About Movoto Real Estate:
Movoto, Inc. is an online real estate company founded in 2005. Movoto is very picky about who it selects to include in its listing of agents; in fact, Movoto was one of the few companies in the industry that set extremely high standards for its realtors. To be a Movoto realtor, one must have the following background in real estate and qualifications:
- A minimum of 3 years of experience in local real estate (for a market area)
- Successful negotiation of at least ten real estate transactions per year
- Professionalism, integrity, and a passionate interest in the quality of the home-buying experience
Movoto also has an extensive knowledge base for homebuyers through its website blog, “Movoto Insider.” The blog is broken into sections as follows:
- Best Places to Live: Articles highlighting areas and cities, such as the ten smallest cities.
- Safest Places: The safest place to live in each state. These articles are upgraded annually.
- Move To: An article about facts about a city you might want to know before you move there.
- Understand Facts that you might want to know about a new city once you are a resident.
Movoto’s toll-free number is also designed to get real estate agents and prospective homeowners talking. There is a four-step process for using Movoto:
- Browse the website as long as you’d like (no subscription fees).
- Contact Movoto (they set you up with a real estate agent).
- Schedule an appointment with your assigned realtor, and finally.
- Buy and complete the move-in process if you decide to purchase your home.
The Good:
The first thing we noticed about Movoto’s website was the toll-free number. When we looked at Trulia, we needed help finding a direct contact number to contact an agent. With Movoto, the toll-free number is essential in getting the customer in touch with an experienced realtor. With other websites, such as Trulia, we noticed a high level of frustration with realtors who needed help getting leads. This wasn’t the case with Movoto, as customers are set up with an experienced realtor who shows the property.
Another thing that we liked about Movoto was the website’s blog. Movoto has all the resources to help educate potential homebuyers on their new locale’s culture, demographics, and amenities. While Trulia and other websites have scores for a home, we found that Movoto did a great job of getting their customer’s information. We liked that certain parts of the blog, such as the safest cities in each state, were updated annually. We had to browse each home listing to find information about crime statistics and schools. On the side of the page is a little bar graph with information on crime, household income, and other demographics for the new home. If you click on the “Full Demographics” link, a plethora of information is available, much more intensive than websites such as Zillow and Trulia. Another positive attribute of Movoto is the number of pictures for each property. We looked at a property in California. We found over twenty photos of the home’s exterior and interior. The only critique of the images was that the home’s exterior shots seemed trivial. We would have liked to see more pictures of the property’s interior. Another positive attribute of the Movoto website was selecting a home with a pool on the map search function. Other websites did not have a pool search feature. While most homeowners might not want a collection, this made the website more attractive than Trulia and Zillow.
The Bad:
We found a few things to complain about with Movoto. The one complaint came from a realtor who wanted to complain about a fake review. Movoto responded that it does not accept responsibility for the content of reviews. Movoto did not take down the phony review, and the complaining realtor did not obtain Movoto’s dispute resolution. To maintain excellent communication between customers and realtors, Movoto should monitor reviews of its website more diligently. Some photos on Movoto’s website needed to be more relevant to the online homebuyer. One listing in California provided several pictures of the exterior of a listing, including a photo of the skyline. The images of the interior of the home were adequate, but more would be better.
The Bottom Line:
Here is what we liked about Movoto, which would make us recommend them to the prospective homeowner:
- The most detailed demographic listings for a property in the industry, especially compared to Trulia and other similar websites. While Trulia has a walking and transit score, we found that addresses for nearby grocery stores and businesses were included on Movoto’s site.
- Excellent beginning-to-end service for customers using the website. Customers for Movoto are immediately set up with a realtor on their call-in, moving them toward buying a home quicker.
- A detailed search listing for homes, including number of beds/baths, square footage, price, and even a “pool” filtering option.
Here is what we would like to see improved on Movoto:
- More relevant photos for homes that focus on the “saleable” areas of the house (we didn’t find the skyline photo from the CA listing particularly helpful for customers).
Overall, Movoto was a better service for customers than other sites. Movoto has high qualifications for its real estate agents, including three years of experience and ten transactions per year.
Read also: Limestone Commercial Real Estate Reviews.
