In our last lesson we discussed the "Area" and "Municipality" search criteria which are very similar in their function. As we had stated in the prior lesson, both criteria limit your search to specific geographic areas of the Lehigh Valley. In review, the "Area" criteria is a grouping that the Multiple Listing Service uses to divide the data into market areas. The "Municipality" criteria limits your searches to specific local governmental bodies within the market area.
As an example: The City of Allentown will appear as one entry in the "Municipality" criteria, however it will appear as 4 separate areas in the "Area" criteria.
To select a Municipality or Municipalities that you want to add to your search, click on the magnifying glass next to the Municipality box on the selection screen. |
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After you have opened the Municipality box, just click on the check boxes next to the Municipality that you want to search. It is recommended that you only search one municipality at a time in order to stay below the 50 result ceiling on your search. If you want to search more than one municipality we will review some other techniques to limit the search results to the 50 result ceiling. When you have selected all the municipalities to be included in the search, click "OK" at the top of the box.
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| The next step is to click "Preview Count" at the top of the search window to start your search. |
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| In our search, we have requested Residential Properties in Bethlehem City (Lehigh County) and Bethlehem City North (Northampton County). After we click on "Preview Count" we get a results screen showing 100 listings found. This exceed our maximum of 50 listings. The next step is to click on "Revise Criteria" so that we can change our criteria and get results of 50 listings or less. |
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| Since I need to reduce the number of listings results, the first criteria that I would change is the Municipality. I would reduce the selected municipality to one municipality. This way, after I have view the property listings, I would be able to revise only the municipality and see identical properties in another municipality. Click on "Preview Count" to see my results. |
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| The "Search Results" still show we are returning more than the allowed 50 listings. Let's "Revise Criteria" again. |
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| Now I need to start looking at the type of house. I know that I want to view only single homes, so I will put a check in the box next to detached. Let's click on "Preview Count" and see what happens. |
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| Our "Search Results" now show 36 listings found. We can click on "View Results" and start seeing some properties. |
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| Our next lesson will cover an additional criteria that can be matched with "Property Type" for our minimum search standards - Price. Everyone knows the price that they want to spend. Let's go. |