technology issues

Realtors in my market place can set up fantastic personal web sites tailor made with specific search criteria for buyers (also useful for sellers). My Austin Board of Realtors (ABOR) deserves the credit for the technology. This tool is, well, a great tool. The data provides price changes, picture additions, details on the home - this technology provides almost everything a buyer wants for a first glance. I think there could be an argument of providing too much dependency on this one tool. Buyers want and should get the information. The issue I see from time to time is a buying principals getting overwhelmed with options from the updates. This personal web site I mention sends the data to emails. With mounting pressures at the office or at home with kids, it can be hard to look through the list of options. This is especially true in todays high inventory market of listings. If your a buyer, make sure and get into a car with your Realtor to open up doors in your ideal target area. Look through homes with your Realtor. Let that Realtor do the driving while you look at the neighborhood. Chances are good that you have chosen a good Realtor and this professional will listen to your feedback and criticism of the homes you see together. Having direct contact with your Realtor while viewing homes creates a platform of consistency for the eventual decision. It can be tough for a Realtor who wants to provide assistance in narrowing down the search if they don't see a minimum number of homes together with their client. This will aid in not missing a really good property/home that might just have bad pictures - it was raining - the copy is poorly written. The web site is a great tool to support the process. But somethings can't be beaten by technology, and this is one of them. It also goes back to a core value in working with a Realtor. I can't think of another comparable service in a sales situation than that of a Buyer Agent Realtor working with their buyer principal. The builder has their own sales force - for the builder. The car dealer has their sale team - for the car dealer. JC Penny has a sales team - for them. Realtor is a personal shopper to some degree. This connection is best utilized when buyer and Realtor are together looking at homes. Can you think of another service in a sales situation?