| The real estate business and the | | | | click to the agent's site from the page |
| Internet have made a terrific match. | | | | showing you the house. Some agents in |
| Realtors have taken almost universally | | | | rural areas still have no websites, but |
| to using the web for presentation of | | | | they are a minority. |
| their listings. As a result, if you're | | | | Some realtors such as Coldwell Banker |
| looking for a home you can get a long | | | | and ERA will send you to their national |
| way into your search right there at your | | | | web site instead of the local office |
| computer. By far the best resource for | | | | website and you have to continue your |
| web house hunting is This site has | | | | search through their centralized |
| become the principal nationwide resource | | | | service. Coldwell Banker and Sotheby's |
| for home finding and home listing. It is | | | | (high-end) do this well. ERA and ReMax |
| not the MLS, or multiple listing service | | | | provide no real additional information. |
| on which agents are required to list all | | | | But with most realtors, you can get to a |
| of the properties they have on the | | | | local web site and good realtors make |
| market, so you won't find every listing | | | | maximum use of them. |
| here. | | | | Select a city, a price range, number of |
| What you will find is the huge majority | | | | bedroom, etc. and search the listings. |
| of them, nearly all with at least one | | | | If you don't find much, expand the |
| photograph and with a description of the | | | | search area – the search engine |
| property that includes the essentials: | | | | will do that for you too. When you have |
| home size, number of rooms, age, size of | | | | zeroed in on some appealing properties, |
| lot, water and sewer systems, etc. Many | | | | it's time to contact a real estate agent |
| will have multiple photographs and some | | | | – not necessarily the listing |
| will have "virtual tours" using video. | | | | agent on the property you want, but |
| If you want further information on the | | | | someone local to the area that will work |
| house often you can go to the listing | | | | with you. They will know of any |
| agent's site and often find additional | | | | additional listings in the area that |
| photos and details on the home's | | | | meet your needs and aren't shown on the |
| interior, roof age, etc. Usually you can | | | | web. |