These are big numbers, and yet the great irony of the Internet is that it's not a mature medium. It's not everywhere like television, it doesn't reach everyone like the mail or radio. Much of its growth will emerge in the coming decade.

A new Census Bureau report shows that in 1997, the latest available year, we had 195.7 million people age 18 and older. Of this population, 43.2 million (22.1 percent) had Internet access -- 152.5 million (77.9 percent) did not.

No doubt today's Internet user base is bigger than in 1997, but the point remains that we have a nation with 273 million people and many if not a majority are not yet online. That means there's more growth ahead, including growth for real estate.

The Internet is now changing the realty marketplace. As both computing and online access become faster, cheaper, and more universal, real estate marketing and services will evolve even further.

There is, of course, a limit to growth. It will happen that most of the population will be online within the coming decade, at least in the U.S. At the same time, the wonder is not that we've seen so much growth to date, but rather that there's so much more to go.

The Common-Sense Mortgage

The latest edition of The Common-Sense Mortgage is now available in bookstores online and off. In print for nearly 15 years and widely recognized as the standard consumer guide to real estate financing, previous editions have been described as "virtually in a class by itself" (The Philadephia Inquirer) and as "one of the best available guidebooks to the realty financing jungle," (The Los Angeles Times).

Whether financing or re-financing, whether you're a borrower, broker, or loan officer, this money saving, easy-to-read and well-organized guide is a necessity for anyone in the real estate marketplace. For additional information, press here.

Question Of The Week

Q: We're selling our home and a buyer wants us to take back a loan because he has bad credit. Is there a way to sell the property and not go into the lending business?

A: The idea of selling a home is not merely to sell it to anyone under any conditions. You properly raise the issue of credit, a key matter for lenders, and you have little interest in being a lender, a fair concern.

In addition, you need to consider that if you take back financing, the buyer's lack of credit may degrade your note, making it difficult to sell at face value. In effect, you will likely wind up selling the note at discount, which effectively means the home is also being sold at discount.

Since you don't want to be a lender, the options are clear: have the buyer get a loan from somewhere else or find another purchaser.

Weekly Resource