How to Conduct a Search Based on a Particular Place

If you want to move close to a particular venue you can find listings nearby using our built in Find Places search. Above the left sidebar are three tabs. Click the one on the right that says Find Places. If you need help at anytime, there are instructions and tips just below the search area. Type in the place that you want to live near and then click Search. I’ll search Hospitals in Miami for this example.

The system will return the first eight search results. If you click Map Results, the map will zoom in as close as it can while still keeping the search results on the page. Select any place from the list to find it on the map.

You can also use the Search Map Area(s) tool, located in the top right corner of the map, to help you find listings in the neighborhoods surrounding the hospitals. For more on how to use the Search Map Area(s) tool see the video “How To Conduct A Search Using The Map”.

Searching by Place could be used by older couples who want to live close to a hospital, families & college students who want to live close to a certain school, or people looking to move closer to where they work or go to church.

How to Conduct a Search for Condo Properties

Looking for a condo is a little different than looking for a home, since many units can be for sale in one building. In that event, each unit gets its own thumbnail, but they share a map marker. When you click on a map marker that has more than one unit for sale a window will pop up with the available units listed. You have the option to Load All in a New Window, which will load just the units listed in that building, or you can click on the unit that you want information for and its thumbnail will be selected on the left.

The Research Parcel can give you insight into the value of other units in your building, floor by floor. Click the Research Parcel button in the top right corner of the map to activate the tool. When you click on a building you will get a list of the units inside. From there you can select a unit and get all the same information you would get from any other property. Again, you have the option to Load All In New Window. When you close the pop up window, a yellow box displays the number of units in that building.

How to Search for Rental Properties

Searching for Rental properties is very similar to searching properties for sale. Under the Search Listings tab you need to make sure to select Search Type: Search MLS Rentals. Once you’ve done that, you can proceed to conduct a search like you normally would. Enter a city, neighborhood, zip, address, mls number or search using the map.

One thing that’s different is the way ValueSearch works. Instead of ranking the listings above or below estimated value, ValueSearch compares the estimated value to the annual rent to determine the Best Rental Deals. The lower the percentage, the better the deal! Again, by default, the results are sorted by the best deals. If you want to change the sort then use the drop down boxes above the listings result. The best deals will always be used as the second search criteria, so if you choose to sort by community, you will get the best deals in that particular community first.

You have the same options to save properties, send them to friends, or share on social networking sites. There are printer friendly versions of the information and you can make an appointment or request more information for any listing that interests you.

How to Search Using the Map

You know how to search using our search form, but that’s only using half of the tools that you have available to you. I’m going to show you how to conduct a search using just the map. Begin by clicking the Draw Zoom Box button at the bottom, left corner of the map. Select an area of the map to zoom into by clicking and dragging out a zoom area.

You can see how many listings are on a particular map view by looking at the map count in the upper, left corner of the map. You can see that we have a total of 168 listings on this map. To view the thumbnails and locations of these listings click the Retrieve Listings button. As always, only 100 listings will be shown at a time. To view the next 100, use the page numbers found at the bottom of the thumbnail list. A new page will bring up a new set of thumbnails and their corresponding map markers.

If you move the map, the system will recalculate the map count number, but keep the previously retrieved listings’ thumbnails and map markers. Now you can see that our new map count is 159 listings. To view the thumbnails and map markers for the new map count, click the Retrieve Listings button again. Now we have an entirely different set of listings.

Let’s say you want to find out how many properties are listed in a few different areas on this particular map view. If you click the Search Map Area(s) button, in the top, right corner of the map, you can drag boxes around your areas of interest. The number of listings in that area will be displayed in a yellow box. You can draw as many search areas as you like. To view the thumbnails and map markers for the listings in these search areas click the Retrieve Listings button. Now we are looking at listings located only in the areas we were interested in.

This tool can be particularly helpful for people who are looking to move to a specific neighborhood or school district. By using the Search Map Area(s) tool to drag out boxes that encompass the neighborhood or school district, you can see what houses are listed in those individual areas. The best part of all is that you can search multiple areas at a time.

