~ Favorite Realtor Websites ~

C

CalGal_IHB

New member
<p>I came across this realtor website, <a href="http://mls.ocexclusives.com/703796w/index.php?main=filter012">Jesse Brossa</a>, and thought it was put together really well. You can click on a particular neighborhood to see what's for sale in that neighborhood. </p>

<p>Does anyone else have any favorite realtor websites?</p>

<p>(Hey, Graph - I finally changed a link to text. Thanks for your help.) </p>
 
<p>I like all the floor plans on</p>

<p><a href="http://www.quailhillhomes.com/">http://www.quailhillhomes.com/</a></p>

<p>http://www.oakcreekrealestate.net/</p>
 
I saw some incoming links from this forum & wanted to check out what was being said... I've visited this forum & blog a couple of times and the content generally runs to the hyper-critical (I'm sure I'll take some knocks for saying that)... anyway, to my great surprise, I found this thread called "Favorite Realtor Websites" and saw that someone had given my site a thumbs up... Wow! Super cool! I just wanted to say "Thanks for the plug!"... I work hard on my site... I've designed & programmed almost every last pixel there... the writing could use some work, but hey...



Oh, and for whatever it's worth, while I haven't met John McMonigle in person, I've heard only good things about him from other agents.
 
Jesse,





I agree with CalGal & Caliguy. I love how the sales are broken down into neighborhoods. If you're looking to improve your site even more, you can add floor plans. Todd Muradian's (quailhillhomes.com) website includes all the floor plans as does Roulas (I think Todd did a better job of it). Anyway, I really do appreciate your site and kudos to you for being so innovative.
 
Jesse, very nice site and the first I've seen with listings broken down by neighborhoods. I also like the market data section that shows trends, especially the price per square foot. Since you asked for improvements, here are what I found valuable on other sites:





- Days on market


- Listing price history


- Asking price per square foot


- Sale price history


- map showing view of the house from above and the surrounding streets


- Listing of home sold in the last 6 months with the asking price and sold price


- Property Tax Dues


- HOA Dues





These are essential information I need to be an informed buyer.





Again, very nice site.
 
Solid recommendations; I appreciate it! Here?s what I?ve got:



1. Floor Plans. I would LOVE to have floor plans and have them tied to a database for all of the tracts/models I'm covering (All South Orange County), which is probably in the neighborhood of 15,000 different sets of plans... nothing insurmountable, but, not exactly a one-man job... I like Todd M's site as well... he and I just closed a deal in Oak Creek in IR... great guy... I think Todd procured the floor plans on his site from the builder, which is a good thing. I've been on Ron D's. site and some of them are from a company that has practically ALL of the floor plans for OC, but does not let you republish them without their written approval... I've spoken with them and they don't feel like licensing the plans to me as I would be handing them out for free... kinda undermines their business model, so I can understand... I'd have to pay someone to re-draw the plans and make them my own, an expensive venture that I may undertake someday... anyway... it's on my mind as you can see...



I suppose I could do the whole "email-me-for-this-floorplan" thing at the property level, but I think that would bog my inbox down like crazy... maybe I'll hand that gig off to an assistant...



2. OC Real Estate Market Data. As far as my market charts go, I have access to & provide charts for "Median Price" (Sales Price), "Days on Market", "Number of Listings", & "Price per Square Foot" all of which are based on actual recorded sales for the area. You can get to the different charts by toggling the little blue chart icons; see an example here:http://www.ocexclusives.com/irvine-real-estate-market-data.php



However, I think waiting2buylater is talking about data at the individual property level as opposed to the city-level, which I don't think I can get, nor technically display per some of the MLS rules. I will look into it.



As far as the list price vs. sold price chart... that's an interesting data set I might like to see as well. Would it be the initial list price, the last list price before it went into escrow, or an average of first-to-last over time? I'll ask my data provider and see what they think.



Here's something I would like to know - Take a look at this pdf and let me know if you would rather get this info in your inbox or read it on the site:http://www.ocexclusives.com/examples/jessebrossa_49726677_market_update_sf_IRVINE_2007-12-31.pdf. I am debating whether or not to have people sign-up for that Market Newsletter, or to just put it up on the site and let them have at it...



