Real Estate on the Internet: Searching
and Researching
By Cy Yablonsky
Search NJ Homes
for Sale
According to the
National Association of Realtors (NAR) 80% of people interested in
purchasing real estate use the Web in their search. If you are
looking for homes for sale it can be a very daunting task. The
Internet is a very powerful medium and is very useful to doing just
about any research, the purchase of real estate is no exception.
Buying a house involves
many different aspects, and the Internet can help you with most of
them.
1. Area Research: If
you are planning to buy a home in a certain area you are probably
interested in finding about the schools in the area, crime
statistics, demographics, etc. If you are coming from out of state
or from an area a major distance away and you don’t know
specifically which town you would like to move you could be broad
in your search.
For example: If you are moving from Ohio to New Jersey and you know
you want to buy a home in Central New Jersey then you can go to
Google type in “Counties in New Jersey.” Once you see a map of the
counties you can search within the county that you’re interested in
and search Google again for “Townships in Ocean County
NJ.” Then you
take that list and search again to find the crime statistics etc.
It takes a little time but you need to know this information so you
don’t waste time looking for a house in an area that doesn’t match
your needs.
2. Financing Real
Estate: Obtaining a mortgage involves different aspects. You want
to find reasonable rates and analyze your monthly payments. In
addition, and also very important, is receiving a mortgage
pre-approval. The pre-approval is important when dealing with a
Realtor; a real estate agent will often expect a mortgage
pre-approval in order to show a house and usually when you want to
give an offer on that dream home of yours.
There are many mortgage
calculators on real estate websites and, obviously, on mortgage
broker and mortgage banker websites. To find the best mortgage
rates you do still need to shop around but the Internet makes it
much easier, since most mortgage websites allow you to apply
online.
3. Finding the Perfect
Home: Now we finally get to the whole point; your interest in
finding, and buying, that perfect house! You can be broad and
search for “homes for sale in central NJ” or be more specific with
“homes for sale in Jackson NJ.” This depends on if you know exactly
what you are looking for. In the end, however, most of the real
estate websites that allow you to search the Multiple Listing
Service (MLS) offer a broad area to search from. MLS’s can span
multiple counties. Once you find a real estate website that covers
your area, and you are comfortable with, you can inquire about the
individual properties for sale from that Realtor.
I hope this helps in
your real estate search. Happy hunting!
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