Reply: 2
From: Dan D
Hi Kevin,
The problem with www.realestate.com.au and www.property.com.au ( can't speak for any others) is that they are not kept up to date by the agents.
I noticed this over the last 6 weeks while looking for my first IP. I check realestate.com.au daily and it came to my attention that possibly close to half of the listings have not been updated. Many properties had in fact been sold at least 3 weeks ago if not more. This is a real pain.
I contacted realestate.com.au about this, and they said that they were aware of this problem and are trying to get agents to update. With not much success as far as I can see.
Given the crazy property market at the moment, agents don't really feel the need to update since they have buyers galore.
Another thing, not all available properties are listed on these sites. Since I am a web developer, for me the world rotates around the Internet, and it came as a shock to me when one Saturday I did a real life tour of real estate agents. There was a whole lot more on offer than I had expected.
The up side of sites like realestate.com.au and property.com.au, is that they give you a bit of an idea of what is available, where and at what price.
In Brisbane, just about anything below $200K never makes it to the web listings; they get snapped up almost instantly. This should tell you that what you see online might be slightly skewed in favour of hard to sell properties or the higher priced ones.
I hope this info helps you along a bit. There is a lot to learn. Sites like this will help you learn, and not waste money on buying overpriced stock.
Best of luck and enjoy the experience of the hunt!
Dan.