House hunting on the Internet for single homes and multi-family units has become the hottest new toy in the Valley real-estate market in past few days.
Widespread use of Web access by potential home buyers is a major information bonanza dished-up by local real estate vendors and brokers who are experiencing marked expansion of listings and sales this week.
     The home of your dreams is just a click away. Case in point, Fresno Realtor, Larry Hawkins. His Web site is the first to offer the Fresno area Multiple Listing Service to online home-hunters. The MLS was originally accessible only to realtors who paid to use the service.
     The Internet is making a surprising impact on sales this week in the San Joaquin Valley. Especially in the Fresno-Clovis home market.
     Analysis of this trend leads to one conclusion - prime movers are looking for upscale communities with access to at least one major interstate freeway system.
     Major retailers use these communities as distribution points to transport products to major urban markets quickly and cheaply.
     Such areas also are home to other businesses which can make good use of side roads, highways and rail systems adding to the community's attraction to business and housing expansion. Major trucking firms have traditionally invested heavily in the infrastructure.
     This area of the San Joaquin Valley has become one of the fastest expanding local economies in the West. Small and medium size employers have reported little trouble this Spring in attracting a trained labor force.
     The Central Valley has experienced some decline in the area's agricultural work force as a result of increasing mechanization. This appears to be tied, in part, to workers moving from ag jobs to industrial work that pays hourly wages of $15 to $17, including incentives, according to the latest U.S. Labor Department stats just out this week.
     Rural counties that are located on or near major interstate freeways like the Clovis-Fresno Highway 168, 198, and 99 attract major firms. The County is booming, drawing trucking, auto-parts, and other major retailers.
     Widspread use of Internet access by potential home buyers is a major information bonanza from local real estate vendors and brokers who are experiencing marked expansion of listing and sales this week.

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