Almost all home buyers start their real estate search online. Consumers don't have to leave their house while searching hundreds of listings in their area – all with multiple photos, detailed property information and satellite maps – providing a plethora of information at their fingertips. But, what real estate websites are the best sources of information and why?
Known as the "big three" – Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com have the most listings and drive more website traffic than any other real estate portals.
An October, 2015 study by BuildZoom found that Zillow and Trulia together dominate the market in terms of traffic, but Realtor.com recently surpassed Trulia to become the second most popular real estate portal behind first place Zillow. The relationship of Realtor.com with the National Association of Realtors has translated into Realtor.com having more timely, accurate and comprehensive nationwide listings. In fact, Realtor.com receives its data from almost all of the 800+ Multiple Listings Services in the U.S. every 15 minutes.
The Zillow Group sites have agreements with just over 300 MLS services. The BuildZoom study cites that Zillow.com has fewer listings than Realtor.com in 42 out of 51 largest metros across the United States. The discrepancy is often quite substantial: in 30 of the 51 cities, Zillow.com has 20 percent fewer listings. But, in a handful of cities – Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix and Detroit – Zillow.com provides more listings than Realtor.com.
In all cases, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is where the data comes from. If you need professional assistance or just want to schedule a home tour, contact your neighborhood real estate expert.