Rockinblu always has awesome FSBO ideas so look pretty hard at that - If you are advertising on your own, I would definitely go with Craigslist or other online places. Zillow will also let you claim your home and mark it for sale. I like Vflyer, but the best place to make sure all agents with buyers see it is the MLS, so try and at least get it listed on the MLS even if you are going with a limited service agent.

Good luck!

Gladys,
I think the first respondent , Sarah, provided you the most direct answer. Real Estate is local first when it comes to finding buyers with a relocation client or out-of-area investor a very distant second. That means access to the NWMLS is critical to your success. That is something you get when working with an agent either on a full service or discount arrangement. The NWMLS pushes out all of their available listings to the participating proprietary brokerage websites serving the local market. Smaller boutique companies may not accept these feeds in their entirety meaning another brokerage's listings may be excluded or delayed. The links between the NWMLS and these other websites occur on varied schedules - some more frequently than others. Often times the many nationwide aggregating services require an MLS #. Not being listed on the NWMLS can restrict you immensely. You can also use other popular online services like Craigslist.org and Backpage.com. Best of luck with your marketing efforts.
Steve

Gladys,

Whether you are represented by an agent or not, the blog attached to the link below may be of some interest to you. It has some info in it regarding some good sites. While it is directed to FSBOs, even if you are represented, there are even some ideas in it that you could possibly use to augment your agent's marketing plan. Please if represented, always keep your agent abreast of anything you do on your own, and use your agent for the contact person. Good luck.

http://www.trulia.com/blog/rockinblu/2008/08/thinking_about_…

Dear Gladys,
I believe there is a lot of confusion in the market place about the purpose of marketing homes on the internet. The NWMLS, which is in the area you are in, allows every single broker who is a member of the multiple, to download all the listings. These brokers then have the ability to feed the data out to two websites each.

The "aggregators", like Trulia, Yahoo and Google, for example, currently aggregate data from various sites a couple of times per week. Where these aggregators get their data varies by area. Some national companies, like mine, Keller Williams, have negotiated contracts to enhance their listings and get better placement. Keller Williams spends millions a year for our technology solutions.

As a very involved broker, I would be happy to sit down with you and explain how all of this works. In the NWMLS area, the most accurate sites are the company sites, and then whether or not you are seeing all the properties depends on if the company, or the agent, is using a Premium download or an IDX download.

From my personal website you can access a couple of different property search functions. I am in your area, so check out the searches at http://www.mcknightrealty.com.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Warmly,
Karen

The post below is very accurate and very good... but I am curious your reasons for asking.

I say this because, when I am working with a potential buyer, I direct them to my web site. It pulls from the local MLS, so it has all the listings. Trulia, for example, only shows homes if there is a paid advertisement arrangement. For a buyer, that's not good enough - they need to be able to see all the listings, updated real time. My web site does that for our area.

For a seller, you want to be everywhere. Keller WIlliams, for example, has national syndication links. So, when a KW agent puts a listing into the MLS, it syndicates automatically to an amazing amount of sites, including Trulia, Remax.com, Century21.com, Realtor.com, Craigslist, Homesdatabase.com (local Wash DC area only), and nearly every real estate agent's individual web site that has an "IDX" link (all the good agents have these on their sites)... and the list goes on and on.

I hope this helps....

Multiple listing services, offered by local real estate agents, provide you with the most visibility. Beyond that, each agent pushes the listing out to syndicated links and/or to stand alone websites. Recent stats show:

Hitwise Real Estate Search Term Rankings
1. realtor.com - 1.7 percent
2. remax - .81 percent
3. homes for sale - .43 percent
4. apartments - .40 percent
5. real estate - .39 percent
6. century 21 - .38 percent
7. apartments for rent - .36 percent
8. zillow - .35 percent
9. zillow.com - .33 percent
10. coldwell banker - .29 percent

Realtor.com also took the number one spot for the most visited web site. That adds up to a lot of traffic. Remax (as reported by the Chicago real estate division) averages more than 2 million unique visitors each month.

Hitwise Most Visited Real Estate Web Site Rankings
21. realtor.com - 9.08 percent
2. HomeGain - 2.44 percent
3. Yahoo Real Estate - 2.25 percent
4. RE/MAX real estate - 2.21 percent
5. Rent.com - 2.19 percent
6. Zillow - 2.06 percent
7. Apartments.com - 2 percent
8. Move.com - 1.91 percent
9. ZipRealty - 1.86 percent
10. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - 1.42 percent

I hope this helps! Sara.