Internet: Must-have tool for today's homebuyers

According to several recent trend reports about how consumers buy and sell homes:

- 85% of home buyers used a real estate agent to search for a home, and  80% used the Internet (up from 77% in 2005)

- 22% used the Internet to get neighborhood information

- 81% of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home bought it through a real estate agent

SOURCES: Luxury Institute Survey; Pew Institute & American Life Project; NAR Profile of  Buyers & Sellers; RISMedia; MarketWatch.