If you are in the market to buy a new home, there is a good chance that you have started your search online. In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, about 75% of consumers begin their home search on the internet. Searching for your new home in the comfort of your living room or dare I say office cubicle, can be a great way to get an idea of what’s on the market as well as current prices.

There are so many alternatives available to consumers these days, but how do you know you are seeing everything that is available? Here at up2date, my previous post focused upon our new portal that allows consumers to search Pasadena California Real Estate and its easy navigation and superior search capabilities. As we looked for a new vendor, we previewed several websites with excellent graphics, map search and unique tools that provided consumers with many options. However, there was a major problem with these alternative websites.

As I looked at competing vendors, I noticed when I performed a search for homes in Pasadena, there was a major discrepancy in the number of listings that were displayed. Example, searching homes for sale in Pasadena at up2daterealestate, returns 324 single family homes. Looking at two competitors, they return 103 and 75 houses for sale.

This is something that is not widely known. Case in point, other Pasadena (agent) sites I have looked at are using a competing product that does not have a reciprocity agreement with the Pasadena MLS. Plus if an agent is not a member of the Pasadena Board of Realtors, there is also a chance that their website provider only picks up listings that are placed through their local association. The Pasadena MLS (i-Tech) which merged with the MRMLS (to the east and south) does share listing data. However if an agent uses a third party provider, the information is not shared.

If you have a favorite site you have been using, check to see how many homes are listed for sale in a given city. Then check your results again here at up2daterealestate.