5/13/2026 Feature Update: A Better Way to Search by Location

We just rolled out one of our biggest map and search improvements ever — and it makes finding new construction homes faster, more accurate, and a whole lot less frustrating.

If you’re an Agent or Builder Rep, this update is going to change how you build searches, share homes, and help buyers zero in on exactly where they want to live.

Let’s walk through what’s new.

• How Location Search Used to Work
• What’s New: Real Location Filters
• Why This Matters for New Construction
• How to Stack Filters
• What the Map Looks Like Now
• Easy Add, Easy Remove
• What Hasn’t Changed

How Location Search Used to Work

Before this update, searching by location was… let’s call it “close enough.”

You could type a city, county, or ZIP code into the search bar. We’d center the map on that area and draw a circle around it.

That circle was a rough guess. It wasn’t tied to actual city limits, ZIP boundaries, or county lines.

So if you searched “New Braunfels,” your results might include homes in nearby cities, other ZIPs, or even neighboring counties. Helpful for orientation, but not precise.

And if you wanted to layer multiple locations? You had to fight with shapes you couldn’t easily add, remove, or stack.

We heard you. We fixed it.

What’s New: Real Location Filters (Finally)

New Home Buddy now has feature parity with the MLS when it comes to location-based searching.

That means you can filter by:

• Cities (as many as you want)
• ZIP Codes (as many as you want)
• Counties (as many as you want)

And you can mix and match all three.

You’ll find the new Location filters by clicking the More button on the Homes page. They live in their own section, right under the standard home filters.

Or — if you prefer the search bar — just keep using it like you always have. Anything you search now automatically gets added as a Location filter behind the scenes. Same workflow, smarter results.

Why This Matters for New Construction

Here’s something most listing platforms get wrong about new construction:

Builders almost always build on the outskirts of cities.

That means a home might technically sit just outside the official “New Braunfels” city limits, but the municipality, mailing address, and everything else still says New Braunfels, TX.

Under the old system, those homes might not show up when you searched the city.

Now they do.

When you filter by a city, ZIP, or county, you’ll see every home in our system that matches the actual address — not just the ones that happened to fall inside an arbitrary circle on the map.

For agents and reps working new construction, this is huge. You’re not missing inventory anymore.

How to Stack Filters (The Important Part)

This is where things get powerful — and where it pays to slow down for a second.

Here’s the rule:

• Adding more of the same filter type = MORE results
• Adding a different filter type = FEWER, more targeted results

Let’s walk through a real example.

Step 1: You add New Braunfels as a City filter. You see all homes in New Braunfels.

Step 2: You add Boerne as a second City filter. Now you see homes in New Braunfels OR Boerne. Result count goes up — let’s say 867 homes.

Step 3: You add 78132 as a ZIP Code filter. Now the search looks for homes in (New Braunfels OR Boerne) AND ZIP 78132. Result count drops to 242 homes.

See what happened?

• More cities = wider net.
• A ZIP code on top of those cities = filter down to only the homes that are in both groups.
• Add a county on top of that = filter down even further.

It’s like shopping on Amazon. Pick two brands and you see products from either one. Add a price range on top, and you only see products from those brands that also fit your budget.

What the Map Looks Like Now

Here’s a change you’ll notice right away: when you search by city or ZIP code, we no longer draw a shape on the map.

Why? Because those boundaries aren’t always reliable. City limits get annexed. ZIP code maps change. Drawing a wonky line on the map can be misleading — and we’d rather show you accurate results than an inaccurate shape.

Counties are different. County lines are legal boundaries that almost never change. So when you filter by a county, we draw the exact polygon for that county right on the map.

You can see the precise area your search covers, and your buyer can too if you share it with them.

Easy Add, Easy Remove

Adding and removing locations is now as simple as clicking a tag.

• Want to add another city? Type it into the filter field and pick it from the list.
• Want to remove one? Click the little “x” next to it.
• Want to clear everything? Hit Clear Filters just like before.

No more fighting with shapes you can’t edit. No more starting your search from scratch because you accidentally drew the wrong thing.

What Hasn’t Changed

A few things stay the same — on purpose:

• Drawing still works the same as before. Whether you use the location filters of not, you can use the Draw feature to draw any areas you’d like.
• Saved Searches still work exactly like they always have. Any Client Search or Lead Gen Search you’ve already created will keep running with the filters you set.
• Buyers can still only search by address. Their experience hasn’t changed. They see the curated lists, searches, and links you send them — nothing more.

So you don’t need to redo anything. Existing searches keep delivering results to your clients.

What This Means for You

Agents — when you build a search for a client, you can now nail down the exact area they want. No more “homes that are sort of nearby.” If your buyer wants Boerne and the 78006 ZIP, that’s exactly what they get.

Builder Reps — when you share a curated list, your filters now reflect the real boundaries your homes sit in. If your community is technically outside city limits but the address is in town, those homes will finally show up where buyers expect to find them.

For both of you: faster searches, more accurate results, and zero of the old frustration.

✅ Try It Right Now

1. Log into your portal
2. Go to the Homes page
3. Click More to open the full filter menu
4. Scroll down to Location and add a city, ZIP, or county
5. Try stacking a few — watch how the result count changes
6. Save your search and share it with a client

Once you try it, you’ll wonder how you ever searched without it.

This is just one of several big updates we’ve got coming over the next few months. Thanks for being part of the New Home Buddy community — and for helping us change the way new construction homes are sold.

Log in to your portal to see what’s new!