Search Activation & Keeping Active

One of the most common & best ways that buyers find real estate properties to purchase is through their buyer's agents. According to NAR, "86% of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker." Some buyers rely exclusively on their agent, some don't rely on their agent at all to find properties, and most buyers do some of their own searches & have a feed of properties from their agent, which is the approach that I recommend.

1. How to activate & keep active a portal search

You activate the search by clicking on it within the portal & you keep it active by returning to the portal, such as by clicking on new properties that are sent to you via email.

If your agent set up a search or more than 1 search for you, whether more than 1 per MLS or 1 with multiple MLS, be sure to activate and keep active all your searches. If you don't, you won't be receiving updates from that search as properties hit the market or adjust to be within your criteria (i.e. a price reduction).

If you didn't see the search in your inbox it might have landed in your SPAM folder. See more details in next section.

2. Locating Email Notification

If you didn't see a search in your inbox it might have landed in your SPAM folder. The email address is different than my main email address that I use to send you information directly. If you're not seeing it in your SPAM or inbox you may want to run a search in your email for one of the emails in the list below or run a search using your agent's name.

REIN MLS (Primary for Hampton Roads)

Adam Garrett <VAB@northeastmatrixmail.com>

WBG MLS (Secondary for Williamsburg/James City County)

Adam Garrett <WBG@northeastmatrixmail.com>

CVR/CBRAR (Primary for Richmond & most of Middle Peninsula)

Adam Garrett <CVR@northeastmatrixmail.com>

Northern Neck MLS (primary for Northern Neck)

autonotifications@navicamls.net

3. Why are searches with agents typically better than what buyers come up with on public websites?

1. The features available to most agents for searches are far superior to the options of buyers in most cases. Agents are able to better fine tune the search in part because the search criteria itself can be much more advanced than if you were to look on somewhere like Zillow. For instance, in the main MLS of Hampton Roads, REIN, I'm able to exclude properties that are listed as not qualifying for FHA financing if I'm working with a buyer who is using an FHA loan. You can't do that on Zillow. Because of it, the same buyer on Zillow could fall in love with a property, see it with an agent (& some agents will show even under contract properties without ever telling the buyer if it's their first showing with that buyer to attempt to establish rapport), make an offer (many agents don't do their homework also), and be rejected based on loan type, rather than never seeing the property in the first place in their search.

2. Agent feedback on searches is critical to developing an effective search. There are many elements of searches that I include in my standard search templates that buyers would have very rarely mentioned if I hadn't asked them about it, with public websites not having those options available and buyers not knowing that they even could ask about them. Very often as I am conducting a search creation, when I ask buyers about if they want to exclude Exterior Insulation & Finishing System Siding or Asbestos Siding, they aren't familiar with why they might want to exclude those. Also when I ask buyers about if they want to exclude short sales, they're again sometimes unfamiliar with various dynamics of those.

3. The information available on MLS won't all translate over to public websites, so if you're only looking on public websites, you're missing out likely. For instance, I've seen where all monthly fees aren't present on public websites, where virtual tours aren't present on public websites, etc.

4. Within SE VA, flood zones are a major problem (stats by city/county). There is even 1 city (Poquoson), at least 1 town (Chincoteague) & 1 county (Mathews) in SE VA where the majority of the homes are in locations with required flood insurance for any home with a mortgage. While the Matrix portal makes it easy to look at property flood zones, an integrated feature that developed/user-friendly isn't available on most public websites.

That said, in Northern Neck MLS, they don't use Matrix, and there isn't an integrated option for looking at flood zones, so in a case like that, you can use a 3rd party resource like FEMAs Flood Map.

For more details on "Where Public Websites Fall Short" (& how they're helpful at times) go here.

