The Home Buying Process - Working With an Internet REALTOR®

Buying a home is both a science and an art requiring not only accurate and current local market knowledge, but a definitive strategy customized to your particular situation. In the past this task fell to the REALTOR®, who would offer potential homes to a client based on the agent's research and recommendations. Today the Internet has made this a relatively straight forward process, providing a wealth of tools and information to help buyers do their own research on local homes and neighborhoods. As a result the need to have a REALTOR® represent you as a home buyer has been questioned, but there are compelling reasons why you should include a liscenced real estate professional who is Web savvy in your home hunting arsenal.

Working with an agent will keep you focused.
I frequently get calls and Emails from buyers about one of my on line listings only to find they have downloaded dozens of listings from various sites that were already under contract, in questionable areas, or totaly undesirable. My first step is to weed out the best ones and contribute listings that will best fit the buyer's wants and needs. Together we establish a base of neighborhoods to work with and focus on listings within those areas.

Leveraging an "Internet REALTOR®" to consolidate your on line search.
Zillow, Trulia and Google, are just several amongst dozens of real estate search engines available to home buyers. I provide my clients customized "one-stop" on line search tools, which provide accurate and timely listings without having to search all over the Web.

A real estate professional will walk you through the entire transaction.
You've found a home you love so what's next? Your agent will guide you through every step of the way. This includes everything from submitting an offer to inspections, mortgages and insurance. Your agent will be on top of every detail (and there are many), allowing you to go about your daily business.

As real estate technologies evolve, buyers are seeking out agents who can help make sense out of all the listing information the Web has to offer. So next time you Google "your city real estate" you may want to search for "your city realtors" as well.