Back in the day when I worked as editor of a major California real estate section, newspapers were king when it came to looking for homes for sale. Then the Internet came along and newspapers suffered with the strongest challenge they had ever encountered. For print publications the Internet was worse than the Great Depression.

I remember as a copyboy working for the Sacrament Bee back in the ’60s when an old salt who worked in the composing room told me how he made it through the Depression with no problem because he had a job with the newspaper.

The Internet posed a different challenge because it took a huge bite out of one of the major sources of income for newspapers: classified advertising. Classifieds are now offered free on various websites.

So the Web is where nearly 90 percent of home shoppers go when they start their search for a home. Savvy Realtors go there, too, setting up websites to capture those buyers. Indeed, more than 90 percent of my business comes from the Internet. Capturing those buyers is just the first step; converting them to work with you is a whole ‘nother process. That’s where service, kindness and the information agents provide come into play.

In a recent speech to the Women’s Council of Realtors, Taylor Oldroyd, Corporate Executive Officer of the Utah County Association of Realtors cited a study that shows how todays’ home shoppers shop. At first shoppers rely on search engines, then move toward more reliance on Internet maps. Toward the end of the process they focus more on mobile devices.

The most frequently searched first-time buyer terms are: “FHA loans,” “FHA,” “home grants,” “home loan,” and “home buyer assistance.” That struck me as interesting, considering the plethora of Internet lead-selling companies that try to sell agents on such terms as the name of the cities in which they work. Last year, Olroyd said, 40 percent of first-time buyers purchased with a Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgage.

On www.Realtor.com, the No. 1 real estate website in the nation, 70 percent of feature searches were for the numbers of bedrooms and baths, square footage, garages, HVAC systems, and swimming pools, he said.

Meanwhile, 48 percent of home shoppers used their smart phones or other mobile devices to get directions to a home for sale while 45 percent used them to get more information about a home or request services. The National Association of Realtors, which owns the Realtor.com website, reports that the website combined with multiple listing websites such as our own Wasatch Front Multiple Listing Service (www.utahrealestate.com) saw activity rise 31 percent between March and October last year.

So will the Web replace Realtors? Actually, no. The Web helps buyers locate the homes they want to buy, but they still need a Realtor to pull it all together and make sure all the legal documentation is in order. Sellers need Realtors to provide expert marketing in key media. The need for Realtors to knock doors in a neighborhood to find buyers or sellers is greatly diminished with the Internet. It’s not uncommon to get an email or a phone call from a home shopper I’ve never met who wants to see a specific home. While they rarely buy the home they requested to see at first, I now have a new client to assist and they usually buy something, although the number of homes for sale right now is limited.

The best homes, including the best-priced homes, sell quickly. Realtors have the ability through the Wasatch Front Multiple Listing Service and other websites to set up searches for home shoppers so they are notified the instant the home that meets their criteria hits the market. I just put a home under contract for a couple that used that system. Still, they lost out on several homes before they were finally quick enough to snag one.

Rodger L. Hardy is a Realtor affiliated with Prudential Utah Real Estate and a former real estate editor. For answers to your real estate questions please email him at rhardy@utahresidentialEteam.com or call 801-360-9133.