Services
Mortgage Lenders
Visit Smart Hippo to review and rank lenders and compare mortgage rates with rates that other people with similar risk profiles have obtained.
Information
Advice on the Best Neighborhoods
Visit Neighborhoodscout.com to narrow down your house hunt by clicking on the site’s Find tab. You’ll get an interactive map that lets you compare neighborhoods by factors such as crime rates, quality schools, or even whether the area is a good place for retirees. You can customize searches by home price and population density too. This site is a good first place to start your neighborhood search. While the Find maps let you see how neighborhoods compare based on a custom score, if you want the actual crime stats or school test scores for a neighborhood, you have to pay ($29.99 for one month). A nice feature of the site is, if you enter an address in a neighborhood you like, the site will show you similar ones in another town.
Visit Walkscore.com to see if a house is near shops and restaurants.
Advice on Sellers Who Have Reduced Their Selling Price
Visit Trulia.com to zero in on homes whose sellers have cut prices recently – an indication they may be ready to jump at your offer – and find out instantly how far they’ve come down. Another great Trulia tool is Heat Maps which displays average list and sale prices within zip codes. Snapshot.Trulia.com puts a neat visual twist on the usual listings. Move a slider to select homes by price or their time on the market; their photos pop up on a map. It’s a bit hypnotic, actually.
The Housing Search
Visit Zillow.com, Realtor.com and Trulia.com to do your housing search. Their lists overlap but aren’t identical.
Visit Forsalebyowner.com for listings that big sites won’t have.
Calculators on Whether to Rent or Buy
Check out the calculators at HSH.com and Bankrate.com to help you weigh the decision of whether to rent or have a mortgage by buying a home.
Home Improvement Advice
Visit thisoldhouse.com for good advice on designing, planning and step-by-step directions.
Visit Diyornot.com to compare the time and cost of doing a project yourself vs. hiring a local contractor, whether you’re fixing up the house to sell it faster or you just want a nicer kitchen. The site collects data from retailers and contractor price lists.
Home Maintenance Advice
Visit BobVila.com, DoItYourself.com and RepairClinic.com for helpful advice before you tackle a home maintenance project.
Before you make a service call to get a pro to help you sign up for a free trial at CostEstimator.com to get a ball-park figure for how much you’ll get charged.
