Chicago Tribune Study Ranks remax.com in 'Top Group'

RE/MAX International's remax.com is among the few real estate sites that offer "big numbers (of listings) or lots of information or both," according to an informal analysis in the online Chicago Tribune.

Tribune reporter Mary Umberger conducted a test in July to see which of 11 top real estate sites were rich in content and utility. She started by searching for homes, with specific criteria, in a Chicago suburb. Then she graded the experience.

In her findings, she ranked remax.com, Realtor.com and Trulia.com as the "top group." Several major competitors, including Century 21 and ZipRealty, ranked in the third tier due to "reasons that ranged from too few listings to too little detail."

Here's the first portion of Umberger's Aug. 10 article:

 

Even Among the Most Visited Realty Sites, Few Get 2 Thumbs Up for Utility

By Mary Umberger, Special to the Chicago Tribune

Last year, 84 percent of American home buyers used the Internet in shopping.

So says the National Association of Realtors. But what the trade group didn't say was how to go about it - more specifically where to start.

That's where we think we can help.

We took the most popular sites based on June visits, according to two firms that measure Internet traffic, for a test drive.

Over two days in July, we asked each of 11 chosen to run a hypothetical search for listings for three-bedroom, single-family homes in Berwyn, a suburb chosen at random. Their findings ranged from 53 to 487.

In general, some of the sites wowed us with maps, data and detailed listings and let us tailor our searches umpteen ways. Others seemed more focused on putting us into the hands of a real-estate agent or mortgage broker. Required registrations can be slow and pointedly nosey. Some buried useful tools behind "advanced search" links instead of displaying them out front. Some gave us lots of listings with little detail.

Because "utility" is totally subjective, we grouped our findings in three tiers, according to number of listings, how useful or novel the sites' features seemed to be and how much/how little personal information they wanted.

The top group - big numbers or lots of helpful information or both - are Realtor.com, Remax.com and Trulia.com. In the middle are ColdwellBanker.com, Homegain.com, Realestate.yahoo.com and Zillow.com. In the third tier - for reasons that ranged from too few listings to too little detail - are Century21.com, Homes.com, ZipRealty.com, and the real-estate pages of AOL.com and MSN.com.