Internet takes homebuying to a new level

Buying or selling a house is now a click of a mouse, a tune of a radio dial or a keystroke away for a growing number of consumers.

The Electronic Age has made the process quicker and easier, providing in minutes what used to take days or weeks.

For example:

• The Internet lets buyers browse through thousands of houses listed for sale on the Web sites. Searches can often be narrowed to a handful of houses by clicking on buyer preferences, such as school district, price and number of bedrooms.

• E-mail lets real estate agents stay in better contact with their clients and electronically transmit information and documents. Some brokerages have e-mail programs that automatically notify buyers when a house that matches their preferences comes onto the market.

• Digital cameras let buyers view slide shows or take "virtual tours" — 360-degree panoramic views of a house's rooms and exterior — via their computers.

All this technology helps buyers save time, meaning they don't have to visit houses that aren't a possible match. And increasingly, it is changing the way real estate agents are paid.

Because buyers and sellers are able to do more things usually left to real estate agents, they want commissions to reflect it.

"They've done a lot of footwork, and therefore they think the commission should be structured differently," said Gary Doran, executive director of the Tucson Association of Realtors.

Even sellers benefit from the advancements. They weed out "curious neighbors, lookie-loos, and people looking for design ideas," Tucson real estate agent Kamya Newcomb said.

Nearly three out of four house buyers — 71 percent — now use the Internet as a tool when searching for a house. That's up from 41 percent two years ago, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.

Typical Internet house buyers are married, in their late 30s and have a household income upward of $70,000. Non-Internet buyers also are married but are older — in their 40s — and have a household income in the mid-$50,000s, according to the trade group's 2003 profile of house buyers and sellers, released in July.

Many house buyers, like Victor and Rachel Aguirre, who are moving to Tucson from Las Cruces, N.M., are seeking out more than just information about houses.