housing

7 of the Best House-Hunting Websites to Expand Your Search

 
 

If you’ve spent much of your life as a renter, you’re probably familiar with the many rental websites that can help you find the right apartment. Buying a house, however, is a different ballgame, so it’s a good thing that there are also lots of house-hunting websites to point you in the direction of your dream home.

Even if you plan on using a realtor (which is what most people do), these websites — where you can buy, sell, or rent directly — provide information straight to you, the buyer. You can explore where you want to live, what style of houses you like, and how much you plan on spending, among other things. 

Unlike the MLS (multiple listing service) alone, which is a professional database with a wealth of property information for licensed realtors, these websites aggregate MLS data and make it available to the public — and in a user-friendly way, to boot. Chances are you know about Zillow; its home value estimates, or “Zestimates,” on properties both for sale and not for sale are a helpful tool for home buyers. But there are many other sites that have a variety of features and tools, including filters for prices, number of bedrooms or bathrooms, square footage, and more. Plus, most of these sites have apps so you can check ’em from your phone. Here are some of the best sites for house hunters.

Trulia

I spent months casually checking both Zillow and Trulia daily before buying my first house a few years ago. Zillow bought Trulia in 2015, so the two websites are pretty similar and very easy to use. I would refresh the map of the neighborhoods I was interested in and their surrounding areas to see if there was anything new in my price range. I’d start with the map and then click over to the photo column, though you can view houses in a list format if you prefer, or view both side by side on a desktop. With Trulia, you can schedule a tour in person or over video chat, look at street views via Google Maps, or read school reviews, crime reports, and insight from residents.

Redfin

Redfin is similar to Zillow and Trulia in the sense that you can view houses in map or list format, and you can easily maneuver around the site. With information from the MLS, Redfin provides important details about each property, as well as a market competition rate and “walk scores” and “bike scores”, so you can see how dependent you might be on owning a car. And, if you buy a house with one of the real estate agents employed by Redfin, part of the commission is given back to you through a program called Redfin Refund.

Realtor.com

As the official site of the National Association of Realtors, Realtor.com is said to have the most up-to-date information available from the MLS. Along with property information and list vs. map views, this website provides market summaries and information about the neighborhoods and its nearby schools. I’d say navigating through the listings isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as Zillow or Trulia, but all the information is there if you know where to look for it.

Homefinder.com

Homefinder.com is another well-organized site — it presents listings by category, like new construction, foreclosures, and classifieds — but I found I couldn’t quite zoom in as much as I wanted on its map feature, which meant it took me outside the neighborhood I wanted. Though it takes an extra few seconds to zero in on the information you’re curious about, HomeFinder does what its name suggests.

Estately

Estately has been around since 2006, but I’ve only recently become familiar with it. It’s easy to use and provides the crucial information you’d want to know about a property, including nearby schools, taxes, flood risk, walk scores, “sound scores” (how loud the area is), air pollution, and even internet speeds. Properties not for sale might not be updated as often as they are on Zillow, but there’s plenty of useful information to be gleaned from this site.

Homes.com

If you ever searched for a rental on Apartments.com, then you’ll immediately recognize the Homes.com interface. Owned by CoStar Group, which also owns Apartments.com, Homes.com is similarly set up for people ready to buy a house. It provides in-depth guides about neighborhoods and schools for whatever house you’re looking at. With video tours, articles, and expert school ratings, these tools can help you better understand what it might be like to live in your potential forever home.

ForSaleByOwner.com

This site is a good complement to your main house-hunting websites because it lists homes for sale by owners that aren’t on the MLS. Although owners using ForSaleByOwner.com can add them to the MLS for a fee. It’s a good resource when you’re not finding exactly what you want during your daily searches. You just might come across a new listing not on any of the other sites because it’s for sale by the owner.

Read more at ApartmentTherapy.com

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Colorado Springs City Council approves annexation aiming to bring diverse housing options

 
 

The city of Colorado Springs will grow by about 150 acres at its southern border, and developers plan to turn the vacant land into neighborhoods with hundreds of new homes alongside commercial, industrial and open space.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to give final approval of the annexation request for the master planned community known as the Villages at Waterview North, a 145-acre site located northeast of the Powers Boulevard and Bradley Road intersection.

The item was included on the regular meeting's consent agenda and passed with no discussion, indicating a lack of controversy. Items on the consent agenda are considered as a whole and passed by the council with one vote.

 

A site map shows the roughly 145-acre area that will be annexed into Colorado Springs city limits after the City Council on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, gave final approval of the annexation request. Developers want to build a new community on about 116.5 acres of the site with a mix of residential, commercial and industrial uses. (Courtesy of the city of Colorado Springs)

 

Developers plan to build about 800 new multi-family and single-family residential units in the community. The location is ripe for building "an integrated patchwork of residential neighborhoods" offering a diverse mix of housing options, as it is near the Colorado Springs Airport, military installations and other employment centers, developers have said.

The residential areas and a mix of other industrial, commercial and public uses is planned for about 116 acres of the project site. A concept plan shows housing will be built on 57.5 acres, with 44 acres designated for commercial and industrial uses. The project plans for about 3.5 acres of park space and just over 4 acres of open space.

Learn more at gazette.com

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Biden’s $15,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit explained

Consumers would get a payment when they buy a house, not at tax time, according to HousingWire

Former Vice President Joe Biden has proposed a $15,000 tax credit to help first-time homebuyers purchase a property. As is typical for campaign proposals from either party, the details remain to be fleshed out. And before any tax credit would be put in place, it would have to be hashed out in a bill passed by Congress, which controls U.S. tax policy.

Biden’s proposal, as explained on his campaign website, is: “Help families buy their first homes and build wealth by creating a new refundable, advanceable tax credit of up to $15,000. Biden’s new First Down Payment Tax Credit will help families offset the costs of home buying and help millions of families lay down roots for the first time.”

In some ways, it’s similar to the $7,500 tax credit created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act signed by President George W. Bush in July 2008. The credit was raised to $8,000 the following year in a bill signed by President Barack Obama. The programs expired in 2010.

Notice the language of the Biden proposal specifies the credit is “up to” $15,000. The Bush and Obama programs gave a credit equal to 10% of the purchase price of the home, capped at a maximum of $7,500 or $8,000, depending on when the purchase was made.

The Biden plan, once it’s worked out, could use a similar measure. The campaign did not return an email seeking additional details.

Biden’s proposal differs from the prior tax credits in the way it would be redeemed. The prior credits were claimed when buyers filed their income taxes the following year. Biden’s plan would create a tax credit that could be used at the time of purchase.

“There are thousands of dollars in savings that people have to come up with to get into their first home,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst of Bankrate.com. “This could help jumpstart this, and put them on much more stable ground as new homeowners if they don’t have to deplete all their resources.”

The particulars of how that would work remain to be seen.

“Homebuyers receive the tax credit when they make the purchase instead of waiting to receive the assistance when they file taxes the following year,” the Biden proposal said, without specifying how that would happen.

“We don’t know all the details, but we welcome any policy from either the Biden or the Trump campaigns that shows the importance of housing to the economy, and helps first-time buyers,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors.

In February, the Biden campaign outlined a $640 billion housing plan. The Trump campaign hasn’t outlined any housing proposals.

If you are wondering how current national and global situations might be impacting your property’s value, your neighborhood, or the Real Estate market in general, we are happy to provide more specific information.

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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