It is a changed world. That's for sure. I am currently 33 years old, graduated from the University of Illinois 11 years ago in 1996. A HUGE amount has changed in that time. When I was just leaving school, the internet began it's massive march into the households of america. No one knew how important it was going to become. At the time, I, like so many others, thought that it might just be a novelity filled with Listserve sites and Bulletin Boards filled with random bits of information. Oh, How wrong I was.
These days, I wake up and check my email. I check out the news, I download podcasts, post blogs, So much of my time is spent facing my monitor. I know that over 90% of homebuyers do the very same thing as me. People are getting more and more comfortable searching for homes online. The internet is truly the death of print advertising. If it hasn't happened yet, it will soon.
But here is the caution. Shopping for homes online will NOT make your home search easier. In fact, it may actually complicate the situation. Many of my clients feel that they are somehow finding hidden gems that they wouldn't know about if they weren't searching for themselves. They then find out that... the house is off the market, or they don't really like the location, or it doesn't have the in-unit laundry, or the million other reasons I haven't sent the property to them.
You see, when you sit down with your Realtor, you gain an advocate. The Realtor will take you through the entire homebuying process and set you up on an automatic search that will send you all of the properties that fit EXACTLY what you are looking for. Your Realtor will do all of the leg work FOR YOU. You don't have to hunt and decipher and figure out if the house is right for you or not. Your Realtor will do that for you!
Also, buying a home isn't like buying a commodity item like a toaster or a washer/dryer. Every home is different. Even if the interiors and models are EXACTLY alike down the finishes and countertops, two homes can NEVER occupy the same space. Homes are something that resonate emotion. Shopping online will never give you the same emotion as walking through the home with your Realtor.
In conclusion, it's okay to shop online, but don't ever think that you'll somehow find something your Realtor can't. Your Realtor is just trying to help you with your decision by only showing you homes that are exactly what you want!
Until next time,
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