Home & Garden

The Best (Home Buying)

BestShopSites
Bottom Line Rating*

Best Sites
Capsules/Description

Accolades

+++

HomeScout (iOwn)
www.homescout.com

"A house-hunting dream site: easy to use and chock-full of inventory. Some 600,000 listings nationwide are drawn from nearly 400 brokers. Unlike other major sites in this category, Iown includes FSBOs (for sale by owners). Search a single town or, if you need more options, within a certain radius of that town. Search results also include an idea of how much monthly payments will be. Handy photos help you compare neighborhood housing stock. The Neighborhood Reports page dishes on local incomes, house values, what percentage of residents attended private colleges--so much information that you begin wondering what they know about you. Use its Home Valuation service for a quick and dirty appraisal (just $15), try their tools for estimating closing costs, or sign up for HomeWatch, which will send you weekly e-mails of those properties that fit your criteria." (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes Top-Rated Favorite in Best of the Web Forbes 9-11-00

 

Coldwell Banker Online
www.coldwellbanker.com

"Coldwell has some 200,000 listings nationwide. And it's easy: Just type in location and price, and voilà, a color photo fills your screen, along with a mortgage calculator and information about broker and neighborhood. .... Use the Personal Retriever feature to receive e-mail automatically when a new property with your specifications is listed." (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes Selection in Best of the Web Forbes 9-11-00

++ HomeSeekers
www.homeseekers.com

"This site features helpful, original features that allow you to search for the least expensive homes in the area, properties with virtual tours available, and homes in escrow. Listings give a detailed description of basics and special amenities, some with additional photos and/or virtual tours, and map locator. You can request special features like wet bar, waterfront or proximity to a golf course. You can also search in Spanish....Clear and informative" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes Selection  in Best of the Web Forbes 9-11-00

++ MSN HomeAdvisor
www.homeadvisor.com

"A thorough selection of illustrated listings and comprehensive local school and crime statistics.... You can add amenities to your search parameters. Unlike other sites, Homeadvisor.com doesn't just index crime information, but also provides the raw data....The site also has info on financing, home improvement and how to select an agent. Not just for home buying, also offers rentals and apartment data. Thorough data. And you can specify amenities in your search." (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes Selection in Best of the Web Forbes 9-11-00

++ New Home Network.com
www.newhomenetwork.com

"This site has set a high standard for new home listings online. Its national map shows communities with available (and soon-to-be-available) listings, so you won't spend time entering specifications only to come up empty-handed. Offerings are listed by builder community, with the various models offered in descending order of price. Also includes FAQs about new-home ownership, finding a builder, custom builders, and building on individual lots" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes Selection in Best of the Web Forbes 9-11-00

++ Nolo.com Self help Law Center
www.nolo.com

"This site is well-qualified to offer advice on buying and selling. Nolo.com is the online HQ for the Self-help Law Center of Nolo Press, the leading publisher of law books for laymen. Goodies include a helpful checklist to help buyers identify the ideal house, legal info for sellers and a newsletter complete with forms for buying a house without a lawyer. Cutting through the site isn't easy, though (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes Selection in Best of the Web Forbes 9-11-00

++ Owners.com
www.owners.com

"Owners.com boasts some 200,000 For Sale By Owner listings all over the country. Many are unique listings, since most other sites have broker affiliations. Though the site is easy on the eyes, it's hard to use. Few listings include photos and the descriptions are sketchy, so it's tough to weed out losers. New listings are identified, but some are stale. Result? Too often you track down the owner, only to discover the house is long gone. But if you enjoy the thrill of the chase or just hate brokers, this is the site for you. And for sellers, it's a boon. Average listing fees are only $99 to give home description and photos, which remain on the site for two to four months, with extensions available. Owners.com claims to save $10,000 per transaction" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes Selection in Best of the Web Forbes 9-11-00

++ Realtor.com
www.realtor.com

"Realtor.com's 1.3 million listings nationwide make it the Net's largest home search site. With fierce competition raising the bar, this previously awkward site has cleaned up its act. You can check for alternatives within a given radius if an initial search fails to appeal. It gives state, then county maps with listings of towns and townships. You can click on several at a time to compare. Excellent community information pops up (without waiting for links), including data on neighborhoods, average house price, lot size, crime and SAT scores. Also, the site's Personal Planner e-mails. Nice additions: What's Nearby (shows location of banks, post office, parks and more) Regional gardening (what grows best in a particular area) and decorating ideas" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes Selection in Best of the Web Forbes 9-11-00

The Rest (Home Buying)

