BNB Hot / Real estate sites
The big portals, decoded
Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com & the majors
How the big real estate sites compare, why they disagree on your home, and exactly how to claim and edit your property on each.
The big portals, and how to take control of your listing
Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com are where most buyers start, and they will show your Hot Springs home whether you want them to or not. The data they display, the beds, baths, square footage and the automated value, often comes from public records and can be wrong. The good news: as the owner you can claim your property on each site and fix it, and when it is time to sell, the way your agent enters the listing in the MLS is what feeds all of them. Here is how each one works and how to influence what it shows.
The major sites compared
| Site | Automated value | Where its data comes from | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zillow (owns Trulia) | Zestimate | Public records, MLS feeds and owner/agent edits | The widest buyer audience; owner dashboard tools |
| Redfin | Redfin Estimate | Direct MLS data in markets it serves, plus public records | Fast, MLS-accurate listing data and map tools |
| Realtor.com | Realtor.com estimate | Direct MLS feeds from hundreds of MLSs (operated by Move) | Freshest active-listing data, tied closely to the MLS |
| Homes.com (CoStar) | Home value | MLS and public records; always shows the listing agent | Agent-friendly display, growing audience |
| Trulia | Shares Zillow's | Synced with Zillow | Neighborhood and lifestyle overlays |
| Others (Compass, Movoto, Rocket Homes) | Varies | MLS syndication and public records | Niche audiences and brokerage sites |
They disagree constantly, because each uses its own data and its own model. Treat every automated number as a rough starting point, never an appraisal. For a real value in this market, get a comparative market analysis from a local agent who has actually been inside the recent comparable sales.
How to claim and edit your home on each site
Claiming proves you own the property and unlocks an owner view where you can correct the facts. Do this on all of them, because buyers and the estimates both read whatever is there now.
- ZillowCreate a free account, search your address, open the home and choose to claim or verify ownership. From the Owner Dashboard you can edit your home facts, and the Zestimate recalculates. Note that Zillow generally only lets you edit facts while the home is not currently listed for sale.
- RedfinSign in, find your home and confirm you own it. Use Edit Home Facts to correct property type, bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, lot size and year built, and use Edit Map Location at the bottom of that panel to fix a wrong map pin. The Redfin Estimate updates from your corrections.
- Realtor.comGo to realtor.com/myhome, claim your property, then open the My Home tab. Use the Edit Facts control on the owner view to fix details. This is also where you track the site's estimate for your home.
- TruliaTrulia is part of Zillow Group and mirrors Zillow's data, so fixing your facts on Zillow generally flows through here too.
- Homes.comClaim your home through your Homes.com account to manage the details it shows.
How listings actually get onto every site
When a home is for sale, the owner dashboards take a back seat. The listing agent enters the property into the local MLS (here that's the Cooperative Arkansas Realtors MLS), and from there it syndicates out.
- The MLS is the source of truth. IDX and syndication feeds carry MLS data to the portals. Your agent's MLS entry, the facts, the description and the photos, is what the big sites display, so the quality of that entry drives everything.
- Brokers and agents control distribution. Since 2018 brokers choose how listings flow to Zillow, sometimes with a per-listing agent override. Realtor.com takes direct MLS feeds. Redfin surfaces agent listings through its MLS agreements. A good agent sets this up so your home appears everywhere it should.
- Sites update at different speeds. Feeds refresh on different schedules, so a home can look active on one site and pending on another for a day or two. Don't panic over small mismatches; do fix outright wrong data.
- Photos and the description are your leverage. The portals rank and show listings largely on what the MLS feed contains. Great photos, an honest and specific description, and accurate facts are what make your listing stand out across all of them at once.
Where we fit, and the Hot Springs angle
The national portals are built for scale, not for local nuance. None of them will tell you whether a Hot Springs address can be licensed as a short-term rental, which lake a dock permit comes from, or how the city's 400-license cap changes what a property is worth to an investor. That is what this site is for. Use the big sites for reach and to keep your own facts clean; use us for the local and investor lens they miss.
And when you sell, the single most effective way to appear correctly on Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com and the rest at the same time is to list with a local MLS agent who enters it right. Nancy Bergeron and The Bergeron Group put your home into the Arkansas MLS with professional photos and an accurate description, which is what feeds every portal.
Common questions
Which site has the most accurate value?
None of the automated estimates is reliable enough to price a sale. They differ because each uses its own model and data. The accurate number is a comparative market analysis from a local agent, grounded in recent Hot Springs sales.
Can I remove my home from these sites entirely?
Mostly no, because they pull from public records. You can usually hide certain details, opt out of some features, and request photo removal through each site's owner tools and privacy help pages, but a basic public record of the property typically remains.
My home is for sale but the facts are wrong on Zillow. What do I do?
While a home is listed, the MLS feed governs the data, so the fix goes through your listing agent correcting the MLS entry, which then flows to the portals. Tell your agent exactly what is wrong and they can update it.
Does editing my facts raise my estimate?
It can, if the public record undercounts your home. Correcting square footage, beds, baths, and adding real upgrades gives the models better inputs. It will not invent value that isn't there, and it won't replace a professional appraisal or CMA.