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Searching Sonoma County Real Estate

The internet has changed everything about how buyers find houses.  The old MLS guild mentality* still exists in some places, but northern California is online in a big way. Most Sonoma County listings are on realtor.com,  zillow.com,  trulia.com, and a host of other syndicating sites. Craigslist is a dominating force all over the country, but particularly strong in the Bay Area where Craig started his service (and proceeded to upend the newpaper business).

Healdsburg Real Estate Map Search
Healdsburg Real Estate Map Search

Most real estate professionals have their own web sites (like this Sonoma County Real Estate site you are reading) and every national real estate brokerage has listings available. The mother lode of all these listings is in the MLS systems where each property for sale is carefully listed by the agent who obtained the listing from the seller. In the North Bay, our MLS system is called BAREIS (Bay Area Real Estate Information Service). That’s the organization that feeds the greathomes web site with public access to most of the listings. Notice the highlighting of the word “most”. Even the MLS doesn’t allow public access to every listing since agents can choose whether to share the listing online or not. Many choose not to.
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Posted in: Buyer Guide, Real Estate, Real Estate Guides, Search

Sonoma County REO Map

Maps Rule!

My lovely and talented wife hates it when I start raving about maps. “It’s unseemly”, she says, and besides, “hardly anybody loves maps like you do.”

So, here’s the compromise. I won’t rave about this map. Just go check it out.

Sonoma REO Map Search Screen Shot
Sonoma REO Map Search Screen Shot

I will say, not ranting or raving mind you, that looking for property on a map is much more useful than going over a printed lists. For one thing, you can start near where you or a friend lives and start scanning the neighborhoods you know. With a list, you just might miss a street or tiny cul de sac you aren’t familiar with.  I love spreadsheets for doing investment analysis or running a database too, but there’s nothing as satisfying as cruising around a map online to see what real estate bargains are waiting for you.

Posted in: REO, Search Tagged: map search, reo map

Sonoma County Real Estate Search

Searching Sonoma County Real Estate can be easy. I have set up some pre-configured searches for REO property, but the tools I provide are flexible enough to search for Sonoma County property of all types. In the screen shot below you can see the potential to search for many field. The two search fields highlighted by ovals are particularly important to use. My suggestion is to make sure you are only looking at “Active” properties. They are readily  available to purchase.  Contingent properties already have a buyer in contract and it can be a futile exercise to wait to see if the deal falls apart.

You don’t have to register to search the first ten properties. My philosophy is to empower my potential clients with as much information as they want. The more you know about the real estate market in Sonoma County, the easier it is for me to help you make a successful offer on the Sonoma County property you want to buy. At the same time, if you’re interested in selling, a deep understanding of the market will  help me work with you to set a realistic price that should result in a sale in a reasonable time.

I am curious about who uses my search tools, so feel free to call me at 707-869-1884 or email me at dave@sonoma.net and we can talk about making your searching more effective or talk about your home search in general.

Posted in: Real Estate, Search Tagged: Search

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