The Top 19 Real Estate Listing and Agency Sites

Finding the right website for your real estate needs can be overwhelming. There are dozens of real estate websites that can get the job done. Instead of having to filter through the results, we break it down for you — we've compiled a list of the most popular real estate sites based on the total number of page listings on Google, with every website having more than 1 million indexed pages.

We split the list in two categories: search engines and agency-specific sites. Real estate search engines display properties put up for sale and rental by owners and brokers, often also including various tools and resources to help potential buyers make informed decisions. Agency-specific websites host a database of real estate listings and connect users with the company's own realtors or partner agents.

Real estate search websites are comprehensive and detailed, commonly featuring search filters beyond pricing and home amenities. The search engines we've listed here are some of the most popular on the web based on how many pages Google has indexed on each site.

Top 12 Real Estate Search Engine Sites:

1. Realtor.com

Realtor is the official website of the National Association of Realtors and hosts listings for homes, lands and rentals. Like Zillow and Trulia, Realtor.com gathers its information from MLSs. Launched in 1994, the website is one of the first real estate companies to operate in a digital space.

Why you should use Realtor.com: The company website makes it straightforward to find and connect to local and trusted Realtors; Realtors on the site are members of the National Association of Realtors who commit to following NAR's ethical code. Realtor.com provides detailed overviews of the local housing market, categorized by market trends, school ratings, current available homes and rentals and top-rated local agents.

2. Trulia

Trulia is a real estate property and rental search website that provides various information, including how to calculate mortgage rate and find local agents. The website notably incorporates lifestyle factors as filters into the search process, including school ratings, crime data, proximity to restaurants and shops, and more.

Why you should use Trulia.com: By sorting through a combination of detailed demographic data and affordability price-points on a viewable map, potential buyers can be laser-focused when searching for the right home. Like Zillow, Trulia's app is incredibly user-friendly and allows consumers to search as easily as they would on the desktop website.

3. Zillow

Zillow is one of the leading real estate marketplace search engines. With its living database of millions of homes up for sale and rent, the website offers users the relevant information and resources to get started. Zillow coined the term "Zestimate" — the company's estimation of a home value, calculated using a proprietary formula.

Why you should use Zillow.com: While not an official appraisal, the Zestimate is a popular starting point for real estate professionals to understand the market value of a home — Zillow recommends incorporating other research, like a comparative market analysis (CMA). Noted for its great user experience, Zillow's mobile and tablet app syncs searches and notifications across devices, making it convenient for prospective buyers to stay updated on their favorite listings.

4. LoopNet

As one of the largest commercial real estate search engines, LoopNet connects buyers to commercial properties for sale and for lease. The search function can filter by property types including office, industrial, retail, among others. According to the company's site, the website database has over 25 million property records.

Why you should use LoopNet: The site hosts more than 800,000 commercial listings and lets sellers promote their posts with several listing exposure options: Diamond, Platinum, Gold and Premium. LoopNet users can filter by property types including office, industrial and retail. To be more geographically specific, prospective buyers can draw a radius or freehand draw their desired area on the map.

5. RealtyTrac

RealtyTrac is a real estate property search engine primarily for foreclosure listings and bank-owned homes, while also providing access to neighborhood data, real estate trend reports and house auctions.

Why you should use RealtyTrac: RealtyTrac appeals to consumers who are looking to make a purchase for an investment or bargain — with over 120 million listings, the site has detailed summary reports for each result. The website has colorful graphs and charts to break down data about lifestyle considerations, including crime, schools and unemployment rate.

6. Apartments.com

Apartments.com displays homes, apartments, condos and townhomes for rent in several major markets. The online database is dedicated to connecting rental seekers to rental property owners.

Why you should use Apartments.com: The site features the useful "Polygon" tool that lets users draw their own search parameters on the map, making it a simple process for prospective buyers to define their exact and ideal location. Additionally, the "Plan My Commute" filter allows users to find rentals close to a specific address or point of interest, adjusting by type of transportation, travel time and time of day. These helpful filters give prospective renters a glimpse of what it would be like to live in a specific area.

7. Rent.com

From townhouses to condos, Rent.com provides users with helpful information about property listings including HD photos, certified user reviews and virtual tours. The site lists categorized ratings for apartment complexes, including ratings for location, maintenance, office staff, landscaping and parking.

Why you should use Rent.com: Not only does the website host a search engine with specific property type and amenities filters, Rent.com's "Moving Center" section connects new renters with qualified movers to get a free moving quote based on the move size and destination. Apartment listing results display the floor plans, number of available units and leasing terms — prospective renters can easily reach out to the properties knowing which specific unit they are interested in.

8. Movoto

Movoto is a real estate site with an online marketplace of nationwide listings. Consumers can search for homes for sale, connect with a Movoto or partner agent, view summaries of real estate statistics for a given area, among other tools.

Why you should use Movoto.com: Each listing enables users to view similar properties side-by-side to compare details including prices, square footage and construction date. Movoto search results also lets prospective buyers consider factors outside of home features and pricing, including the distance from lifestyle points of interest like groceries, gas stations and bars.

9. HotPads

HotPads is a database of residential properties for sale and for rent. The site lets users search by numerous filters including home features, listing freshness and photo count.

Why you should use HotPads.com: HotPads lists results with not only property details, but also the number of times the property was viewed and contacted in the past week. Potential buyers can see how much more or less the listing is priced to similar listings. The website has a "Dashboard" section for registered users that compiles their favorite listings into one page.

