Tips for using the
Home and Commercial Property Search
for South Florida and the Treasure Coast
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Regional MLS Area Maps South Florida Zip Code Maps
These tips, and mls and zip code maps will help you to search for a smaller more targeted areas of a city and obtain more relevant properties.
Email or call me at 561-866-2927 if you have any questions or problems using Search Homes Pages, or sign up for AUTOMATIC EMAIL UPDATES of new listings. Call me anytime if would like to view any of the properties.
There are several different search types – Basic or Quick Search, Address Search and Listing Property ID#, as well as Map / Polygon search are on the main Search Homes page. There is a MORE SEARCH OPTIONS link on this page to the Advanced Property Search page with many more available Criteria to refine your parameters. You can search by Active, pending or sold listings.
All Website IDX services are very limited in fields used, those fields fed by the City’s MLS to the IDX service and agent input of the fields. So when you perform a search on the website it may not be complete.
I can set your searches up in our MLS system direct that includes all the available fields and on pages that can easily be printed out. Let me know if you would like the searches and updates set up through our MLS.
1)Property Search Categories
There are 7 categories for searches – Residential is the main one that includes single family homes, townhomes, villas, condominiums and mobile/manufactured homes, and residential rentals. You can also search for Duplex/Triplex/Quad Investments, Commercial and Business Investments and Vacant Land.
There is also a General Cross Property search which allows you to simultaneously search several of the categories and this search’s required fields are City and List Price. Other fields are optional. Using either the MLS area numbers or subdivision names will narrow down the number of properties and make it more manageable to review.
2)South Florida MLS Area Numbers
GEOArea and Area Numbers refer to County Sections in our MLS system. For example in Boca Raton, GEOArea “PB01” is the area east of the intracoastal on the beach. Within that larger area are smaller “AREA” numbers for example “4170” is the area from Camino Real south to the Broward County line.
So if you look at the maps you can define a smaller area to search. The MLS Area Maps are divided into search area numbers and relate to the numbers on the Search Homes pages. Within a city you can choose 1 or more areas and obtain all listings in a price range or narrow it even more to specific subdivisions.
3) Subdivision and Development Names
In our Regional MLS system, there are 2 fields that relate to subdivisions – Subdivision Name and Development Name. Development name refers to a larger community, such as a country club like Broken Sound which contains smaller villages or neighborhoods. These village names would be in the Subdivision field. So if you search Broken Sound in the subdivision field you won’t come up with too many listings, you have to use the village name for listings to come up.
For smaller individual communities, like Mediterrania, or condominium names, like Ocean Towers (formerly Whitehall South), the same name will be used for both fields. Please refer to the Boca Raton Real Estate Guide for more detailed neighborhood information – the country clubs section for names and descriptions of individual villages, waterfront single family communities , waterfront condominium section and subdivisions section for a listing of individual villages or neighborhoods.
Data is sometimes entered differently and you may not be able to pick up every single available listing. In the Subdivision Name or Development Name fields you can only enter 1 name and for more results use only the first few letters or first word. There may be several buildings with variations of a name in a city or county so you might have to fine tune it after your initial search.
There is also Subdivision List field which lists all the subdivision names in the MLS. These subdivision lists are actually the legal plat names if it is a larger area, and I have found that some are missing and they are not complete. You can choose more than one name here.
4) Subdivisions and Communities
that show a link to available properties for that community may include several villages for a larger country club. For example, under Broken Sound Country Club, the villages are divided into single family, condominiums, and combination single family and townhomes. If you want to narrow your search to a specific village or price range, or go to any other search, go back to the Subdivision List or you can start a New Search.
5) Other Criteria Fields:
Some of the fields are drop down lists, some are blank and you can enter information. The Elementary, Middle and High School fields, GEOArea and Area fields are pre-populated lists that show when you click on them.
There is also one more checkbox at the bottom if you want the search to only include “ALL” the criteria you have selected, so make sure you check that if required.
“Show only listings that meet all of the geographic search criteria (e.g., zip code AND city AND neighborhood)”
Please email or call me at 561-866-2927 if you have any questions or problems using the Search Homes Pages or would like to be placed on an AUTOMATIC EMAIL UPDATE of new listings. Please call me anytime if you would like to view any of the properties.
Boca Raton Real Estate Guide offers a wide variety of residential communities and neighborhood atmospheres that appeal to any person’s choice of lifestyle. To learn more about the areas, browse through the summaries that include photographs and detailed descriptions as well as approximate price ranges of homes.
I have included descriptions and have brochures on some of Boca’s new home communities, information on the many new custom homes being developed throughout the area, as well as details on vacant parcels available for new construction. The developer will cooperate with realtors on sales, but only if the agent accompanies the client on the initial visit and registration.
If any of the areas sound interesting to you or you find homes in the MLS I would be happy to work with you to find your home. Feel free to call our office at 561-866-2927 or fill out our Inquiry Form for additional information.
Please contact us for complete details.
