Gold Country Homes' Web site, goldcountryhomes.com, now offers its readers a new tool for their home-shopping needs.
Gold Country Media and MetroList Services, Inc. have come to an agreement to run MetroList's Multiple Listing Service (MLS) home listings on goldcountryhomes.com.
"Now, finally, our readers can be sure they're getting the complete MLS listings, both locally and throughout the region," said Gold Country Media's Steve Jameson, director of classifieds and interactive media. "They now get it from a neutral source."
In the past, visitors to goldcountryhomes.com could access home listings, but from certain real estate agents' own systems.
Adding the MetroList system now offers a list that features all properties for sale from any real estate firm.
"All of the homes in the MetroList are on there," Jameson said.
You can access the MLS listings by clicking on a large button on goldcountryhomes.com titled "Finding your Dream Home Starts Here!"
Once there, visitors can select what county to search, and break down the search by what area of the county they want and specific ZIP codes.
Home shoppers can refine the search by price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the size of the garage, square footage, age of the home and how many stories, among other ways.
"You can really search and hone down what you're looking for," Jameson said.
The partnership between Gold Country Media and MetroList Services became available after exclusivity contracts with other media outlets had lapsed, thus allowing Gold Country Media to provide its readers with a new feature to shop for homes.
"From my standpoint, it's huge," Jameson said about adding the MetroList service. "We couldn't get that information for a long time, now we can."
The MLS listing service is just one more component to goldcountry-homes.com as it looks to become visitors' one-stop-shop for real estate matters.
Visitors to the site can read local real estate stories, columns and community profiles as well find out what recent homes sold for, look through the real estate classifieds, seek a mortgage or Realtor, find out where new and open homes are in the area, and more.
"Our goal is to be the No.1 source for local news and advertising for the communities we serve," said Gold Country Media's Senior Editor, Deric Rothe. "Adding MLS service accessibility to our Web sites should go a long way toward helping our readers get the information they need about local real estate and related services."
Jameson also sees the addition of the MetroList service as a plus to people who don't even live in Placer County - yet.
"If you're moving to a new area and you don't know about the community, you're going to go to the community newspaper," Jameson said. "And what could be better than to have a (Web) site that provides all that information."
Along with being able to access Gold Country Homes' Web site through its own address, goldcountryhomes.com can be accessed through the Homes tab at the top of every one of Gold Country Media's newspaper Web sites.
Gold Country Homes' Andrew DiLuccia can be reached at andrewd@goldcountrymedia.com.
