More than 70 percent of Americans start their house hunt using the Internet. When you want to buy a home, the Internet can be good for researching neighborhoods and schools. The Internet lacks the personal touch of dealing with an agent, the feel of walking around a neighborhood and some of the information is outdated or inaccurate.

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I’m Ilyce Glink. And Welcome back to Expert Real Estate Tips dot net.

So you’ve decided to buy a home. That’s a great decision. But now what? What’s your next step?

Well, if you’re like 80 percent of home buyers, you’ll flip the switch on your computer and start searching for a home on the Internet.

Wait – you’re already on the net, watching this video. So let’s jump ahead and talk about what kinds of stuff you can find out about homes and the home buying process in other places on the internet.

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Like most things in life, there are pros and cons to using the Internet for your house hunt.

The Internet is great for helping you identity prospective cities or neighborhoods, and learning more about what’s in those neighborhoods – like schools, shopping, fun stuff to do, what’s in the local library, and other information like that.

The Internet’ll help you check out demographics and statistics that define a neighborhood, and give you a taste of what’s on the market. You can even start shopping around for a loan.

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What doesn’t the Internet have?

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Well, you’re not going to find every house that’s listed for sale on any one site. And the information may not be quite up to date.

You also won’t get that warm, personal touch, although many Web sites will eventually force you to talk to a broker. And you won’t get a sense of the neighborhood or the house itself in the same way as if you were walking through them.

I also think that Web sites can just overwhelm you with detail that may not be important.

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The truth is, some real estate Web sites are a waste of time. You’ll find the same information on multiple sites. Sometimes a site tries to pass itself off as impartial when it’s really all about getting your personal information to sell to somebody else in the business. But there are also some great Web sites that will help you find out a lot of information and will help you figure out what you really want to do and what kind of a house you want to buy.

By the way, you’re on one of those Web sites right now.

For more information on buying and selling a home, visit my Web site Expert Real Estate Tips dot net.