I believe that the increasing sophistication of searches and online resources is good for the average home buyer. The power of the internet is also good for getting an overall sense of market conditions and zeroing in on what you want.
That said here is the irony, for me I find that the more these tools are used the less effective they are at generating outcomes. As information becomes prevasive the power of personal networking, private deals and good old fashion cruising the streets becomes more and more powerful. You've got tens of thousands of people searching the internet at work and using this as their primary means of search. They are competing against each other pumping up the value of the product made easily available to them. Meanwhile, back on the street the best deals and choice property often don't even get to the databases. In essence, you need to know that if you are looking on-line you are at the end of the line.
I'm not an agent or sales person but I've come to appreciate that real estate is primarily about human feelings and understanding human behaviour. It is particularly important to understand the human life-cycle and what motivates people at various stages of their lives.