10. Apartment Guide

Based on industry data and resources, Apartment Guide posts listings for apartments that are up for rent. The site enables users to search by apartment types, including college, military, corporate, senior and luxury.

Why you should use ApartmentGuide.com: Apartment management reviews are written by certified residents and are sorted by reviews for the current management and previous management. The website's search engine has specific filters for apartment features, including available outdoor activities, leasing options and transportation. To maintain the integrity of the listings and reviews, the mobile app oversees a reputation guide for both renters and property owners.

11. Homes.com

With over 3 million listings, Homes.com allows consumers to search for home properties for sale and for rent, sorted through categories like foreclosed homes, resales and new homes. The website lists various considerations including home details, estimated mortgage rates from different sources and home buying resources.

Why you should use Homes.com: From an extensive list of Q&A guides to referrals for professionals like local home builders and insurance agents, the website offers potential buyers a range of resources to make the right purchasing decision. Each listing on Homes.com displays the rating and distance from local schools, estimated property values and a virtual tour option.

12. ForRent.com

ForRent is a rental property listings website that lets users search by basic home features and community amenities. The results display user ratings, property highlights and pricing promotions.

Why you should use ForRent: Along with general rental properties, the site has categories for off-campus housing for students, senior housing and corporate housing. Within each category, the search engine operates based on the respective group's interests — students can filter by safety and privacy factors at ForRentUniversity.com, seniors can search by independent and assisted living homes on AFTER55.com, and professionals can search for short-term rentals based on arrival and departure dates on CorporateHousing.com.

7 Most Popular Real Estate Agency Specific Listing Sites:

Agency-specific real estate sites emphasize helping users find and contact the best real estate agent within their firm to fit their needs. These seven real estate firm websites operate within a network of talented agents that work to meet their customers' expectations and each site ranked with over 1 million or more Google indexed pages.

1. Redfin

Redfin, a residential brokerage company, helps users on their search for a new home through filtering searches by property types and connecting with top-rated agents. The website hosts an affordability calculator, home buying guides, and referrals to handymen and stagers.

Why you should use Redfin: Prospective buyers can search by not only basic home specificities, but also properties listed as fixer-uppers and waterfront homes. They can easily interact with their favorite properties by scheduling a tour with an agent, viewing open house information and exploring the home through a virtual tour. Redfin also promotes customer transparency — the company surveys every customer about their experience with Redfin and partner agents, displaying all reviews on agent profiles.

2. Coldwell Banker

Coldwell Banker is one of the oldest real estate franchises in North America, with operations in over 40 countries worldwide. The company website lets prospective buyers search for properties, agents and offices based on their location.

Why you should use Coldwell Banker: Users can search for agents based on special markets and languages spoken; the results list the professional's qualifications, credentials and social media profiles. Property search results can be filtered by specific points including open houses, special markets and protection plans.

3. Sotheby's Realty

Sotheby's International Realty specializes in selling luxury properties worldwide and connecting interested buyers to agents in local markets. Founded in 1976, the company has a global network of realtors to help users find their dream home.

Why you should use Sotheby's: Sotheby's allows users to filter results by dozens of types of architecture and amenities. With over 18,800 sales associates around the world, prospective buyers can easily find an agent with the local expertise and community background to guide their expensive purchasing decision.

4. Century21

Century21 is a real estate company operating worldwide, with more than 6,000 independently-run brokerage offices across the globe. The Century21 website lists property results with purchase or lease opportunities, demographic data, commuter statistics, among other information. The site provides users with tools and resources to buy and sell a home, find a Century21 agent and handle home mortgage.

Why you should use Century21: The listings on Century21 are some of the most detailed on the web — each result includes information on local weather, school ratings, occupancy types, and more. The company's wealth of information on community features and demographics helps interested buyers make an informed decision.

5. RE/MAX

With more than 100,000 agents worldwide, RE/MAX is one of the largest international real estate companies. From price-cut to luxury homes, prospective buyers can search the RE/MAX residential real estate website by property and listing types.

Why you should use RE/MAX: In addition to listing basic home information, the property results include earthquake probability data, economic statistics and unemployment rates. Potential homeowners can search for RE/MAX agents and find their relevant match by selecting from specific languages and 24 specialties, including historic properties and farm land.

6. ZipRealty

ZipRealty lets consumers search MLS listings, receive a home value estimate, view school ratings, and read other helpful home-buying tips. The website property search results come with a list of local agents and ratings, making it convenient to connect to top-rated Realtors.

Why you should use ZipRealty: Similar to Zillow and Trulia's, ZipRealty's mobile app is highly rated among users — the app is cleanly organized and syncs across devices. The company works toward transparency by letting potential buyers compare the site's own home value estimate, SmartZip, to other real estate site estimates, like Zillow's Zestimate.

7. Compass

Launched in 2013, Compass is a relative newcomer to the real estate space, but has quickly carved a niche for itself as a technology-focused real estate platform.

Why you should use Compass: The company's website is sleek and informative, providing both homeseekers and agents the technology to receive the most up-to-date home and market information. The company's core emphasis has been its popular and intuitive mobile apps, Compass Homes and Compass Markets, which aim to make the home search process as streamlined as possible.

Start your search engines...

Search engines and firm-specific websites have their own unique strengths to offer prospective buyers, but both types of sites are dedicated to helping consumers achieve their real estate related goals. With these websites having over 1 million page listings online, these sites have established themselves as leaders in the real estate industry.

To view the original article, visit the Contactually blog.