According to the National Association of Realtors, a whopping 84% of consumers go online first when house hunting. But transforming cyber-digs into a home of your dreams isn’t just about bandwidth and digital photos.

DotHomes.com, an amazingly simple search engine, offers these little-reported tips to guide you along your online path:

1. Capitalize in the idea that brokers and real estate agents are the “yentas” (matchmakers) in the world of residential real estate. They use their local knowledge of the area and market to connect buyers, sellers, lenders and properties. Research and refine your quest with the tools they provide – such as Broker blogs, market reports, how-to advice and lots of other information that can make you an informed browser.

2. When fresh inventory is difficult to scare up, Realtors can send you “feeds” in real time. Want a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, single story home with a 3 car garage and a pool in the Parkway? They simply plug their parameters into their own cyber-tools and presto! Every time a listing that fits your criteria pops up or comes came on the market, you’re among the first to know.

3. Zero in. Use online tools that allow you to fine-tune your property search. Do you like all the homes on Woodsmoke Way? You can plug in that street and see if anything is available. Only looking for homes with pools? Some search engines will permit you to plug that into your search.. You can even specify “new roof” or “new kitchen appliances.”

4. Avoid web sites that don’t update constantly. If you don’t you may miss out on listing changes like new photos, price drops, and sold homes (especially when you just got excited over one you just discovered.)

5. Local MLS (Realtor.com) offer public access and are among the best places to search because they use standard formatting and enforce strict guidelines regarding adding and removing listings.

6. Look for professionally produced virtual staging jobs complete with video tours – as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Like words? Real estate professionals try to describe listed homes using their best possible wording, but they know better than to use “panoramic view” when all you can see is a view of a hill in between two other houses. They do like to use words that can sometimes be translated rather loosely, however.

Charming, cozy or efficient may denote smaller (not generously) sized areas.

“Close to freeway and shopping” just may mean a main drag or busy street.

“Updated” may not mean new – it may mean that the home had some remodeling done over the past ten years. I’ve also noticed that “updated” in one neighborhood does not mean what it does in others just because the age of the homes are all relative to the “update.”

Starting with the Internet to search for a new home can save you time as well as costly gallons of gas. Your best bet is to hook up with a savvy Realtor who can “feed” you “hotsheets” every few days according to the precise parameters that float your boat. Oh, and Happy Browsin’ !!