BestShopSites
Bottom Line Rating*

Other Sites
Capsules/Description

Link to Reviews

0 AdSearch.com
www.adsearch.com

"Instead of sitting with your local newspaper, you can view classified ads, from hundreds of realtors, online at AdSearch. Properties posted here are located in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut only. Houses, apartments, commercial properties and sublets are included. You can only limit your search by area, not by cost, so you'll spend too much time looking at properties you may not be able to afford. Sellers can easily place ads." (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
+ Century21.com
www.century21.com

"If you can get past the fact that you are limited to only Century 21 properties, you'll like most of what this site has to offer. Its Specialty Markets section includes luxury estates, new homes and commercial property... The Neighborhood Snap Shot compares the target area with state and national income figures, median income, average age of residents, school info, and median price and type of housing stock in the neighborhood--a very telling feature." (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
+ CyberHomes
www.cyberhomes.com

"A veteran real estate search site, Cyberhomes.com seems to have withered under the growing competition. It’s slow and has a limited number of homes per state: only houses listed with the big multiple-listing services, and no FSBOs. The site is, however, easy to use." (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
+ eHome
ehome.com

"If you're searching (or selling) in Washington, California, Florida or Texas you might want to visit here. Limited to only Ehome listings (except for Washington, which has multiple listing services). If you find a property of interest, you can e-mail or call for more info and/or to speak directly to an agent. The properties tend to be in the upper price range, but has good neighborhood stats, and a thorough rundown of home amenities. ... Claims to save an average of 35 percent on a regular broker's fees" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
0 For Sale By Owner Connection
www.fsboconnection.com

"It would be great to avoid commissions and purchase a home directly from the owners, but this site probably will not help to achieve that. This is a Web site for a coalition of privately owned regional for sale by owner (FSBO)) magazines. Most states offered sparse choices" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
+ ForeclosureNet
www.bankhomes.net

"If you want a small peak at some foreclosure listings without paying a service fee first, try stopping at this site.... Provides information on the ins and outs of foreclosure real estate with advice, articles and books to check out" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
0 HarmonHomes
www.harmonhomes.com

"The site is the offshoot of Harmon Homes magazine. Some of the search is jobbed out to [Homescout] Iown which does a much better job.... It comes with photos and basic information, but no address or zip, so a neighborhood search is futile until you call up the agent....Doesn't give enough home data" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
0 HomeBuilder
www.homebuilder.com

"This dreary site used to be the only game in town for new-home hunters. It has since been surpassed by newhomenetwork.com, and had better spiff up its act or it's doomed to finish as an also-ran" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
+ HomeStore
www.homestore.com

"This bustling site is run by the same outfit that brings you Realtor.com, and links to various other departments--like one for apartment hunting, for instance. It counts more than 125,000 new homes and lists some hot properties that are burning to be sold" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
+ Housing & Urban Development
www.hud.gov/ homesale.html

"Want to get your hands on some foreclosed properties held by federal agencies from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the Internal Revenue Service and the Veterans' Administration? -- check out this plain-jane government-issue site. But because there is no central clearinghouse, you are obliged to search each department's inventory separately. And the info is pretty inconsistent from one to the next" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
0 Housing Guides of America
www.housingguides.com

"This is an online spinoff of the New Home Buyers Guide, (you can order up a four-month free subscription online), but is not the most helpful. It's low on info, low on gadgets.... Listing details vary from poor to average: BRs BAs, sq. ft., contact phone numbers of builders and price minimums (i.e. models before you add on any custom goodies)." (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
+ ListingLink
listinglink.com

"Another region-specific site. If you're looking for a house in California, Hawaii or New York, it's worth a look" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
0 NewRealty
www.newrealty.com

"This is just a conduit to other sites. Searches here bring up listings from Iown.com. One redeeming feature, sellers can submit one form and be listed in HomeScout and Yahoo homebuyers' databases. A new option allows sellers to track viewer traffic, upload photos and print flyers" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
0 RealEstate
www.realestate.com

"It links to two search engines: Realtor.com and Homestore.co" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
0 The Bates Foreclosure Report
www.brucebates.com

"If buying a foreclosure is an option you are considering, the Net is a good place to start. However, this site will not do much for you.... Details will cost you a subscription fee of $19.95 a month, which actually buys you very little...Why pay for information the Housing & Urban Development site will give you for free?" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00
0 The Real Estate Book Online
www.treb.com

"Includes all states (save MT and WY), plus much of Canada and a few places in Mexico. The problem is: when you find an area, it's hard to see the listings, which are on a tiny field which shows three listings at a time at the bottom of the page" (Forbes--click here for full review)

Forbes 9-11-00

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