Is it possible to search for the perfect home and then find it, on your own?

More and more people think so.

"It used to be, five or seven years ago, that our job was about helping clients find the right home," says Pat Lashinsky of ZipRealty, a discount brokerage. Now, "The clients are very involved in finding their own homes; there are so many tools and ways they can do it."

The role of the agent, which for years was mainly to bring together buyers and sellers, increasingly is "to help clients with all of the paperwork," Lashinsky says. Nearly one out of four buyers last year found the home they wanted on the Internet, up from 2% a decade ago, according to the NAR.

I don't know. It brings up the questions I raised in an earlier post. What do you want your agent to do for you? And, what's it worth to you?

More: Home shoppers do their hunting online - By Noelle Knox, USA TODAY