Tales from the trenches

Finding the ideal home can be challenging enough. Add frigid temperatures and snowy conditions into the mix, and it’s easy to see why people delay their real estate plans until spring.

It doesn’t have to be that way. For one, coats and boots and snow tires are made for a reason.

Thanks to the resources available directly to smartphones, an extensive home search can be done without even stepping out your front door. Applications like Realtor.com and Zillow allow you to target locations, prices, square footage, number of bedrooms and many more conditions to narrow your search. While this technology can’t provide the full scope of a home or neighborhood, smart listings tend to include a wide spectrum of photos and details of the home. If anything, it’s a good place to start.

Many local real estate agencies and Realtors have embraced the technology and encourage buyers to use it and take a more active role in their searches.

While technology empowers buyers, guidance from an experienced agent still hasn’t quite translated to the digital/automated realm. When utilizing Realtor.com, Zillow, or other independent real estate applications, consider the shortcomings alongside the advantages.

As someone who uses Zillow just for fun (the grass is always greener), I often come across information on homes that are either incomplete or just wrong. That perfect 5-bedroom, 3-bath, 2,500-square-foot home with air conditioning and a fireplace may sit in an ideal neighborhood at just the right price. But the listing only contains pictures of the living room and kitchen, and there’s no mention of a fenced backyard, HOA fees, appliances and many other important data points.

Ultimately, any home that seems enticing on Zillow only brings you to the decision of wanting to see the house in-person. Maybe then you’ll learn the house is really four bedrooms and an extra room that resembles a coat closet, and the third bathroom counts the sink and the shower as a single unit. Maybe the air conditioning unit is 15 years old and the fireplace looks more like a space heater.

Incorrect or partial information isn’t exclusive to these phone apps — the descriptions stem from the original listings provided by agents and homeowners. The larger point is about tempering expectations. It’s easy to get excited about an online dream home, and the immediacy of the search (and our general impatience as a phone culture) creates a bubble that can’t really exist in the real world. Even a listing with 50 pictures and an exhaustive description can’t provide the “feel” of a house or neighborhood.

Phone applications also won’t necessarily provide an accurate history of sales, price drops and the length of time the property sits on the market. Yes, the apps generally include these numbers, but agents make mistakes and even “hide” undesirable details — for example a home might be removed from the listings entirely, then return with a new price. The information is tracked, but the price history is listed on a lower, less noticeable section of the page, while the more prominent “days on market” stat will be prominently featured. A home listed as being on the market for a single day could be a home that sat on the market for three months at a different price.

Considering all the information provided, these apps are still remarkably accurate — so long as you read all the details. Don’t be too distracted by photos of those wondrous vaulted ceilings — read the fine print.

On the flipside, sellers should be invested in how their home “shows” on these applications. An incomplete listing, or one with minimal photos, will underperform. Even a small slip-up on the listing can mean missing out on dozens of potential buyers.

Case in point — I personally missed out on one potential new home just last year, all because the phone app eliminated it from my search. It incorrectly listed an inadequate number of bedrooms in one section of the listing, which booted it from my search parameters. I only learned of the difference after the home left the market. Oh, what might have been.

In addition to the list price, Zillow includes what it calls a Zestimate home value. It uses a proprietary formula to determine this price, and it’s apparently very complicated. Still, as Zillow explains on its own material, this isn’t an appraisal but rather a starting point for sellers to consider when determining home value. Buyers sometimes see this number on a listing and wonder why the actual price doesn’t match more closely with the estimate (most often you see a higher list price than the estimate).

While the formulated estimate provides a guideline for prospective sellers, it can set buyers on an unrealistic path. Sure, there may be opportunities to make an offer on a home that better reflects the buyer’s perceived evaluation of a property, but each listing has its own unique set of prerequisites.

Technology no doubt changed the real estate game for buyers and sellers. Still, even with all this information at our fingertips, nothing compares to the value of having a real estate agent assisting in your search.

An agent experienced in the North Idaho market can provide a better comparative market analysis. Agents working the area know what homes are selling and at what prices. Agents may have different individual styles and opinions on the market, but that non-robot expertise can be extremely valuable when gauging certain properties and neighborhoods.

Realtors can provide even more information — and they can help fill in the full story on a given property — the details that won’t be included on a general listing. They can provide insight into the more elusive aspects of the real estate game, including knowledge on how fast a property could sell, or what to do when making offers or dealing with competing offers.

Agents get information “hot off the presses,” meaning they can find properties or have knowledge of listings before they reach the phone apps. Also, they can help obtain information that won’t appear online — like the status of offers or if sellers have rejected certain parameters suggested by prospective buyers. The phone apps will list “on the market” and “pending sale,” but nothing between.

The biggest value of having a dedicated agent is their ability to get you into a showing quickly. Nobody makes an offer on a home based on the app listing. Walking through a home with an agent who has walked through hundreds provides expertise and knowledge even the most seasoned home shoppers lack.

Again, Zillow, Realtor.com and other real estate search technologies should be considered a good starting point for a home search. They save an incredible amount of time by narrowing a search to properties that pass your general preferences.

Start with them, especially when it’s snowing outside. Then let the experts get to work for you.

Let us know about standout neighborhoods and developments that we may feature in an upcoming Neighborhood of the Week. Contact Tyler Wilson at twilson@cdapress.com.

Real Estate Agents, take advantage of Neighborhood of the Week by sending in your suggestions for featured areas, including sites outside the normal confines of Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Hayden.