Whether you are a real estate agent or a consumer on a real estate website searching the MLS for property the premise is the same. You start with a basic set of criteria (number of bedrooms, does it have a basement, does it have a garage etc...) and then narrow down the list to a manageable number of properties to visit. If you don't start with a fairly defined search, you may find yourself with hundreds of listings to scrutinize before finding the best ones to visit.
Yesterday I was helping a client find a home by searching the MLS. She was very clear when she told me her criteria, four bedrooms, two full baths or more, a basement, a master bath, and a two car garage all were "must haves". Of the 80 or so properties I found, only a few of them looked like they would be worth a visit. This was one of them:
| Style: Ranch | Master Bath: Y Basement: Y | ||||||||
| Air: Central Air | Park Type: Garage | ||||||||
| Age: 26-50 Years | #Cars: 2 | ||||||||
Sounds promising right? See if by reading the agent remarks you can find the reason we didn't waste our time with this listing. Download deceptive_listing.pdf
COMPLETELY REMOD IN THE LAST FEW YRS.EURO-STYLE WHT KTCHN, CER. FLRS,NEWER FURNACE,HDWD FLRS IN ALL BDRMS.NEWER CARPET IN LR,NEWER WNDWS IN LR.4BDRMS, 3 BTH.FRESHLY PAINTED, VERY DEEP LOT W/ROOM FOR GARAGE. HOUSE IS IN MOVE IN CONDITION, CONVENIENTLY LOCATED, CLOSE TO TRANS,SHOPPING,EXPRESSWAYS. GREAT LOCATION!
Find it? This house doesn't have a garage but it has room for one. And at around $15,000 to build one, this would push the house out of my clients price range even if she was willing to go through the hassle of building one.
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