NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE WEEK: Real estate apps to treat the shopping bug
You can stay safe in your house and still tour the local real estate market, and you’ll see much more than what you can find outside your window.
Photo by TYLER WILSON
Real estate agents around the Inland Northwest continue their work, albeit with extra precautions in place as a result of COVID-19 and state mandated stay-at-home orders.
Still, people are definitely hunting for homes at a slower rate, especially for folks without a need to move urgently.
Since North Idaho boasted an extremely productive market prior to the pandemic, the local industry should rebound nicely once the strictest of social distancing measures begin to loosen. Already a haven for California and Western Washington transplants, North Idaho might gain even more traction from people looking to live somewhere with a little more space between their neighbors.
Assuming that parts of the economy roar back to life sometime in May, it isn’t necessarily too early to be doing some “early shopping.” Technology has empowered buyers and sellers on the market, with real estate applications/websites like Zillow and Trulia providing opportunities to tour and price-compare homes on the market.
In a time without open houses, these applications can help buyers understand what they most value in a home search. Most (good) agents these days make sure an online listing is populated with numerous high-quality images that show off a home’s best features. This was important well before COVID-19, as tech-savvy buyers often utilized these listings to narrow down options and save time.
The three biggest names for real estate apps are Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com. Neighborhood of the Week utilizes all three, sometimes because there can be some variance in the listings.
More often, however, there can be some performance issues on a specific platform based on the technology you’re using to access it. For example, Zillow tends to work best on my smartphone, whereas Realtor.com performs better than the others when I’m working on my Chromebook. Surely other people have very different experiences depending on their own phone and computer specs.
The features can be invaluable even in an area where there isn’t much current activity. Realtor.com, for example, allows for an easy search of “Recently sold” properties within a chosen area that dates back four years. Honestly, the other two big apps probably do this too, just not on my old, junky laptop.
A couple of friendly warnings: Price “estimates” (Zillow calls theirs a “Zestimate,” har, har) aren’t something to take very seriously, and you shouldn’t necessarily begin negotiating on a property based on numbers that can be far, far off from the listed price. Also, some homes for sale don’t have accurate contact information or even the name of the property’s listing agent.
These apps serve as a place to start for prospective buyers (and for those looking for price comparisons before they sell a property). Huge advantages come from working with an experienced agent once your shopping becomes more serious. Realtors see the most current makeup of the market from their own system, and they have access to data and information you won’t find on these phone and internet applications.
Even more, you can utilize an agent to hunt down information that isn’t going to be easy to find online. Just one example: When I was shopping for a new home a few years ago, I kept going back to a specific Post Falls property I liked. The listing kept appearing and reappearing, and I wanted to know why the price seemed to be too good to be true. Instead of putting myself in an awkward conversation with the listing agent, I tasked my agent with finding those details. Turns out, there was some significant water damage that kept needing repeated attention.
In this social distancing time, agents are also expanding their online reach, with even more photos and virtual tours of properties that create an even broader presentation for buyers.
We don’t know exactly how long the “new normal” will last, but with the North Idaho lifestyle still in high demand, the industry will find ways to power through the current challenges.
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We want to hear from readers and real estate professionals about what you’d like to see from Neighborhood of the Week during this unprecedented time. Contact twilson@cdapress.com to suggest story ideas and updates you’d like to see in this space in the coming weeks.