Internet-Enabled Buyers and Sellers like to do their own research.  Often they spend countless hours determining what the market offers for months and months.  While they are gathering data, they feel there is no need to connect with a live real estate agent.

That independance is fine if you have plenty of time on your hands and would like to spend your spare moments digging through the good and the bad information.  I think we can offer a better idea.

Enlist the help of a professional while insisting on your independance!!!

You really don't have to have an either/or situation while gathering your data about the market.  Instead, insist on having it all...get BOTH!!!

Although it is interesting and fun when you begin looking at properties on the many real estate sites, if you value your time you will also be using that time to observe the agents that show up during your search as well.   According to the research, almost all internet-enabled buyers and sellers eventually begin work with a professional real estate agent.

I suggest that you take your newly enabled status to the max by noticing how an agent presents themselves online.  Fill out some inquiry forms and take note of the way the agents respond to your inquiry.  Do they ignore you?  Do they answer you quickly, but pounce on you with an obvious need to earn a commission quickly too?  Or do they simply ask how they can help you and offer to make your research easier?

Buyers and Sellers have always been in the "drivers seat" about selecting a real estate agent.  Before the data about property could be found online, many simply did not exercise that power and ended up working with the agent called for the information.  There was some false sense of disempowerment because the agent held the data.  But now, the ultimate consumers of real estate know their power.

Feel the POWER of being an internet- enabled client

Spending endless hours doing your own research is one way of feeling the power of all the data you can gather from the internet.  I would encourage you to consider using the power of the internet to find someone to assist you....EVEN if you may not move for six months or a year.  Just be up front and honest with the agents you interview.  You will determine very quickly whether the agent is focused on serving your needs or only after a quick commission.

More than half of my clients found me on the internet while looking at properties in The Woodlands, Texas.  And that has been true for more than four years.  Some of the clients that recieve automated listings from me have been monitoring the market for years.  Some of the clients who visit my site are pressured into an immediate move by their employer and need lots of information fast.  Either type of client is welcome to contact me and get both automated information provided and personal questions answered.

I encourage all buyers and sellers to find an agent that will respect your desire to do your own research and will also help you to sort through all of it.  I believe you will be very glad that you did.