Real Estate Search Blog

Aside from providing the latest details on Taylor Swift’s new album, Twitter and other forms of social media can be extremely useful when it comes to keeping tabs on the latest real estate news. Whether you’re hungry for foreclosures and short sales, information on recent tax credits, or tips on how to stage your home for a sale, these are the 10 best social media sources for real estate search.

Growth spurt... or Goliath?

1. Economix.Blogs.NYTimes.com

With contributors that include esteemed economics professors from MIT, Harvard University, and Princeton, the New York Times Economix blog helps readers understand the real impact of laws and market fluctuations that are relevant to the housing market. Recent blog posts discuss the impact (or lack thereof) of last year’s home buyer tax credit and the lasting effects of kindergarten education on a student’s life.

2. Twitter.com/Agentopolis

The best source for real estate lifestyle articles that aren’t focused on a specific region. Agentopolis combs through a variety of sources, posting about articles such as 10 Best Cities for Working Women with Kids and Hidden Costs of a First Home.

Porter Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts

3. The Cambridge Real Estate Blog

Harvard graduate and Cambridge real estate agent Charles Cherney tells readers what they can expect from the home buying process, how to find their dream home on Day 1, and when they can expect their home to sell in the Cambridge real estate market. Charles also regularly posts in-depth spotlights on Cambridge neighborhoods and properties.

4. Trulia.com/Voices

These message boards are great to browse through for real estate discussions. Post your own question, general or specific, for free advice from experienced real estate agents located in almost every region in the country.

5. YouTube.com

Another great source for real estate video tours. Check out this Cambridge real estate channel for video tours through the latest Cambridge MA listings.

A screenshot of WellcomeMat.com

6. WellcomeMat.com

A real estate video tour website featuring properties listed by 18,000 real estate agents across the US. Particularly useful for luxury properties in metropolitan areas. A good way to establish a connection with an experienced real estate agent.

7. Zillow.com/Advice

Similar concept to the Trulia message boards; another great source for free expert real estate advice.

8. LinkedIn.com

Any real estate agent that’s not on LinkedIn isn’t worth doing business with. Connect with a real estate agent you are interested in working with, read recommendations from clients or colleagues, find out if your agent has any certifications or designations that are important to you.

9. ConsumerBoomer.com

Even though it’s a blog that’s written for Baby Boomers, there’s a wealth of helpful financial information here that’s helpful for any generation. And though it’s not completely dedicated to real estate, articles include Affordable Vacation Homes and How to Get the Best Deal on Mortgages.

10. Twitter.com/EnergizedSeller

For home selling and staging tips, ask Dan Eason. Visit his website for more tips and tricks at EnergizedSeller.com

Did we miss something? Tell us your favorite social media source for real estate!

One of the most basic steps that all home buyers need to take includes identifying the type of property that they are looking for.

In other words, are you looking for a condo, a townhouse or a single family property? Are you looking for a home that’s within city limits, or do you want to be able to get away from the chaos – at least a little bit – at the end of the day (even if it means a longer commute)? If you aren’t looking for your first home when you start your real estate search, are you downsizing or looking for more space?

Knowing what you are looking for when you begin a property search as a buyer is going to help you to simplify the process. No matter what type of home you’re looking for – especially, say, if you’re looking to buy a home in the Boston area – you’re going to need to have a sense of what’s important to you in a home and what type of area you want to live in.

Buyers who know what they are looking for in a home find that it’s easier to locate properties that interest them and discover that the process of becoming a home buyer is far less stressful than it may otherwise have been.

When you’re ready to buy a home of your own, one of the most important things that you need to be thinking about is simple: you need to be sure that you know where to look for a new home in the Boston area. When you are looking for a new home, in other words, you are going to want to be sure that you are looking at all of the options that are available to you, and you’re going to want to know that you’re fining the right property.

When you are a buyer who is looking for a Boston area home, you are going to want to know that you are looking for those properties that are available where you want to live. If you’re only looking for properties in Boston’s Back Bay, you aren’t going to want to only look at properties that are available in Watertown. If you’re looking for a home near the Arboretum, you aren’t going to want to look at listings that are in Brighton.

When you are a buyer who is looking for a Boston home, in other words, you are going to want to be sure that you are looking at all of your options – those options that are going to be located in the area in which you are looking into buying a home.

When you find that you’re ready to sell a home – whether you’re looking into becoming a seller because you want to move into a single family home rather than living in your condo or you find that you are going to be relocating out of the area – one of the most important things that you can do is to make sure that, as a seller, you know where buyers are going to look when they start to search for a home of their own.

Sellers in the Boston area are going to want to be sure that their homes are listed online as most buyers turn to the web first when they are ready to buy a home of their own. Most people who are looking for homes – whether they are looking for property in Boston, surrounding areas or elsewhere – start their search for real estate online. If the home that you’ve put on the market as a seller isn’t showing up online, you’re going to miss out on a large number of potential buyers.

Some sellers think that they need to focus on just getting their homes ready for the sale; however, the more that they are able to focus on the way buyers search for real estate, the better the position that they will be in to sell.

When you have made the decision that you are ready to become a home buyer, one of the things that you are going to want to be sure of – a key element of your real estate search – is going to be the search that you make to find the right real estate agent. Home buyers are going to want to know that they are working with an agent whom they are compatible with.

When you’re a home buyer searching for a real estate agent, you’re going to want to be sure that you are looking for:

• An agent who will listen to what you are looking for in a home
• An agent who specializes in helping buyers like you with their home searches
• An agent who, when working with buyers, isn’t also going to be representing the sellers
• An agent who is going to be able to help you learn more about the neighborhoods where you are looking at homes

In other words, when you are getting ready to start a home search as a buyer, it’s important to make sure that you are looking at all of your options; you’re also going to want to know that you are focusing on everything that matters. While choosing the right home is important, buyers who have been thorough with choosing a real estate agent will tell you that they are more satisfied with the process overall.

Despite the fact that many are speculating that there aren’t any home buyers out there these days, the reality is that there are always going to be home buyers: there are always going to be buyers like you who are ready to start to search for real estate. As the market in most areas favors buyers, this is a not a bad time to search for real estate – provided you know where to start.

Many buyers are going to deduce that they can search for a home in much the same way that they would search for other information: hopping on the internet, typing in a couple of keywords like “homes for sale” and the name of the area where they want to buy. Others will be a bit more specific than that when they search for real estate; they will find themselves visiting Realtor.com and typing in the name of the city or town they want to buy in.

When you want to search for real estate because you are ready to join other home buyers, the first step is to figure out what area you want to buy in; the next step is to start looking for homes for sale in that area. Whether you search with a traditional search engine or you head to a real estate portal, the first place to look for a new home is online.