Real Estate
Searching Online Saves Homebuyers Time
By
Sep 20, 2005, 20:50

(NUI) - Looking for a new house can be a fun yet exhausting experience. The old-fashioned way of looking for houses basically consisted of scanning print ads, scheduling appointments to see homes and going to open houses.

But technology is changing all of that. Real estate Web sites now offer features that let you shop for your new home from the comfort of your living room. You can do almost all of your research online, and the whole family can get involved.

Scheduling times for everyone in a family to look at a house can be challenging. But with an online search, you can narrow down the possibilities. Then, the family can decide the best time to look at the final choices in person.

Profile pages for both agents and offices enable you to find the right agent for you, highlighting personal information, awards, designations and languages spoken. Listing pages provide full property details and can include multiple photos and a virtual tour, enabling you to see inside the houses and get a feel for what they are like.

One company that makes it easy for homebuyers to research their real estate options online is ERA Real Estate. Visitors to its Web site, www.era.com, can find a variety of personalized home search resources.

One popular consumer feature located on the Web site is MyERA.com. Using this feature, you can reduce the time needed for your home search by saving search criteria and listings.

MyERA.com users can also receive e-mails for new listings that match their preferences. Plus, valuable tools, such as Create a Room and My Virtual Assistant, provide unique features not found on most sites. Create a Room is used to develop a room layout for moving and redecorating purposes. My Virtual Assistant helps consumers track and record activities, such as inspections, title searches and utility "ons and offs."

For more information on home buying online, visit www.era.com.

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