not your parent's house hunt

According to our real estate agent's website in 2011 the average Northern Virginia home was listed for 60 days. All of the houses that we have been interested in have had multiple offers in less than 24 hours. I think its fair to say, at least in this region, it is impossible to wait for the Sunday paper to view new listings. You have to constantly keep your eyes on the market and be prepared to move fast on properties that you're interested in. So here's a few of our "peeping tom" ways to help you stay on top of your game.

Searching for Properties

-Many realty websites have similar functions such as the ability to apply filters to help narrow down your search, map views so you can see where properties are in relation to major roads, your job, or some of your favorite hang outs. Specific filters we like to use besides the standard 3 bed/2 bath are just listed/new properties, active listings (as opposed to sold, contingent/no kickout, etc.), and open houses. Just try searching realty websites until you find one you like. Some of our favorites are Weichert, Long & Foster, and Realtor.com.
-Realtor.com also has a free app I like to use when we're driving around or when I don't have easy access to my computer and feel like browsing.
-Get a Realtor. They are experts at this and many will send you updated MLS listings daily based upon the criteria you've discussed.

I don't recommend other websites like Zillow for your initial house search (we like them for other stuff) because we found its often out of date. Its the worst to get excited about a property only to find out it sold last week.

Researching Properties

So you found a property you think you might like... now its time to break out the private investigator tools to really learn what you're getting into. Some of our favorite tools are:

-Google Maps street view is a great way to get an idea about what the neighborhood looks like but again is not a live feed so you should always go see a property with your own eyes.

-We liked websites like Zillow when looking for comparable pricing (comps) as well as pricing in the neighborhood. BUT you have to take it with a grain of salt. Zillow uses "Zestimates" which are just that, estimates. It allowed us to get a big picture idea of what homes in the neighborhood were generally worth/selling for and helped us find other recently sold comps.

-Your county's property tax website. By looking at the property tax history you can learn a lot about when the house was built, how many times its been sold, who has owned the property, and the type of sale that occurred (foreclosure, standard, relative to relative). Although this information isn't critical if you can see that a home was just bought two months ago for half the price you can infer that this is probably a flipped property and therefore you may have a little more wiggle room for price if the seller is trying to move it fast.

-We also use our county's website to find valuable information about crime in the area. We are able to get a general idea about the prevalence and types of crimes in the areas we were looking.

-Virginia's sex offender registry is a good way to find out who is living near you and always something we look at.
-Although we don't have children, schools play a big role in resale value, and therefore something we feel we should look into before purchasing a home. We found Great Schools to be a good resource for learning more about the area schools from pre-K through high school.

*Disclaimer: It should be noted that all information included above is just our opinions and we were not paid to endorse any of the above mentioned websites.