4. Why an active search with updates (public & agent generated) as properties change & hit the market is far superior to browsing occasionally, saving buyers time, helping buyers get properties they wouldn't be able to otherwise, & helping buyers save $

It can be fun to browse listings, but there are a few problems with casual browsing that an active search with updates as properties hit the market solves:

1. The best properties that are priced the best go the fastest. If you're looking once a week for months, many have difficulty of being consistent and many of the best properties go in less than a week, so if a property goes on the market on Thursday and you don't see it until Tuesday, it could already be under contract with another buyer by the time you get around to it.

2. Saving time: Those who casually browse waste time sifting through those properties that they already know about, while property updates will show updates of properties as they occur and properties as they hit the market without needing to sift through all the properties within your criteria that you've already seen. You're able to focus better and it's a less tiresome process.

3. With an active search going where you're able to jump on it and see it before those that take a more laid-back approach and browse. In some cases, I've been able to help buyers make offers and get under contract very quickly, sometimes the day it hits the market, and I've seen where a superior offer was available to the seller vs what my buyer brought to the table but where my buyer got there first and got it under contract first. I've even seen where a seller said that they accepted 1 offer over a similar offer simply because the 1 buyer made their offer 1st. I've also seen where my buyer's deadline on the offer helped secure the offer on day 1 on the market before, though there are pros and cons to deadlines and deadlines aren't typical in Hampton Roads offers (unlike Richmond, where they're common, due to a different typical offer type including a spot explicitly for a deadline).

5. Why an active search with a real estate agent is even more important in Hampton Roads than Richmond & the Northern Neck in SE VA

Public searches, especially in Hampton Roads, often include phantom property availability due to local MLS policy and the inability for buyers on most public websites to see if a property is active and contingent at the same time.

6. When to use public search techniques

While your search should start with your buyer's agent, who will help you know what kind of criteria to look for (i.e. did you know that it's better to be searching for properties 1400+ sq ft instead of 1500+, or 4700+ instead of 5k+?) and who has search options unavailable to you, it shouldn't end there. In rare cases, public searches should be the backbone of your searches, and typically, public searches should be a supplement to your search from agents.

1. At a minimum, I suggest creating a for sale by owner (FSBO) targeted search on Zillow. Those are properties that your Realtor's searches typically won't pick up because they typically don't advertise on MLS.

While Zillow.com is the top place for FSBO properties in the sampling I checked in Newport News, the more places you look, the more FSBO options you'll find, such as Craigslist, Fizber, & Forsalebyowner.com .

Just keep in mind that with FSBO properties, they are significantly less likely to be willing to pay your buyer's agent's commission & significantly more likely to not know what they are doing, break the law, not disclose negative aspects of the home that they are supposed to disclose, or otherwise respond erratically since they don't have professional advice & haven't sold as many homes in most cases as most agents.

2. If your coverage area is so broad and there are so many MLS in your search area that you would need searches going on more than 5 MLS, especially if those MLS have a high volume of crossover, it might be time to consolidate to something like Zillow as long as you aren't in a place like Hampton Roads where the MLS rules are such that if you tried using Zillow the phantom property availability there would be so problematic.

3. If acreage is a significant factor in your search, in Hampton Roads, you're better off using Zillow than REIN MLS since REIN MLS doesn't default to the tax records nor require acreage by the listing agent, so if the listing agent is too lazy to include acreage, properties that are within your criteria won't come up in the MLS search.

4. If wanting to just use 1 real estate agent who covers most of the territory where you are looking but does not have good MLS access to all, you may want to setup a public search to get the minority of territory, especially if the agent you work with in the majority of your territory is much better & offers much more than anyone you can find in the other territory.

Related: What Adam Offers Buyers

7. Searches are just the beginning with real estate buyer's agents

Search template management, setup of your search, and management of your search are small parts of what a real estate agent does. It's less than 10% of what I do, & I spend far more time on template management than most agents, having spent dozens of hours on the subject while some agents have no templates for searches.

Many buyers don't know about The Importance of Choosing a Great Buyer's Agent, & the most common buyer mistake on buyer agent choice is apathy.

