If you're preparing to buy a home (and especially if you're relocating to a new city), this home buying tip will simplify your research and save you time.

Home Buying Requires Research -- Lots of It
It pays to know as much as possible about the real estate market where you plan to buy a home: market trends, new construction, employment news, zoning and taxes ... you should keep up with these developments and more.

But with so many other steps in the home buying process, how do you find time to sit in front of the computer researching these topics? There just aren't enough hours in the day.

Automate the Process
Here's a way to automate the real estate research process. It's called Google Alerts, and it allows you to send Google's robotic web crawlers on research missions of your choosing.

Using Google Alerts, you can enter a key phrase (like "buying a home in Dallas" or "Dallas real estate news") and then be notified by email whenever Google finds a new page with that phrase. Many of the notifications will be the result of press releases and other news distributed online. So it's an easy way to stay informed about real estate developments in your specified city or town.

To get the most benefit, set Google Alerts as far in advance of your expected buying date as possible. You should also include variations of your key phrase for maximum coverage.

Benefits of Using Google Alerts:

• Saves you time and energy.
• Keeps you informed about real estate developments.
• Costs nothing but a few minutes of your time.

Try it today. Just visit Google's website and click on the "more" link. Next, click on the "Alerts" icon and fill in the information they request. Presto ... you've got your own robotic research buddy!

* Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article (unaltered) provided you keep the byline and author's note. Please leave hyperlinks intact.