I can not remember the last time I actually went to view a prospect home and didn't first research it online.  With all that the internet has available to us, its just practical to know whether it is worth your time.  In fact, most of the homes you can find online are really not worth buying as a investment.

If you really want to be successful at buying homes, stop looking in the obvious places.  If you see everyone listing their homes on realtor.com, try looking elsewhere.   Not that there are no good deals on realtor.com, but they are few and far between.  If you insist on sticking with the basics, you need to get on a watch list and have the new listing come to you immediately after they are listed.

Take time to intimately learn the websites that you frequent for real estate searches.  Understanding the way they index their listings - understanding how they distribute their new listings to clients may prove to be beneficial.  Most investors are fairly familiar with the more prominent search sites but still lack the in depth knowledge of how they work. 

This is your opportunity to take to lead and be the first to the punch.  Take a new approach to buying online and it may prove to be very rewarding.