One of the things I love about being a Realtor is the freedom that I have to do research. I can block times out of my day to research trends, neighborhoods, loan information, and social media, anything and everything that is relevant to my Industry.

Today I wanted to post a blog about what it is like for you as a buyer. I had thoughts and ideas that I wanted to put on paper, but nothing was coming…so I took a drive…headed towards the beach and found a place called Inspiration Point. I couldn’t tell you what beach it is specifically, other than I think it’s in Newport.

As I pulled out my laptop, everything that I wanted to say came rushing at me…like the waves that I hear in the background. I hope you are inspired by my thoughts!

There was a time when you as consumers were limited as to what information you could gather with regards to real estate.

As a buyer you had to rely on the information a Real Estate agent gave you. You would have to drive around different neighborhoods to look at Open Houses. Sometimes you would stop in, other times you wouldn’t. More often than not, the times that you did go in you discovered that the house didn’t suit your needs. And so you packed up your family and started again.

It hasn’t been that long ago that Real Estate Agent’s didn’t cooperate with one another with regards to a listing. That is how the Open House came to be.

The Open House was created to lure BUYERS and potential sellers in, gather the information that they needed to look for a home to suit the buyers needs, run to the office, tear off a page from the “Holy Book Of Realtors” (yes, all listing information was kept in a book and changed as needed…) then set the appointment to show you properties.

Eventually came newspaper advertising, and being ever resourceful, Realtors everywhere would advertise their listing’s in print…

this also opened up a multitude of “Homes for Sale” magazines, some which are still in effect today, though the information is most of the times expired. Homes sell, listings are cancelled etc.

Nowadays, we have the internet…

Really it’s only been around for us regular folks for about 15 years.

With the internet came a whole new way to advertise…which meant power to the people!

You could log on to the net, type in a zip code and find a myriad of homes for sale, or Open Houses. They are chock full of information, pictures, square footage, price and days on market! That makes it so much easier for you, the consumer to gather your own information before making the dreaded “call”. You know the one…where you call the listing office asking to see the home afraid that if you show up for the appointment, you will be forced to buy THAT house, or worse…get put on an email campaign!

I know this is true because I have spoken to many buyers in my career and they all say the same thing!

I love the fact that you as the consumer are empowered to create your own searches…I love the fact that there is so much information out there and that because of this, we agents have had to step up to the plate and be transparent in our business.

When you log on, you have the power to create a search that will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about the Realtor that is going to represent you. You can Google their name and see what comes up. Charities they have worked with, blogs, photos…everything is online for you to decide if this is a person you want to work with.

This is the ULTIMATE power for you. I’m curious, did you KNOW that? If you didn’t, doesn’t knowing this now empower you? Please post a comment…I would really like to know!