Zillow or Trulia are used by millions of buyers around the U.S. to shop for homes, and many buyers are using Zillow or Trulia to look at homes in the Sequim and Port Angeles area, too. I’ve spent many years using both Zillow or Trulia and many other online MLS sites, including dozens of MLS syndication sites. I also run two MLS sites for my clients, and this site at Sequim-Homes.com was specifically designed and programmed by me based on what buyers want and need to search for, filter, and find their ideal retirement home in the Sequim and Port Angeles area. So I want to give you my bottom line on Zillow or Trulia and Sequim-Homes.com. This may not sound like an exciting topic, but this could be one of the more important articles you read when it comes to finding your next home on the Olympic Peninsula.
Zillow or Trulia for Buyers
I know many buyers love Zillow. It’s pretty, nice to navigate, has Zestimates, and several other features that are just plain cool. I get all that. But what you should know as a buyer is that so much of the data you are looking at is either slightly wrong or very wrong. There are listings on Zillow that are not even for sale, listings that have wrong prices, and Zestimates that are way off. I sold a home for $770,000, and Zillow had it listed for $440,000. Now, I fully realize that saying, “Don’t use Zillow because the data is notoriously bad,” will often fall on deaf ears, because if you like Zillow, you will continue to use it. That’s human nature, and people who like Zillow will generally continue to use it even when they find out a lot of the housing information is bad, especially if it has become a habit. We get used to a site, and we learn how to navigate it, and it’s easy to keep using it. So I’m not going to tell you not to use Zillow or Trulia. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying those sites. But I’m going to give you another more accurate MLS site to add to your arsenal if you are serious about finding a home in the Sequim or Port Angeles area. [Read Is Zillow Reliable?]
Zillow or Trulia or Sequim-Homes.com
Sequim-Homes.com is more accurate than either Zillow or Trulia for the Sequim real estate market by an order of magnitude, and here’s why. The data, all the photos and information about the property on this MLS site are taken directly from the source data–the listing Realtors in Sequim and Port Angeles. That is not the case with Zillow or Trulia which use automatic scraping software to pull data without legal permission from the local Realtors’ listings, and to pull data from a variety of online sources, also without permission. This data is then inserted in data fields on Zillow or Trulia, but there are no humans involved. The programming does not always get it right. Sequim-Homes.com gets it right 100% of the time.
So now you know about accuracy and data. Have fun using Zillow or Trulia, but add Sequim-Homes to your arsenal to get 100% accurate information and the status of each property, whether it is still available or pending and sold. You’ll find a series of instructional videos on this blog to help you search for and find your home in Sequim or Port Angeles. But continue to play on Zillow or Trulia if you want and if you find those sites helpful.
Last Updated on September 22, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
