Do Not use Redfin to find homes for sale in Big Bear!
At the time of this writing Redfin shows only 114 homes for sale in Big Bear City, whereas the best website for Big Bear Real Estate, http://SearchBigBearRealEstate.com shows all 230 Big Bear City homes for sale. That means that buyers looking for homes for sale in Big Bear on the Redfin website are only seeing about half of the inventory.
How come Redfin shows some of the homes for sale in Big Bear but not others? To answer that question we go to local Big Bear Real Estate Expert Will Rahill of the Rahill Real Estate Group in Big Bear.
According to Rahill, “Redfin.com is a fantastic website for areas in which Redfin has contracts with the local Real Estate boards. Redfin is well organized with real estate information and it is intuitive and easy to use. I use Redfin myself when looking for properties in other areas. Unfortunately Redfin doesn’t have a contract with the Big Bear Board of Realtors. That means that Redfin doesn’t show any of the properties in the Big Bear MLS system unless those properties are duplicated in other MLS systems with which Redfin has contracts.”
Since Redfin does not have a contract with the Big Bear MLS it is not drawing from the most complete and accurate source of Big Bear Home Listings. Professional full time Big Bear real estate agents all belong to the local Big Bear Board of Realtors. When a Big Bear agent lists a property he puts it in the local Big Bear MLS system for other Big Bear agents to see. None of these homes show up on Redfin.
Some of the Big Bear listing agents are members of multiple MLS boards. They join additional “down the hill” boards to expose their listings to Non-Big Bear agents all across Southern California. When a Big Bear listing agent puts a listing into another MLS system then it does show up on Redfin. Redfin gets most of its listings from this source.
Occasionally a “down-the-hill” agent will list a property that is located in Big Bear and NOT put it in the local Big Bear MLS system because he is not a member of the Big Bear Board of Realtors. At this time, only about 10% of all Big Bear Listings are listed by “down-the-hill agents.” These homes typically do show up on Redfin because almost all the other Boards in Southern California have contracts with Redfin but they do not show up on most of the local Big Bear Agent sites, which draw data exclusively from the Big Bear MLS.
One exception to this rule is the Rahill Real Estate Group Big Bear Real Estate Website, which draws listings from all the different MLS systems across Southern California as well as the Big Bear MLS system. You can find the most complete and accurate set of all Big Bear homes listed for sale at http://SearchBigBearRealEstate.com.
Once you find some homes you want to see in person call me, Becky Wood – Big Bear Real Estate Buyer Specialist, and I can show you inside any home for sale in the Big Bear Valley. I can be reached at (909) 547-4402. Thanks for reading and please leave your comments below.
