Real Estate

You may have tried looking on your local newspaper site for a home, only to find listings that are either out-of-date, have just a picture or two, or are flat out wrong.

In most of the United States, local real estate brokers contribute their listings to what is called a multiple listing service or MLS, accessible only by agents. To have access to the "complete" MLS listings-- a trove of comparable data -- one must typically be a licensed real estate broker and pay an MLS membership fee.

Of course, many of these same real estate agents publish their listings through their web sites. The trouble is getting accurate information across different brokers' sites. Searching Google, Bing or Yahoo for real estate listings should produce relevant listings in your own area. But if you search for MLS, all you'll get are search results about Major League Soccer.

For comprehensive listings then, the safest bet is generally Realtor.com, which is run in conjunction with the National Association of Realtors. Due to their relationship with Realtors, realtor.com usually has the most complete real estate listings, although a significant percentage appear to be out of date. Caveat emptor: Realtors sometimes leave listings online long after under a home is under contract or sold to gather more leads.

Other popular search based sites that aggregate MLS listings include Trulia,...