Your buyer's agent also is helpful with things like:

1. Helping you be in a better position to buy, including sharing what you need to buy, connecting you with lender(s), sharing programs to reduce your home cost, helping you with boosting your credit if desired, helping you with budgeting if desired, etc. Most agents aren't as skilled as Adam in the latter 3 tasks & some may be unable to help at all with them.

2. Identifying purchase considerations prior to showings that could make a good-looking property in your eyes be one that you don't even want to see, especially if you found it on a public website since sometimes the search with the agent would have weeded it out due to search features available on the real estate agent MLS search that are unavailable on the public location.

3. Asking listing agents questions prior to you coming to the property that can help your showings go better (i.e. requesting to take photos/video for personal reference which can then be used in some cases to see locations invisible to you otherwise like a locked shed with a window above your eye level and no time to grab a ladder), & in some cases weed properties out before you ever see them. For instance, in flood zones, I tend to ask about flooding history (along with some other questions depending on the flood zone scenario) on a property that had $40k of undisclosed flood renovations from 5 years prior that the listing agent informed me about because I asked directly prior to showing while multiple other buyers had already made active offers who likely had no idea because they didn't ask.

4. Identifying on-site pros and cons with properties, though feedback quality varies highly depending on the agent including their knowledge, experience, & the tools they bring to the table digitally & physically. For instance, most agents won't bring this digital tool to the table for rapidly identifying water heater age nor a currently private HVAC/AC tool like that I have. Because most agents don't bring ladders, if the water heater and HVAC are in the attic, and the seller doesn't know the age of either, since most listing agents don't go into the attic, unless your buyer's agent has a ladder, most buyers won't know the age of the water heater or HVAC until after they have spent money on the home inspection. I've seen where a property had scuttle access to the attic, the attic looked significantly worse than the house (which included a high volume of rodent feces, knob & tube wiring, and many locations with inadequate insulation), the property had already gone in and out of contract at least once with the listing agent not being willing to share why when I asked, and there were multiple offers on it. Because I showed my buyer pictures of the attic I took, pointing out the issues, my buyer, that was planning on making an offer, didn't. It's highly likely that the other buyers & buyer's agents had never taken a peek prior to offer.

5. Asking listing agents questions pertinent to when an offer should be made and what kind of offer should be made, as well as advising on the many details of the offer.

6. Advising you on responding to counteroffers

7. Advising you on other service providers like home inspectors, contractors, termite/moisture inspectors, surveyors, etc. Some agents won't take on this liability at all. I have extensive options for service provider recommendations. For those who sign an affiliated business disclosure & service provider hold harmless agreement, I can refer you to service providers directly. For those who don't wish to sign that, I have a few articles (1, 2, 3) on the subject for you to make the decisions all yourself without direct service provider recommendations.

8. Advising you on contingency-related concessions or contract termination, like the home inspection and other inspections. These concessions can consist of price reductions and repairs often & it's not uncommon for them to consist of thousands of dollars worth of concessions.

9. Advising you on steps to closing including utility setup, guiding you through the walk-through inspection (i.e. when to do it) & bringing his typical tools to that inspection (i.e. drone, ladder, laser temperature reader, outlet tester, etc.).

10. Advising you after closing on a wide variety of areas that may come up, such as whether or not you can rent out your home.

8. What do I do if I Reported a Search Email as SPAM?

It's not as easy as your agent merely being able to run the search again typically.

For Williamsburg MLS

1. "To re-subscribe and allow emails to be delivered again a recipient need only send an email to optin.wbg@matrixemailer.com ."

2. "In cases where a recipient has marked an email as spam simply re-subscribing might not be enough. Their email provider (AOL, Hotmail) may need to be told that they want to receive emails from Matrix." Whitelist the email. Instructions for that for Gmail & AOL are here.

For CVR/CBRAR MLS

1. "To re-subscribe and allow emails to be delivered again a recipient need only send an email to optin.cvr@matrixemailer.com ."

