Home Tips

Seeking Your Dream Home
More Buyers Start on the Internet

Many homebuyers start the process of looking for homes on the Internet, looking at properties, taking virtual tours, researching school and community information, viewing listing and sales prices, and even shopping for mortgages.

In fact, Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc. reports that the number of hits to residential realty sites jumped 11 percent from last year, to 23 million in July 2002. Additionally, the number of borrowers applying for mortgages online climbed from one in four applicants last year to one in three.

Though the dot-com bust caused many real estate sites to shut down or consolidate with larger players, sources say the few remaining sites are higher-quality. Even so, Forrester senior analyst Ekaterina Walsh believes consumers must be careful. Online mortgage calculators, for instance, determine an approximate monthly mortgage payment using a prospective borrower's income before taxes and do not factor in other expenses.

Walsh urges consumers to use only those sites with established track records, look at customer testimonials, and research the site's performance. To avoid weeding through old listings, prospective buyers are advised to focus on up-to-date sites that label properties as new listings, pending, or sold. Moreover, buyers are cautioned against providing personal information without considering security issues.