Homes and Land

Author: Kaitlyn Short

With listings in over 300 markets, Homes & Land provides their customers with extensive opportunities to find their new dream home. The team of professionals at Homes & Land has one goal in mind; to make it as easy as possible for people to find their new place. They do this by giving as much information about each listing as possible for the customers. This team also publishes magazines that highlights the major real estate news in specific areas.  

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The Good

• Information
• Resources

Listings through Homes & Land are very thorough in the information they give to the customer. On each listing, one thing that is beneficial to the prospective homeowner is located in the Neighborhood tab. There is a map of the neighborhood surrounding the listed property, and on this map, the customer can check different amenities they would be interested in. Some of these amenities include:

• Attractions
• Schools
• Healthcare
• Shopping
• Transportation
• Restaruants
• Financial
• Automotive
• Government
• Religious
• Personal services
• Pet services

This map really allows the customers to get to know the area which will help them make an informed decision since the neighborhood is such an important part of homeownership. The first priority of Homes & Land is providing their customers with quality property listings so that they can make an informed decision. This team also wants to provide their customers with help and advice throughout the whole homeownership process, including during and after the purchase. They compiled a database of articles with suggestions on how to handle various aspects of these parts of homeownership. The articles are organized into different categories based on their content. These categories are:

• Buying a home
• Selling a home
• Renting a home
• Credit & Mortgage
• Home improvement
• Home decorating
• Moving and Guides
• Videos
• Infographics

This simple organization allows the customer to quickly and easily locate the type of article that will help them with whatever they are searching. For example, if the customer is confused about what exactly a mortgage is and all it entails, they can search in "Buying a home" for articles that might explain a mortgage in detail. When they browse through these articles, they could find one titled, "How Mortgages Work," which would probably help answer the majority of their questions. These articles help the Homes & Land team to go above and beyond in their service to their customers.

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The Bad

• No mobile app
• Limitations

Homes & Land offers their customers some helpful information in their listings that will assist customers in making an informed decision on a new home. But these customers are limited in the ways that they can access those great listings. The only way to access Homes & Land and its listings is through its website. Many of the other competing real estate search sites offer their customers mobile apps with their services. These mobile apps allow the customers to extend their search for a new home or property to anytime and anywhere. This can benefit the customer because they can use their free time browsing through property listings, even when they are on the go. This, however, isn't possible with Homes & Land because they do not have these mobile apps, so their customers are limited to solely using the desktop website. The property listings through Homes & Land are very helpful to the customers, especially with their neighborhood information. But there is still some information that is missing from the listings that would make them even more helpful to the customer. The description of the surrounding neighborhood includes what amenities are nearby and what types of transportation can be used in the area (i.e. if the area is conducive to walking). But there is no information about the crime rates in the area. That type of information would really help the customer to understand the neighborhood and know if they will feel comfortable living there or not. Some other information that might make the listings even better would be a price history of the home to show how much the home has been sold for in the past. They do offer similar listings in the area to compare the price to, so this would simply add another dimension.

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The Bottom Line

Homes & Land offers their customers some high-quality property listings to aid them in their search for a new place to live. Their listings especially stand out among their competitors because of their neighborhood information; the interactive map helps customers to explore without having to physically visit. Their online magazines also give the customer an inside look into specific markets and give them a leg up. It is unfortunate the customers viewing their listings are limited to their website since they do not offer a mobile site. Overall, this real estate search site is a great resource because of their information and their variety of listings.