What if all the hard work was taken out of shopping for or selling a home?  As it currently stands, anybody looking to buy a house has to either do the legwork him or herself or hire someone else to do it. That means combing through classifieds, keeping an eye out for home sale signs, clicking through Internet sites to find the perfect match, or paying a boatload to have an agent do all those things.

Consider skipping all that elbow grease and jumping straight into a matchmaking site. A real estate matchmaking site, that is. Read on to learn where you can find such sites and why this might be the future of effective home sales.

The Internet’s power to match sellers with buyers

What makes matchmaking web sites for real estate listings possible are easily-searchable, user-friendly databases.

The previous model for finding a home involved combing through listings to scout out ideal matches. For instance, most potential buyers spend time looking for homes that have specific features, such as a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house at a price range between $180,000 and $217,000.  Buyers typically have to rake through multiple listings to find homes that match their preferences.

Consider the convenience then of being able to punch those parameters directly into an Internet search engine that then pulls up only the houses that fit your criteria. No more weeding through unsuitable possibilities and no more wasted time.

Home sales search sites are increasing

The number of real estate matchmaking sites is increasing significantly in this new economy. Such matchmaking sites are particularly helpful in publicizing homes for sale by owner and other for sale by owner listings.

Many consumers – both home buyers and sellers – are pinching pennies and looking to save on pricey realtor commission fees. They favor the matchmaking site process as it offers them a streamlined way to target viable prospects.

Where to find real estate matchmaking sites

At present, the site Findbuyers.com (www.findbuyers.com) and Zillow.com (www.zillow.com) are the two largest real estate matchmaking sites.

At Findbuyers.com, the matching system allows both buyers and sellers to target prospects. Buyers can look for homes suitable to their preferences and sellers can get introduced to ideal buyers for their properties.

This latter feature means a passive buyer can post his or her preferences and then wait to be contacted by a seller with a suitable house. This effectively takes the hard work of searching off the buyer’s lap.

On Zillow.com, similar features are offered to both home buyers and sellers. On top of that, homeowners can check estimates of their current home values, a feature that helps them decide when it’s the right time to sell.

Carving out a new home sales niche

Real estate matchmaking sites are helping to carve out a solid consumer-to-consumer niche in home sales. They undoubtedly make it easier to sell a home when it comes to for sale by owner listings. Because of these sites, anybody who wants to try his or her hand at real estate sales has a leg up over previous selling environments.

Is this the end of the real estate agent?

Despite the growing popularity of such real estate matchmaking sites, experts are quick to point out that this doesn’t mean the end of the real estate agent. There will always be plenty of home buyers and sellers who will prefer to turn to a professional to broker a transaction as large as the sale or purchase of a house.

Home buying can be rewarding and straightforward, and in such cases a real estate matching site comes in handy. But some home sale and mortgage situations are quite complex. In such instances, consumers will inevitably turn to an agent or broker to help navigate the potential chasms and pitfalls of real estate deals.

The shifting role of the real estate agent

All things considered, the overall role of both real estate agents and brokers is shifting. Whereas once those agents were primarily in charge of locating the ideal house for a buyer (or conversely, locating the ideal buyer for a seller), today’s agents and brokers are more likely to lead sellers and buyers exclusively through the purchase process.

A large reason for this shift in roles is because buyers and sellers are becoming more independent and proactive in terms of scouting out their own options. This trend leads back to the Internet and the rise of virtual sales sites, online searchable listings, and other new ways for individuals to locate homes for sale.

Keep an eye out for steady site improvements

If the idea of a real estate matchmaking site appeals to you, by all means start searching the sites for your options. Just keep in mind that the trend is new and will be subject to vast improvements as time goes by – as is the case for most Internet applications. For now, understand that the major downfall of such sites is that they won’t have comprehensive listings of all sales or buyers in your area. But keep a lookout – they’re sure to grow their listings virtually every day.