The process of buying a home online

Imagine that it's Saturday morning. You've decidedthat today is the day you'll start the process of buy-ing a home online. You don't know exactly whatyou're looking for and are uncertain about what youcan afford. If you want to be an online homebuyer,follow these general steps to get started:

1. Turn on your computer and go to a general real estate site such as realtor.com (www.realtor.com), which is shown below . Realtor .com has a wide variety of online real estate tools and resources to help you assess your finances.

Use their online calculators to compare what you'll spend if you buy or rent. Calculate the amount of down payment you can afford and determine how much you can actually pay for a house.

2. Study local economics, demographic trends, and the real estate market in general at real estate supersites like Yahoo! Real Estate (yahoo.realestate.com). As a savvy consumer,you'll avoid scams and frauds.Discover the neighborhood you're looking for (for example, planned urban communities, historic, urban, or suburban areas) with iOwn (www.iown.com). Compare local school districts and learn about other communities.

3. If you need a real estate broker, you can find the best Realtor in your area by checking out sites such as realtor.corn (www.realtor.com).

4. Get help finding your dream home on the Internet with a site such as Real Direct(www.realdirect.com).Use Internet update bots (small programs) to monitor changes in multiple listings of available homes in neighborhoods in which you want to live. These update bots will automatically let you know when someone wants to sell a house in your desired neighborhood. Forexample, Cyberhomes (www.cyberhomes.com)includes "homes by e-mail." Cyberhomes,which lists 900,000 homes for sale, will save our home search criteria and notify you bye-mail when it receives a new listing that meetsyour requirements.5.Create your own game plan and mortgage hunting strategies. This will allow you to make major financial decisions based on your own online research. Use the Internet to find news about the latest interest rates. (Shopping for and comparing interest rates online is one of the easiest tasks of the home buying process.) Find online sources for mortgages at sites suchas Homefair (www.homefair.com). Compare interest rates and determine which mortgage fits your financial profile.

6. Use the Internet to get a good understanding of your down payment options by going to a site such as Coldwell Banker (www.coldwellbanker. corn), which has plenty of helpful tips for low payment loans.

7. Take advantage of online real estate opportunities that you didn't know existed before you became an online homebuyer. Check out how to make an offer by referring to the online resources provided by sites such as Century 21(www.c21homepros.com/faq/16.html).

8. For a smooth move, check out the many online moving and relocation companies, suc as Movers.com (www.movers.com). This site and others provide free estimates, change of address help, maps, storage, checklists, and other types of assistance.These eight steps cover the main points of buying a home online. Purchasing a home may seem complicated, but millions of people from all walksof life do it every day. Consumers who are armed with detailed information and practical tips find that they are less likely to make mistakes or get frazzled by the process, and they can complete thean Internet guru to access all the available data. You don't even have to be an experienced homebuyer.