Baltimore HUD Homes Blog

Not so long ago, Baltimore homebuyers were completely dependent upon their real estate agents to tell them what was available in the Baltimore real estate market. First time home buyers had to express their desires for the perfect home to their Realtor and hope that the real estate agent accurately understood. The agent would typically find a few houses that might match the requests of the buyer and then would show you those few houses in a day and hope that you would make an offer on one. If you didn’t like any of the houses, you would have to start again by spending an afternoon looking at a few more houses, until you finally found the right one.

Now, there is no more guesswork necessary when buying a home. A powerful tool which was previously coveted by professional Baltimore real estate brokers, is available to you — the Baltimore Multiple Listing Service or MLS. Access to the MLS has opened a new avenue to you as a homebuyer. Now, from the comfort of your own home, you can search a huge online database for the home of your dreams. You can and should look at houses in all price ranges and locations to get a good idea of what is available in your local real estate market.

The convenience of using the MLS is unparalleled. You can literally browse through thousands of online property listings without leaving your home. In addition to the convenience factor, the MLS cost you nothing to use.

The MLS lists specific details about each property, including::

General Information:
- Where the home is located and the area of town (NW, NE, SW, etc.)
- Square Footage
- Lot Size
- Number of bedrooms
- Number of bathrooms
- Year Built
- School District
- Directions to the property
- Taxes for previous year
- Deed Restrictions

Amenities:
- Cable Available
- Golf Course
- Athletic facilities
- Gated Community
- Personal Pool/Spa
- Horses allowed
- Horse Facilities
- Basement
- Number of Fireplaces
- Number of Garage Spaces/Carport Spaces/Covered Parking

Property Features:
- Style
- Construction
- Roof
- Flooring
- Appliances
- Fence
- Type of Landscape
- Views
- Extra Rooms
- Type of Air Conditioning and Heating
- Gas company
- Water company

As you can see, using the online MLS service lets you find out everything you could possibly want to know about a property BEFORE you spend your time looking at it with your agent.

Imagine going online, specifying exactly what you are looking for in a house, pushing a button and getting a list of homes that meet or come very close to meeting your criteria.

You can even drive by the houses to see if they look good in person. Then, let your realtor know what houses you want to see and start looking!

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