Computers have radically changed our lives by making our day to day activities a lot simple than ever before. Our search for the next dream home is not an exception. We used to look for properties at the real estate portion of our local ads or look for bills posted in common town areas. However, with the introduction of the internet, we won't have to wait for the newspaper to arrive the next day or go to the nearby community board. We'll simply turn our PCs or laptops on, connect to the internet, and type in the desired information we need. Below are some of the online methods utilized by real estate agents to help you search for Portland real estate listings online:

Company websites. There are lots of real estate companies maintaining a website which shows all of the listings their company has to offer. These websites include detailed information about the houses they offer such as where to find the property, how big the property is, how it looks like, when it was built and who to contact. Some of these websites even have the capability to set an appointment for you to view the location.

Blog sites. Several brokers also maintain a blog site aside from their company websites to provide more narrative description about the property they are selling. Some of the brokers not only provide narratives to their listings, they also provide further other information about real estate. Some also contribute best practices about buying or selling a home which can be helpful for anyone who is interested.

RMLS. The RMLS, or the Regional Multiple Listing Service, is an online tool which gives public information about residential, multifamily, commercial, land and farm properties. It is a searchable database of real estate information providing another avenue to view properties in specific market areas. An FAQ is also dedicated for buyers to answer most commonly asked consumer related questions, inquiries or concerns. Several real estate experts and professionals have also registered in this listing service.

Social Media. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter are also used by agents to aid you in looking for homes for sale. A certain feature in Facebook called 'Facebook Pages' are utilized to establish contact with present and future buyers by regularly feeding the page with information about the houses they featured as well as participate in real-time conversations through the Facebook feature 'comments'. Twitter, on the other hand, promotes online presence by creating a 140 character message, also known as the 'tweet', which allows you to view each of them, unless you paid attention or 'followed' it. Lots of agents are using these sites as a medium to market the properties they have.

All of the methods above are applicable not only for Portland Real Estate listings but also to the listings in other areas as well. However, if you wish to stay exclusive for Portland real estates, start with entering the phrase 'Portland homes for sale' in the search box of Google, and in less than a second, you'll be presented with many links that will direct you to the listing of a house you are looking for. Just keep your objective in mind – to buy your next dream home.