When I was looking for a new home last year, my agent also set me up with one of those emails, but I also spent time each day on Realtor.com looking at EVERYTHING! I personally think that buyers have to be fully engaged in their own search these days.

My Realtor was great about setting up appt.'s to visit places I wanted to see, had suggestions I never would have thought of (like looking at a property that already had a contract on it, that I ended up buying), and was invaluable when it came to contract negotiations.

Good luck!

I used my realtor's website to look at the new listings every day. I then told my realtor which ones I wanted to see. It was much more efficient for me to look at the listing details and photos myself and quickly rule in/out what met my requirements.

All my realtor really did was arrange the showings and submit my offer. I had a real estate attorney handle the paperwork.

It really depends upon the local market and your desired level of involvement. Some markets are so hot that a realtor is necessary to find properties before they hit the open market. Most people don't live in those areas.

By placing your criteria in a search algorithm, you agent is making the process more efficient for both of you. Everything you see is worth the time to consider. After all, it's close to your criteria. And, your agent doesn't spend the entire day driving you around to look at properties that are of no interest for one reason or another.

Where does this leave you? You need to spend a small amount of time each day looking at Realtor.com and Zillow or Trulia using the criteria that you desire. When you see one that you want to see, make the call to your agent to arrange a viewing. Meanwhile, your agent should be looking for properties with you in mind and if they encounter one, they should call you to arrange a viewing.

Times have changed. You need to put more effort in the process from the comfort of your home and spend less time actually viewing homes in person. You will find yourself eliminating a lot of properties ahead of time by doing the bulk of your search online. You may end up only visiting two or three in person before you find "the one."

Last time we were buying(2014 I think?), I knew all the properties on the market..i was sent this mls..and since it's not user friendly I cross checked each property that interested me with other sites, several usually, and then I'd send places of my possible interest to our realtor. (and write it on a paper for myself, addresses and all, to check open houses etc)

During couple months of very active looking, there was not one propery that she'd suggest to me that I didn't send to her at least several hours before..

Naturally I was upset, as sometimes the listing was under escrow by the time she'd see I'm interested in it

And I disliked her sending me properties that I already sent her..I'm okay with doing work, just don't pretend like you do it. Maybe she really missed my emails I don't know

So I was not pleased, and I talked to my DH, and he told me to lower my expectations, because not everybody gets at 5 am like me and not everybody reads as fast (I do read fast unless it's something very technical or I enjoy the language to the point of savouring it-if it's something simpe I kinda scan the page..repeat if needed.) He told me we can go with somebody else if she irritates me but I might as well become less irritated. LOL

Well it so happened that we found the house literally a day or two after the conversation..and interestingly she didn't want to show it to us so we went alone to the open house but then came there again with her, to hear her opinion. For she was a straightforward lady, with all the shortcomings.

In the end she worked with us nicely on closing itself(which was kinda nerve wrecking)..and she got us the best inspector(who was very diligent..so we found ourselves remodeling for two years afterwards lol..but-our decision..he just informed us)..and she put us in touch with our amazing handyman (who dissappears sometimes; but if he doesn't he's a wizard)

So it wasn't all black and white..she was better in some things worse in others. She also was often busy with other people who were selling, I imagine takes more time.

The agent before her-she was really there for us, sent us stuff immediately, took us everywhere..but that was before, when market wasn't hot and we had less particular needs etcetera. We found a house in one week. Yes, one week. We did see a lot every day..But it was easier then too,

Frankly I din't know why we didn't go with her again. Don't remember my thought process. wasn't something very logical I suppose..:)

My experience a couple years ago was similar to those above - I spent hours every night following everything and emailed interest in every home I viewed including the one I bought, before receiving my realtor's emails. I was shown two homes by two realtor's I didn't click with before finding her and went to open houses before and after meeting her, She showed me 10 homes. I also later sold my home through her and she sold a friend's home after my recommendation. I remain very pleased with her expertise. My finding the homes online took diligence but no real skill. I depended on her for all the remaining important parts of the process, her immense knowledge, her creative problem solving, her prioritizing sending important documents, willingness to communicate, her honesty, providing her valuable opinions, courteousness, professionalism in negotiating, etc. I hated to spend the $$, but she was worth every penny. She even rolled up her sleeves and corrected a problem with which the PO stuck me. Had I been looking in a distant unfamiliar or hot area I might have felt differently.

I wouldnt mind the getting on the computerized list, except the criteria they use doesnt really match up with what my criteria is - eg age of house (prefer older historic house). Im open to a range of possible locations to get the right house & setting which one guy seemed to have a problem with - it seemed like a hassle for me to be considering just about everywhere in the county, like he had to set up each neighborhood one by one or something (????).

I liked my realtor of 20 yrs ago - after pointing out the ones I liked and explaining why, she quickly caught on to what it was I was looking for and even though I ended up finding myown house (walking by and saw it) she really got it, that for some of us it wasnt so much about square footage and was actively looking for me - she was worth the cost in other ways too.,,, did an admirable job providing emotional support for one thing, I was a nervous wreck.

I'm hoping I can find someone like that again - since this is a hot market and not every house gets onto the online house lists. Not that they have to devote hours scouring the lists for me, but just let me know when the ones turn up that they know I would like.