3. Regarding seeing the home plotted on map, I've got a few different ways of doing that ie - http://mls.ocexclusives.com/703796w/index.php?main=listing&MLS_NUM=U8000513&id_from=9tp8P726N3eEV5Vz1740f6OTwcijb48PdU96nPsD&pt=LAN&num_list=&direct=down&google_map=1

which uses the GoogleMaps API, but that isn't as sexy as maps that use Microsoft's VirtualEarth app that lets you view aerials from a 3/4 view from above... I've pondered shifting my maps to that app instead...



4. Property taxes & HOA dues... I can get & display the HOA dues, but property taxes... hmmm, I don't know how to get a data feed on that... something I know every agent in the area would love to have is accurate MelloRoos info... it seems to the most elusive number in every transaction.



Thanks again for the ideas! As you can see, the site is a work in progress... I?m trying to stay relevant at the local level and compete for attention with the offerings of sites like trulia.com & redfin.com that have monster budgets? kinda difficult, but I think it?s worth the effort!
 
I like the recent sales info on this example site because it gives you everything about each property (you have to scroll down a bit to find it on this example)-http://www.theoccoastalgroup.com/Laguna-Niguel/Hillcrest-Estates.html. The issue is it's only as good as the frequency with which it's updated, and I could see it being a pain for you if you decided to do this for every neighborhood or area that you're covering, since there are so many. Something like this might be good for you though in terms of saving a bit of time, since it looks like they just screen grabbed off the MLS.





In response to your question about the pdf of market info - very helpful to offer, and I personally would prefer it be posted on your site, since I would have the freedom to check in on other cities from time to time to get a quick look at how things are without having to subscribe to ones I don't really need to see every time.





IMO you're taking the right approach by offering buyers this kind of information...at a time when the MLS seems to be trying to hoard and restrict as much as possible, it's refreshing to see someone working to empower buyers who are willing to take the time to do some research and make better financial decisions. I'm sure buyers and people who are simply interested in RE will appreciate this. Keep up the great work and best of luck.
 
That's a solid site; thanks for the reference. I like the amount of info they've got on each of the tracts... I'll have to look into that... the screenshots from the MLS are good, too... beyond the simple facts, the lend the data authenticity.



Yeah... I think for the pdf reports, I'll probably just end up posting them to the site for readers to browse...



Thanks for the feedback, caliguy2699! I really appreciate it.
 
<em>something I know every agent in the area would love to have is accurate MelloRoos info... it seems to the most elusive number in every transaction.





</em>Can't you just ask the seller to provide this information ?





Nice site BTW !
 
Hahaha... you think it would be that easy, wouldn't you?



In my experience, the seller knows offhand about half of the time, which means the listing agent knows 25% of the time... but I was mostly talking about having a field in the MLS for a dollar value as opposed to the current "MelloRoos:Yes/No" entry... I'm there's some rationale behind the simplified field...
 
Jesse,





Despite the hyper-criticism, it is nice to see a Realtor coming here for feedback. I have been surprised more haven't posted, probably out of fear, but there are a lot of potential buyers here, and the feedback is what people want. And, in many cases what not to do too. As you can tell, the feedback you have received has been positive, because you have responded positively yourself. You have shown what a professional is supposed to be about. I hope you post more often, and I look forward to what you will contribute to the forums.





Your site is great. Very clean and very informative. As for the market newsletter, I wouldn't want a file that large emailed to me. Maybe, email just the Irvine part, and have a link to your site for the zip code data. The data is great, and I would like to see that data on a weekly basis.





As for property taxes, and the mello roos, just go to the <a href="http://tax.ocgov.com/tcweb/search_page.asp">OC tax collector's site</a>, and put in the address. It will show the annual taxes, and have a link for the details of all the taxes, fees, and mello roos. You can add up the % for the tax base on the potential purchase price, and the mello roos are a set annual fee. Add the total, and divide it by the price, and you have what the taxes/mello roos are on percentage basis. No offense, but this info is highly accurate, and I am surprised that more agents don't mention it, or know about it.
 
<em>and I am surprised that more agents don't mention it, or know about it.





</em>Or they don't WANT to post the info.....
 
[quote author="JesseBee" date=1204996068]Thanks again...



Any ideas for improvement?</blockquote>


How about returning phones calls.

I left you two messages on a property in Orange Park Acres, never heard from you.



It's ok, I saw the property and was immediately turned off by the super inconvenient location.



Good website though.
 
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