Kansas is a state on the rise, South Central Kansas in particular. If you are looking for a great house here, you will face a growing amount of competition. Stay ahead of the curve by finding great houses before everyone else using these three steps.
Craigslist and Twitter
Some of the best listings will never go public on any commercial site. The more exclusive the neighborhood, the more private the seller will usually try to be. Volume is not always the best way to sell a home. Believe it or not, if you follow localized real estate hashtags on Twitter, you will get a first look at some great properties. Twitter also publicizes conversations between individuals that are not made completely private. In some cases, real estate professionals will talk properties over their public timeline, thinking that no one is looking because they do not have a huge following. Twitter indexes everything, so use that to your advantage.
Craigslist also has some great listings, but in an indirect way. Look for rentals in high value areas. Where you find rentals, you will almost certainly find sales as well. You can focus the efforts of your real estate agent on these areas to cut time off of your search. Use the search engine here as well to look up neighborhoods that you prefer within the price range that you are looking to budget.
The Drive By
Take the time out in the day for a jaunt through South Central Kansas! Once you have identified a few neighborhoods that you would enjoy living in, one of the best ways to find the best places is to simply take a drive through those neighborhoods. Many real estate agents put their signs up well before the listing goes public through the digital world, and you may be able to beat your competition to the punch by a week or more by talking to an agent who is changing a balloon on a sign or refilling a tear sheet box.
If you are really serious, go with your real estate agent. If you have the right one, he or she will know when other agents are out in the field. Real estate is a small world, and people talk. If you have any information about a sale going on, have some fun, drive by, get some cookies, and check out any other real estate signs that may be in the area.
MLS Listings
Regardless of any other advantage you have, you need a resource with access to MLS listings like Sudduth Realty to get the inside lane on the South Central Kansas real estate market. MLS listings are the only real time listings with accurate, verifiable pricing, and it is the only resource that is still exclusive to a degree. A large part of the reason to invest in a real estate agent is to gain access to these listings.
