Six Secrets of Internet Home Buying

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Can a few home buyers help me out with some informal research?
I am wondering about how many properties you looked at on the INTERNET?
Of the many you eliminated from your field of interest, do you feel that the availability and quality of photos and video played an important role in the process?
Thanks

Steve of AK 6:41PM July 10, 2012

Great article as 90% of buyers are searching for homes for sale on the internet now before ever stepping into a car or meeting with a real estate professional. In Salt Lake City more and more buyers are finding out that they need to know the areas you like and target those areas so that you're not all over the map. As a real esate agent I've got this cool tool on my website that has 100% access to every home listed on the MLS http://www.incentivesrealestate.com

Derek Aston of UT 7:08PM January 12, 2012

Awesome article--I loved reading it! You had some great tips on how to purchase a home online. A great source to use when searching for homes in Naples, Florida is www.selectnapleshomes.com . This website will allow for the buyer to search any house that is for sale in Naples and Southwest Florida...it's a neat website! When choosing a Naples Fl Realtor, The Curkovic Team has what it takes! http://www.selectnapleshomes.com

Sofia of FL 12:36PM June 21, 2011

Real Estate search engines are getting much better. I just read that Google was going to change the way they list local businessess on the local map listings. A great way to find listings of foreclosed properties in North Carolina and nationwide is http://www.benhamrealestate.com. This site list free foreclosure listings and distressed properties.

Benham Realtors of NC 5:52PM April 09, 2011

Thanks for the tips. That really is awesome that there are ways that you can buy a home online. I just know that for me I would want to still check the house out before I decide to buy. I don't want to get into anything until I know for sure that I am going to be getting something that is worth my while. www.cathymeder.com

josh of GA 5:52PM November 22, 2010

Living in the Sequim Real Estate area, I have seen some great turn around. I appreciate the article though.

SequimRealEstate of UT 4:03PM September 15, 2010

How does the alleged expert referred to by the author of this article figure that DotHomes is "complete" website? I'm not 100% sure how this website gets its listings, but most non-broker owned websites in my area depend on individual Realtors inputting their listings manually or on agreements that they have with individual brokers that allow them to download their listings.
I'm a Realtor in the DuPage County area, just outside of Chicago and as one example of how incomplete Dothomes is, I ran a search in our local Multiple Listing Service and in the city of Wheaton, IL there are 348 single family homes for sale, and 130 town homes and condos. Dothomes has a total of 214 homes, which means that less than 50% of the homes for sale in this one city are missing from their website.
As a Realtor, I have found that these websites, Trulia, DotHomes, Zillow, etc have made my services even more essential because of the insufficient and incorrect data that permeate these websites. Same goes for the "by owner" websites, because my experience is that the majority of these go it alone sellers have stunningly high and unrealistic expectations of what their home is worth.
I can not speak to what you may find in each individual market, but in the Chicago-land area, you will find that Realtor.com and any website that has home searches built into it whether that website is run by an individual agent or a large brokerage, will be the most likely source to find all listings. Our MLS has a structure of agreements that allows Realtor.com and every Realtor who is a member of the MLS to list every home that is for sale in their market, provided we all follow certain rules to avoid mis-leading the public.

JeffAdams.IllinoisProperty.com of IL 5:32PM January 22, 2009

Interesting that the article suggests the buyer should do all the research but will still end up paying two commissions. Why? Because the seller controls the seller's agent commission and the buyer's agent commission. So even if you are a buyer with no agent, you will pay both commissions.
If you do not like paying others for the work you do as a home buyer, then contact your state and federal representatives. Let them know home buyers should control the buyer's agent commission.
This will allow buyers to select all or some services for a fixed fee which is not based on an arbitrary house cost. It also allows buyers to purchase a house by themselves and not pay a commission.

Rob of MN 2:15PM August 27, 2008

I have seen some real cheap deals being transacted on Bid4assets. Some houses were going for less than a thousand dollars. Is it really possible or will there be complications when the deal is about to close? Any users can share your experience with them?

Roger 10:56AM July 27, 2008

Thanks Rueben Soto. From one South Floridian to another, you said it best!
Do you remember, there once was a funny looking little guy named Ross Perot, that everyone laughed at, but his prognostication was right on the money. He warned that if NAFTA ever got enacted, all America would hear was a giant sucking sound, as all our jobs were being sucked out of this country and into others. He was correct, and we have been hosed!
We have the biggest gap between the rich and the poor of any Industrialised nation on the planet, and the gap will grow larger as the rich get richer and the middle class gets poorer.
Why is gas is only $2.20 a gallon in Mexico ($4.20 locally today) and many of our truckers are going across the border to fill up? Well, Mexico has PRICE CONTROLS on fuel. Why is it we cannot do the same? Is it because we have the big oil men in office? Another thing to ask our so called Elect.
Quite frankly, this housing speculation boom would never of happenned if the Fed hadn't of lowered the prime rate to almost zero, making money extremely cheap to borrow. Of course it was all done as a bail-out reaction to the boys who lost their shirts in the Dot Com Bust to help the poor guys out trying to make a fast buck. So now we have the Housing Bust, the beginnings of Bank and Investment Houses bust, and in time it will be the commodities bust. We will just go from bubble to bubble with the next guy holding the bag. Pretty soon there won't be anything left to bubble for the monopoly players to make a fast buck on and America is going to have to enact new legislation to get our jobs back or perish. And we need to disconnect from the Federal Reserve, which is not even Federal but privately owned, and give Congress the power to print our money, in an effort to stop these international bankers from manipulating our economy.

Caroline of FL 7:58PM June 28, 2008