Isnt checking the mls daily and connecting with your network of fellow agents something a realtor would do anyway, esp ones who are serving as buyers agents? Just to know what's out there?

yes..MLS is constantly updated..other sites, takes them time to "pick up"..also different sites takes them slightly different time. That's why I always started with MLS and checked every potential property with other sites too(say one site is better with maps, other with walk score, yet other shows something else better, easier to navigate...

yes, some properties don't even reach the market..or reach MLS but by the time Trulia shows them they already under escrow or something

needless to say those often were the ones I was interested to see lol

I would agree that one of the most important things an agent can help with is letting you know about properties that will be coming on the market before they hit the MLS if it's a hot market/desirable property that will go fast. That's how we ended up finding a property we bought years ago. Last time around that wasn't the case.

Another way an agent really helps is when the listing shows poorly in the MLS - either due to lack of photos or poor photos. Or is under contract but ready to fall through or not yet on the market. I have often found homes for my buyers that the buyers didn't want to see (initially) because of the poor MLS presentation. Once we were in the house and able to see its value, my buyers ended up with a great house at a very good price. Cautionary note: each time I had to persuade the buyers to look at the physical property and discard the initial impression formed by the poor photos. Automated listings still require some human interaction by the Realtor and the buyers to find the diamond in the rough.

I had to laugh a bit at Denita's persuasion story. I looked up listings we were interested in seeing, in addition to the ones our agent sent. She tried to talk us out of seeing one I found on my own that had only a few lousy photos and was on the market a while, with some price drops. I had to insist that I really wanted her to make an appointment for us to see it. We ended up buying that house.

Our agent was not great at choosing houses to view. On one whirlwind day, she had 13 houses for me to view--6 ended up being identical in model. After the third I commented that the others were the exact same square footage and BR and Bath numbers, and since that model was not going to work it was going to be a waste of time to continue with them. She really should have noticed it when she made up the list.

Since I happily went over listings every day, it was not an issue of missing opportunities so much. And she was excellent at the part we really needed--negotiating and getting us through the purchase process. But I can understand if you want to have the agent choose listings and find your home for you, plus work throughout the entire purchase process. It is not an out-of-line expectation. But your active participation in choosing houses to view helps with the objective---finding a house that is a good fit. And the more your agent hears about your likes and dislikes during viewings, the more likelihood they will know good match prospects when they first land on the market. That takes a bit of time, though. In our case, we were formally looking for only three weeks, and never reached that point of understanding.

So far, those automatic listings my agent sends me are useless. They don't tell me anything Redfin doesn't tell me, and actually they tell me less. In particular, I can set up a filter for school district on Redfin that agent automatic filters seem unable to do. I'm not interested in 3/5 of the houses just based on school district alone, so the stuff my realtor automatically sends feels more like spam than anything else. I don't tell her that, I just delete the messages. So no, my realtor hasn't yet shown or suggested anything meaningful ; I do that. I don't feel too bad about it because she's one I got through a service where they share a portion of their commission with you.

there are only about 12 homes in our desired location in our price range and we intend to move quickly. So we'll just see all of them and pick 1.

Thanks for the replies. I'm definitely looking at listings online on my own; it's just that the price range we are looking to buy in is by far the most I will have ever paid for a house, and the commission is a really nice paycheck for someone. I'm just wondering what my agent is going to do to earn that commission, other than a little negotiation and some assistance here and there with the closing process. We've bought and sold several homes and don't need much help with those.

We are looking in a very cold market, especially in our price range, so I was expecting more "hustle" from an agent in helping with our home search.

K G, you are the buyer. You choose your agent. If you are unhappy with her services, then find one you can work with that will do as you require. Also, just a note, the agent doesn't get the 3% - her broker receives the 3%. There are fees and deductions off the 3% as well as a split with the broker. It is a common misconception that the agent receives the entire fee.

Thanks, Denita! I was just wondering if I was off base in my expectations - there's no point in changing agents if another agent is going to be the same way.

No, not all agents are the same by any means. Each of us works differently with our clients.

If you are not happy, tell her you no longer want the emails. Use redfin while looking around at open houses and listings for a good agent. See who are the active listing and selling agents for your area. If you zero in on a good agent call to see a listing that interests you, you maybe see a house you love, if not, you may find out more information about the listing agent for your future use as your buyers agent. Don't commit to any agent until you know they are competent and you are comfortable with their working style.

mwedzi, your agent should not be searching by the school district name. A lot of agents do not fill out this field when creating the listing, as school assignments change so frequently. So, if one runs a search based on the field, most of the listings do not come up. I am sure Redfin does not allow searching by school districts either.

The best way to search for homes in a given district is for the agent to go to the county's web site and find the boundaries of that district. And then use these boundaries in an MLS map search for the client. It is the only way to capture 100% of the MLS listings when wanting a certain school district.

How are you searching for homes in your desired school district in order to know that you are not seeing them all from your agent?

You say you went with a company that rebates back part of their commission to you. Like most things in life, you usually get what you pay for.

I am specifically using a Redfin buyers agent. My husband and I are quite happy to split the realtor's commission with him if we are the ones searching the listings. We set up private tours through Redfin (usually visiting several homes in one tour appointment) of homes that catch our eye or even of homes we walked through at an open house but we want a quieter look-through without the listing agent around.

I use a combo of Redfin's site and Zillow. Zillow allows me to use key word searches like "fenced yard" whereas Redfin doesn't allow that. I use another realty site, too, but not as much.

Dianne - it appears you are pleased the service received from your redfin agent, that's a good reason to stay the course. The OP is displeased, good reason for her reconsider her agent. Both full service and discount service agents are a mixed bag, some good, some not.