The Realtor surveys are important in that, after years of hype from the online community, they finally begin putting the Internet into some kind of context and ultimately should help offices allocate resources and design marketing strategies.

For instance, the vast majority of REALTOR.com users -- 79 percent -- said the primarily reason they first went online was to look at pictures of houses. In fact, only 3 percent said they first went online for the purpose of finding an agent.

The follow up question was equally important, essentially asking what happened as a result of going online.

The results showed that while the Internet appears to be only a so-so "sales" tool, it is an incredible lead generator.

Only 2 percent of the REALTOR.com visitors said they actually purchased a home they had found online, and only 5 percent said they had actually made an offer on a home they first saw online.

But, 41 percent said they in fact visited a home they had seen online, 34 percent said they had contacted a Realtor for more information about a home seen online, 20 percent said their online visit had resulted in a phone call to a Realtor.

Acknowledges the survey, "While most users of online databases are not using the databases to find a real estate agent, they do appear to use a (member of the Realtor organization) when they find homes that interest them."

Among the general population of potential homebuyers, however, the Internet still is not a high profile search tool. The survey asked participants, "What sources of information are you using in your home search?"

Came the answers: Real estate agents, 58 percent; newspapers, 35 percent; friends and neighbors, 25 percent; online, 15 percent; yard signs, 14 percent; and homes magazines, 14 percent.