land, etc). The map may not have been the best--but I can overlook that since it has other wonderful features.

Now I tend to use a combination of all three sites--Estately for my initial search (so I can have as many details about the property as possible), Trulia to check out crime ratings, and Zillow as an additional verification tool. I've even pulled my father on to the band wagon of using multiple websites to check out listings (as he was purely using Zillow before). 

I also have been taking advantage of Google Maps to look at houses and condos that have caught my eye--certain ones end up falling off my radar as soon as I can confirm that they are, indeed: 

• Located under high-tension wires. (the adorable cape with the wonderfully wooded back yard) 
• Located in a trailer park. (the 1900 sq ft 2008 home with beautiful wood floors) The friendly town 
• Project located in the back yard. (the beautifully restored ranch with A HOT TUB in the fenced-in back yard) 

Google maps has definitely saved us time in a lot of cases. But in the event that something doesn't show up on Maps, a good old-fashioned drive has always answered our questions--for worse, more often than for better. But an answer is an answer all the same!