2. "In cases where a recipient has marked an email as spam simply re-subscribing might not be enough. Their email provider (AOL, Hotmail) may need to be told that they want to receive emails from Matrix." Whitelist the email. Instructions for that for Gmail & AOL are here.

How to keep a portal search active (by MLS used):

If you stop clicking the searches, after a while, they'll deactivate. The same is true if your search is so narrow that no new results come in any 90 day period. To prevent that from happening, it's much the same process as initial activation, where you need to open each search being used either from 1 of each search's emails or from within the MLS portal(s).

Best practices for a well-running active search

1. Be sure to let your agent know if you ever want to modify your search update frequency. If you're actively looking, it should be immediate. If you wouldn't consider seeing a property any time soon no matter what, you may want searches to only come once a month, or you may even want to do a solds only search instead since a once/month search will not include a number of properties that went quickly. If you ever decide to stop searching, be sure to let your agent know and let them know why. Sometimes your agent may be able to share with you surprising information that could influence your decision, and in other cases, your agent could be supportive in your decision based on the data. If your agent responds poorly to your decision (i.e. pressure sales tactics and sharing logical fallacies rather than a logical data-based approach), you may want to find a new agent. See examples of legitimate reasons not to buy in my rent or buy section.

2. If you ever find yourself looking outside of the search criteria of the search, you may want to let your agent know about it and ask your agent about adjusting your search criteria to include the criteria that you're looking in.

3. Activate email-to-text auto-forwarding , be quick on the draw from when you get a notification to when you want to see something you like, & alert your agent via text &/or call as soon as you find something you like (if that agent is me, you can reach out 24/7 via call or text as I turn my phone to silent when sleeping).

4. Keep an active prequalification or preapproval from the past 30 days so that when a property pops up that you like, you're ready.

5. It's typically best to stay within 20 and 50 properties for your search (across multiple searches combined if doing more than 1 search, not counting duplicates). If you have plenty of time on your hands daily & aren't getting tired of searching, 50-100 is OK.

6. More best practices including how to be ready when the right property becomes available, such as sharing your buyer brokerage agreement preferences with your buyer's agent prior to having a property in mind, if not signing a BBA.

Email Senders by MLS used

If you didn't see the search in your inbox it might have landed in your SPAM folder. The email address is different than this email address that I use to send you information directly. If you're not seeing it in your SPAM or inbox you may want to run a search in your email for one of the following based on where you're looking:

REIN MLS (Hampton Roads): VAB@northeastmatrixmail.com

Williamsburg MLS (secondary search in & around Williamsburg): WBG@northeastmatrixmail.com

Central Virginia Regional (Richmond & surrounding) CVR@northeastmatrixmail.com

Northern Neck MLS: autonotification@navicamls.net

What 5 MLS Adam has access to:

Below are Adam's MLS on a map and his coverage area for buyers based on price point:

Those are:

Northern Neck (NE),

Central Virginia Regional (W),

Chesapeake Bay & Rivers Association of Realtors (E),

Williamsburg (central),

& Real Estate Information Network (SE)

Why some agent searches are much better than others

Here are some search template examples of mine. The longer an agent has been doing business, the better-developed search templates they might have, though most agents don't spend much time at all in search templates. Even after decades of business, some agents don't use templates at all. As someone who has spent dozens of hours on templates & with paid access to 5 MLS portals, I have much better-developed search options available than the vast majority of agents in SE VA.

Some agents will do a search in locations where other MLS have primary coverage without informing the buyer, drastically reducing a buyer's options if they're relying solely on their agent's searches. If you're looking in SE VA, you can check on just how well you're covered in SE VA here.

Which MLS is most important for which city/county in SE VA & other MLS details

Image courtesy https://reinmls.mlsmatrix.com/

Related:

• Zillow Search Setup

• Zillow Searches & Other Public Website Searches Vs MLS Searches

• Seeing Photo Captions in MLS

• Most Important Cities/Counties in Hampton Roads for Multiple MLS

• Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Details

• Expeditious Showings

• House Buyer Guide

• What Adam Offers Buyers