Looking for a new home used to mean relying exclusively on a real estate agent for listings or driving around in the hopes that you find a great home by chance. Now, the internet provides a variety of easy-to-use tools that allow you to look for the perfect home without ever getting in your car. Search engines, mobile apps, and videos are all useful tools for shaping your house hunt.

Search engines make it easy to scan a list of options quickly. When looking for a house, using the search bar to query your needs helps organize potential resources smoothly. Since most search engines use location data to determine where you are, searching for "three-bedroom, two-bathroom house" or something similar should pull results close to your location. You can then share your top favorite homes with your real estate agent so that they can set up appointments.

Mobile apps are a fantastic way to find the details on a potential house while on the go. Since these apps work on your phone, it's easy to call up the information you're looking for when not at home. Zillow is the top-rated app for home searching. It's easy to create a search with specific criteria like the neighborhood, square footage, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Other favorites include Trulia and Realtor.com.

Videos help customers learn about potential homes in a straightforward manner. Some real estate agents or homeowners make video walkthroughs of their home listings, which can help potential homebuyers get a strong sense of a home's layout, often better than through pictures alone. The video maker often posts these videos on websites like Zillow, YouTube, or the seller's real estate website.

Sources: StudenLoanHero.com, USNews.com