How to Conduct a Basic Search

So you’ve decided that you want to start looking for a new place to live. You can begin your search by entering in a city, neighborhood, zip code, address, or MLS number into the text area. For this example I’m going to search the zip code 33176.

Next you’ll want to indicate what kind of property you are looking for. You have the option to search MLS for sale (homes for sale), banked owned for sale, MLS rentals, or foreclosures. I’m going to choose Search MLS for Sale.

There are additional fields you can use to filter your results including including property type, minimum beds and baths, minimum and maximum price, and building and lot square footage.

If you ever need help, you can always click on for more assistance.

To conduct your search, click the search button.

We now see that our search has resulted in 197 listings. The system will retrieve 100 listings at a time. You can view the next 100 properties by using the page numbers located below the thumbnails. So when you click on page 2, the system will repopulate the page with the next 100 thumbnails and their map markers.

Each thumbnail on the left has a corresponding map marker on the right. When you click a thumbnail, the background turns red. A marker on the map also turns red, indicating the location of the selected thumbnail. You can also, click on a particular map marker and its corresponding thumbnail will be selected on the left. To zoom-in to a particular property you can click the zoom-in button located on the right side of the thumbnail. This will give you a detailed, aerial view of the listing. To zoom back out, so you can see all the listings again, simply click the zoom-out button.

By default the results are sorted by the best deals. ValueSearch® compares the estimated value to the listed sales price to determine whether the property is under or overvalued. If you want to change the sort then use the drop down boxes above the listings result. The best deals will always be used as the second search criteria, so if you choose to sort by community, you will get the best deals in that community first.

If you look at the bottom portion of each thumbnail you will see the Homekeys estimated value for each listing. As you can see, the first property is 54% below market value. The price of the house is $50,000, while the estimated value is $107,598. The next listing is 48% below value, the one after that is 39%, and so on and so on. For more on how the estimated value is calculated, watch the video, “How to Interpret the Estimated Values”.

You can find basic information about every listing on its thumbnail. To view more detailed information, click the Property Details Tab, located above the search map. This page will give you the listing and county record information. To view pictures of the property click the Pictures Tab. Simply rollover the thumbnail images on the right to view them.

Welcome to ValueSearch and How it Can Help You!

People can be skeptics -- we get that. In a world where every product is "America's Most Trusted Brand" it's ok to have a little bit of doubt. Even though our ValueSearch tool is completely free for buyers and renters alike...

(as are our services as real estate agents and brokers)

...people are still a bit hesitant to even take the few seconds needed to perform a search and they should be because time is valuable! That being said, we created this blog for one purpose and that purpose is to post the results from real searches done at any hour of any given day as both proof and to spread the word!

Without any further delay, let me show you what I mean!




<----- This is a screenshot from a recently performed search for properties in Miami Beach. As you can see from the data displayed, This is a great deal!


Address: 642 MICHIGAN Av # 11
City, State Zip: Miami Beach, FL 33139
Community Name: Sevilla Condo
Property Type: Condo/Town Home
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Living Area Size: 530
Year Built: 1925
MLS Listing Id: R3128362
Estimated Value: $191,363
Actual Price: $69,990
63% Below Value


Nice, spacious unit in an Art Deco building, Spanish style, well maintained condo. New Granite counter tops, tile floors on kitchen and bathroom & wood floor on the remainder of the condo. Great location near the beach and also near south beach.
Top Ten in Miami Beach


Now in this case, the home is priced 63% below what it is worth which means that whomever purchases this property would essentially be doing so at a discount greater than half off! To put it in simpler terms, if you were to buy 2 of these, it would be a better deal than even buy one get one free!


I could go on and on but I'm sure that by now, you're getting the idea. Find a Home in Florida using ValueSearch whenever you have a free minute. You do not need to pay and you don't even have to register. Our real estate tools are all free and that includes everything from our Weekly Market Update to the innovative ValueSearch I just gave you a taste of so don't hesitate to try them all out and if you need anything, we are only a phone call away.


Good luck while searching for your dream home and stayed tuned to this blog for more search tips and results!