CHOOSING A REALTOR OVER THE INTERNET
by Patrick Altoft
In today's real estate market, the Internet is a virtual marketplace for real estate information. Thousands of real estate websites have postings on the Internet's cyberspace yellow pages. Access is a keystroke away to massive quantities of information on everything related to the real estate market. So the question becomes why should the average homebuyer choose a realtor over the Internet? When the Internet has an infinite number of real estate websites available 24/7, who needs a real person to broker a real estate deal?
The Internet is an effective marketing tool for consumers. It offers a source of empowerment for buyers in the market for homes and home loans. With the Internet, a prospective homebuyer can research the market, compare home prices in every country that has listings; explore neighborhoods from 3,000 miles away and rank school communities from the best to the worst and do all of the marketing work from the convenience of a desk or laptop computer. Imagine doing all the Internet research without ever talking to another human being.
You can find a lender or a broker without any human contact and that's the advantage of choosing the Internet over a Realtor. But is that the choice you really want to make when you buy your first home, choosing an impersonal computerized marketing source over the familiarity of a human being to close the deal? Think of the celebration you would have with your Realtor when you get the keys to your first home, the flowers, the congratulations, the $50 gift certificate and you wouldn't think twice about choosing a Realtor.
The advantage of choosing a Realtor is that you will get the human approach. The Internet may give you reams of data on homes, prices, markets and neighbors, but it can't give you the human touch of having that information processed and interpreted by a Realtor who understands the market and the listings relative to your ability to purchase the house of your dreams. The Internet will give you the listings, but the Realtor will evaluate the listings and make the phone calls to get you the best deal and the best house on the market.
The Realtor is a real estate expert who analyzes the market to provide the consumer with all angles and trends to make the most informed buying decision. The Internet can only give you data and unless you can figure out the software program that will analyze the data to provide you with angles and trends, you won't get that personal touch. The Realtor works with buyers and sellers to make it work for the consumer. The Realtor can make the phone calls after they have found the house with the features you listed and produce the buyer's contracts to lock you into the deal. The Internet may get you that information, but the deal lock will take a bit longer after you have found an Internet broker and lender to generate the paperwork. The best choice is the human choice, so choose the Realtor.
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