Virtual house hunt goes mainstream - The Internet is now a critical piece of the search

HONOLULU ADVERTISER , June 11, 2006

BY LISA SCONTRAS

Custom Publishing Group

Shopping online has become a popular way to look for the cheapest airline tickets, to find a popular book or to surf real estate listings. Even people who at first resisted like the Internet as a place to hunt out bargains or to find that perfect house in the perfect neighborhood.

“Technological advances are making it easier for consumers of all age groups to shop and research a variety of topics,” says Stella Bernardo, director of new media at The Honolulu Advertiser, who reports that in May approximately 78 percent of the nearly one million unique visitors at HonoluluAdvertis-er.com shopped online.

“Customers want to be equipped with as much information as possible to enable them to get the most for their money,” says Bernardo. “It’s become an essential part of the researching process for major purchases such as homes and cars.” And while it’s true that searching for a home online may have been pretty extreme only a few years ago, it is now becoming commonplace. Bernardo says statistics gathered by the National Association of Realtors show that the Internet is now the second most valuable source for home search information surpassing yard signs but still behind real estate agents.

“Consumers still rely on the professionals to provide context and insight, negotiate the transaction and provide guidance throughout the process,” says Tracy Behler, executive vice president of client relationship development at Prudential Locations LLC. “But they may only have a couple of hours on the weekend to actually drive around looking — the Internet is a tool to make the most of those hours by narrowing down the search area.” Behler, who recently announced the debut of the new Prudential-Locations.com site, says their philosophy behind incorporating the latest mapping programs with the local Multiple Listing Service is to give their clients the most sophisticated yet easy-to-use search capabilities available.

“Our new site allows home-buyers to navigate their own map-based searches listing preferences by neighborhood, by address or landmark, by proximity, even by school district,” says Behler. “Parents, who would prefer to live in a certain school district or within a close proximity to work, can search homes that fit those specific parameters. This way, they can customize a list of homes that really suits their family’s personal needs.

“For example, someone looking for a 2-bedroom, 2-bath townhome in a certain price range, specific neighborhood and school district can enter their criteria and see all properties for sale on a map, along with nearby shops and restaurants,” says Behler. “They can even enter certain street names, condo buildings or ask for a list of homes meeting their criteria that will open on Sun-day.” For out-of-state buyers, or people unfamiliar with a particular neighborhood, the new Prudential site will make it possible to pull up summaries about the demographics of a designated area.

“You can find the average age of the people in a community, income levels, reports on school performance, crime statistics, housing inventory — it’s really extensive,” says Behler. “ The information on schools is particularly useful giving details about class sizes, student-to-teacher ratios, special programs, even the number of computers the school has available for students. As the Internet becomes a more critical piece of the real estate search, we really wanted to make this a useful one-stop-shopping tool.” Searching at this particular Internet destination, or others like it, enable buyers to pull up active listings as well as pending and sold properties, giving buyers and sellers a complete look at the overall market.

As real estate Web sites in general are becoming more comprehensive and allow the consumer to access so much of the same information available to real estate agents, some may wonder whether they will eventually take the place of a Realtor.

NAR President Thomas M. Stevens says that according to one of the largest real estate surveys ever conducted, buyers who use the Internet in searching for a home are actually more likely to use a real estate agent than non-Internet users, underscoring the complexity of the home-buying process. “It’s not unlike going on to a medical Web site,” says Bill Chee, Prudential Locations president. “It’s good to have the resources to find the information and to educate yourself, but you still need the doctor.”

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