The Internet is creating do-it-yourself home buyers

The Boston Globe reports:

Finding the perfect Braintree home to accommodate three children, his wife, and his mother-in-law has been a challenge for Mark Riley. But searching for the house has been a breeze thanks to a proliferation of Internet tools that have freed buyers from total dependence on real estate agents.

Since October, the couple has walked through more than two dozen homes -- most of which they found on their own using ZipRealty.com or Realtor.com.

''We know what would work for us and what won't work for us, so we can eliminate houses quicker than the realtor," said Mark Riley. ''We know that's not going to work, as opposed to the realtor saying, 'This might work.' "

Real estate agents used to closely guard property information in bound volumes of homes for sale. Only they knew what was for sale, when it was coming to market or how long it had been on the market, and how it compared to similar properties. To size up the market, a buyer could spend many weekends being driven around by an agent viewing properties.

Today, the consumer is in the driver's seat. Using websites from Homepages.com, to Zillow.com, a growing number of home buyers -- and some cutting-edge sellers -- are able to tap into so much data that they are doing without agents.

Technology has eroded the real estate agents' power.Commissions will inevitably go down because pricing information is more dispersed.This is an Army of Davids story.