I know! You think I drank the kool-aid, finally! Or, you're worried that my brain has finally shorted out! (Or, maybe THEY got to me!)

I assure you none of the above is true!

Ignore all the hype from the real estate industry about now being a great time to buy. That's not what this is about. It may or may not be a great time for any specific individual or family to buy any specific house!

But, historically, a buyer has never had more power than they do today! And, I believe that's news. That's a good news story that we should all be able to get behind.

With the internet-based tools available to buyers today, they've never had the opportunity to be more well-informed. They have access to tax records and GIS from localities. They have access to maps from Google that make map fanatics like me drool! There are places like Zillow where you can get a "Zestimate" which, although flawed, is still a pretty amazing development. There are new sites such as FranklyMLS.com that are marrying Wiki functionality with MLS capabilities.

There's even more information available to help you choose an agent, whether that's reading their blog or checking out their ratings on sites such as QSC.

In fact, the buyer has so many tools these days that I suspect a lot of them are suffering from data overload. Data without thoughtful analysis can be more of a burden than a help!

Still, the tools are amazing! Regardless what prices do in the local market, a real estate buyer anywhere in Virginia has never before had the opportunity to negotiate from a stronger position!

Zillow made a big splash when they first showed up a few years back. Mostly it grabbed people because it was so much fun to enter your neighbors' addresses and see what Zillow said their homes were worth. Mind you these days that exercise is mostly depressing! And, those "zestimates" were never very accurate.

I told sellers then, and still believe, that you need to know what Zillow says about your house. Because there's a pretty good chance that potential buyers will know.

And, an article in today's Realty Times emphasizes why Zillow is continuing to gain in importance. REALTOR.com has been the big boy on the block forever. But from a technological perspective it's been a long time since they had anything approaching a technological edge. And, while, theoretically, REALTOR.com exists to serve me as a member of the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), for most of us it feels like it exists to gouge us!

While Zillow (and other sites) will allow me to upload unlimited photos, virtual tours and other good stuff, all for free. REALTOR.com charges me for everything, including having my name on my own listings! For example, to link a virtual tour (using VisualTour.com) REALTOR.com charges me $19.95. But linking that same tour to Zillow is free!

Consumers still prefer REALTOR.com, but only because not enough agents are taking advantage of the free stuff at Zillow. Trust me, that's going to change!

So, if you're a consumer and haven't yet checked out Zillow, you should. And, if you're an agent and haven't checked it out, what are you waiting for?

An assortment of tidbits today.

Here's an interesting overall look at the Northern VA real estate market. It only comes out as far as Loudon and Prince William but you can extrapolate from there.

Bank of America appears to be set to buy Countrywide. This is good news. Countrywide appeared to be headed for bankruptcy which would have been unbelievably disruptive to the industry.

Zillow has announced that the number of homes it covers and the accuracy of it's estimates are greatly improved. You could have fooled me. When I took a look at where I live there was no Zestimate at all for our home or any of our neighbors.

This blog post if right on in pointing out that REALTORS should be the first ones objecting to NAR's absurdly rosy predictions. Credibility once lost is hard to regain.

Ben Bernanke appears set on cutting interest rates again this month. A half point cut now seems entirely possible. The effect on the mortgage interest rate remains to be seen. However, LIBOR, a rate used to set interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages fell this week. Good news if you've got an ARM due to reset soon!