I have a lot of clients that move into the Waco area from out of town and of out state, which is great, I love that the Waco area seems to be growing; Especially in the past 3 or 4 years.

Of course, those folks who are new to the area want information about it. No surprise, many people decide to hit the internet and read about Texas and the Waco area. Unfortunately, in their search for information, they may stumble across some websites that either have outright false or very outdated information.

I’m not trying knock those webistes. I have nothing against them, but I’m trying to keep you informed.

I’ve had several out of town clients requestion more information sold prices they’ve seen on these third party websites and unfortunately, the data they’ve received from those sites has been wrong.

I don’t know how those websites come up with estimated price of recently sold homes for the State of Texas (maybe they use averages?), but one day I randomly compared information I obtained from one of those websites and the information contained in our MLS. In ALL cases of my comparison, the third party “real estate” website contained wrong data. Either the sales price or the sales date (or other key pieces of information) was false.

As I’m writing this, Texas is a non-disclosure state. Meaning that the prices at which homes sold for is not a matter of public record. You can’t go down to the county courthouse and look up that info. You can find out how much of a loan someone took out on a piece of property, but you won’t know the actual sales price… Unless you talk to a Realtor.

Realtors have access to that information (and more), provided that the sale of a home was recorded into the MLS. Whenever there is a sale, part of our job is to the update the MLS record and record the sale. This typically includes sales price, sales date, if the seller made concessions, etc… Having these records in our MLS database helps us keep a pulse on property values and help sellers establish an asking price and also help buyers establish an offer price.

Zillow.com and other similar websites can have useful generic real estate information. Just be aware if you want up to date (and important… accurate) information concerning the Waco real estate market, your best resource for that information is your local Realtor.

If you’re a home buyer looking to buy a property, besides contacting a Realtor, the best place to go on the internet to view properties is probably realtor.com. Realtor.com is owned by the National Association of Realtors and it has the most accurate and up to date information regarding homes currently for sale.

I’ve seen to many websites who claim to have the largest database of home for sale in the universe! Unfortunately, all to often their “database” of homes for sale… is out of date. I’ve seen properties listed as active and “for sale” that were actaully sold a year earlier!

Information that I find on the internet, I usually take with a grain of salt.

I had one client who was moving here from out of town. He had found some information about recent home sales on zillow.com. The website had stated a house was sold in Woodway for $176,300 when actually it was sold for over $200,000. Because of those wrong figures, he though that home values in Waco were cheaper than they are. Actually, he didn’t believe me when I told him about the actual price! I had to prove it to him.

Just a reminder, information you may find about what a house sold for, or what is currently offered for sale, etc… may be completely out of date and wrong. Your best option for up to date and accurate info is to call a local Realtor.