Searching for homes may be fun when the website is sophisticated with lots of bright house photos. You are watching them over and over dreaming what it would be like if you lived there. What I find really exciting is the use heat maps for the search. (An example of heat map here: http://movety.com/houses_for_sale?view=map). Then I look to make sure that the house I was considering is located in a crime-safe area.
Well, if a realtor is to ease the life of his client, considering equipping his website with heat maps (like the one above or this http://movety.com/houses_for_sale_vancouver?view=map) would do both a favor.
A heat map is a graphical representation of data where the individual values are represented as colors. The advantage of heat maps is that they will help focus your attention on the locations of your desired area with least crime level, most schools, population of immigrants or locals, the safest climate, etc.
All these efforts on the part of the realtors will really ensure a successful house find.