Start With The Right Tools

We recommend the following to get yourself ready for an intensive search for a new home:

• Buy a Thomas Guide Map Book: Thomas guides are used by all Real Estate Agents to establish a home's proximity. All home listings contain a TG# field that will tell you what Thomas Guide page and grid the home is located on. Use of these maps will help you to quickly determine a homes proximity and whether or not it is in your target area.

  Thomas Guides include very detailed information about streets and highways, Zip Code boundaries, City and County boundaries, and locations of typical landmarks and large civic structures.
  

• Find a good Internet Search Engine: Internet search engines for homes are everywhere, including this website. The most authoritative ones are the ones you find on local Realtor websites and usually allow you to search directly from their own Realtor association listings (like ours does). This type of search engine will show you all of the homes currently offered for sale by Realtor's in the areas that you are searching.

  If you are searching a larger area that spans multiple counties we recommend using www.realtor.com . However, Realtor.com does not have the accuracy of a local listing service, so we really recommend a site like ours once you know what area you want to search (our search engine covers the entire Inland Empire, for both Riverside and San Bernardino Counties).
  

• Tune into popular home sale publications. Every area of the country has popular "home for sale" publications that list homes for sale in that area. They are typically advertising vehicles for Realtors. Reading of these publications is a great way to get a feel for an area, although they are notoriously short on information. Many will not have pricing in them, and frequently do not include addresses. In the Inland empire you will need to find the "Home Seller" published by the Press Enterprise. It is available as a supplement to the Press Enterprises normal Saturday edition. The Home Seller also sponsors a smaller free version that can be obtained from various free periodical racks around town.
  

• Take the time to compile a list of "must have" items, and a list of "would like to have items". Then prioritize this list. Don't rely on conversations to align priorities, write them down so everyone working on your project with you is aligned properly with your priorities.

  Almost every home will be missing something. It helps to have everyone (Realtor, family members, etc..) working toward the same set of goals.