Builders Media Group

GREATER METROPLEX - Over the past two years, residential broker Robb See as sold five houses in Fort Worth to buyers who didn't set foot in their houses be ore closing the deal. Using the Internet, See simply e-mailed photos to the buyers, who were all relocating from jobs outside of the Metroplex.

"We think the Internet is the most incredible thing that's ever happened to the real estate industry," said See, co owner of South Fort Worth brokerage firm J.J. Robb Real Estate Services.

"It's been our lifeblood. Between that and referrals, that's how we make our living in real estate," he said.

See is part of a growing army of agents and consumers who are increasingly turning to the Internet for help in buying or selling homes.

According to a recent survey of buyers and sellers conducted by the National Association of Realtors, 71% of buyers said they used the Internet to search for a home - up from 41% just two years ago.

Apart from real estate agents themselves and for-sale signs stuck outside homes, the Internet is the next-most-common way prospective home buyers find their new home. Bringing up the rear are newspaper ads, notices from builders or referrals from friends.

The 2003 survey also seems to validate agents' existence. Those who use the Internet are more likely to use a real estate professional (90%) than those who don't (79%).

"You can try to streamline it, but you're never going to be able to do away with people," See said. "Real estate is so much more emotional. It's the largest purchase most people are ever going to make in their life, therefore the biggest debt most people are ever going to take on.

"I think when it's all said and done, (consumers) are going to need that live person that they trust to guide them through it."

The six-page questionnaire, sent by snail mail, polled consumers across the country who bought or sold a home in early 2003.

Another survey, by e-mail, conducted by an owner of two residential real estate Web sites, illustrates how brokers depend on the Internet as much as consumers.

According to the survey, released in July, 72% of agents agree that an Internet campaign is integral to remaining at the top of the market, while 7% say the Internet hasn't had any effect on their business.

Despite the growing popularity of the Internet, many in the real estate world still resist it.

"What you see developing is a great divide between agents who can communicate using the Internet and those who can't," said Blanche Evans, editor of a Dallas-based online newsletter, RealtyTimes.com.

The Internet has become a helpful tool for agents because it has delivered better-educated buyers to their door, said Evans, who has authored several books on Internet marketing in the real estate industry.