The association's "Surveys California Home Buyers" reveals that 78% of buyers used the web "as an important part of their home buying and selection process," compared to 72% in 2007.

Buyers who stated that the web was an important part of the buying process spent an average 8.3 weeks searching for a home with their agent, up from 5.2 weeks in 2007 and 2.2 weeks in 2006.

Traditional buyers who said the Internet was not an important part of the buying and selection process took even longer 10.3 weeks searching for a home with their agent compared to eight weeks in 2007.

Also, the survey found that traditional buyers saw almost twice as many homes with their agent (23.3 homes) as Internet buyers (12.7 homes). Due to high inventories of homes on the market, and uncertainty about home prices, all buyers are very cautious during the home buying process than in previous years.

The sample of buyers in the survey included 1,249 home buyers who used the Internet and 351 who had not to purchase homes during the last half of 2007. The survey found that affordability for first-time buyers has improved with home-price declines and relatively low mortgage interest rates.

Participants need understand the direction of the market, escrow to close time, also concerns about the market condition and real estate agent response time the report states.

Specifically, participants asked for better negotiating and faster response times from their real estate agents. Thess assessments reflect the frustration with that uncertainty, the report concludes from those survey findings.

The share of "first time home buyers on the web" group participating in the survey dropped from 31% in the 2007 survey to 22% in the 2008 survey and is down from 41% in 2006.

Most lenders are tightening their underwriting standards and require a larger down payment from borrowers, many first-time buyers who had already been facing affordability constraint due to high home prices in California found it insurmountable to qualify for a home loan.

About 77% of first-time buyers reported that they were motivated to buy by falling home prices, compared to 64% of repeat buyers.

Other Key Points: low mortgage interest rates enabled the buyer to move to a better location, the likelihood that sales will increase, mortgage rates enabled the buyer to move to a bigger home, and the desire to move to a more affordable area, in that order.

Satisfaction with the home-buyer process dropped in ever category in 2008 compared to the prior year -- the average rating among the nine categories was 3.4 in the latest survey (five is "most satisfied" and one is "most dissatisfied). In last year's survey, the average rating was 4.1.

Overall satisfaction with agent averaged 3.3 in the 2008 survey compared to 4.1 in the 2007 survey.

About 80% of those who were not satisfied said the agent "did not negotiate aggressively on their behalf," according to the survey report.

And the report suggests, "Although home buyers did not mention it, failure to close escrow on time probably contributed to the level of dissatisfaction buyers had with their agent," as 57% of web buyers participating in the 2008 survey reported that they did not close escrows on time.

About 31% of the web group in the survey expected an instant response from their agent, up from 22% in 2007. And 96% of web buyers expected a response within four hours or less, according to the latest survey. That compares to 94% in the 2007 survey.

Also, about 84% of participants said they considered the agent's response time to be either a "very important" or "extremely important" factor in their decision-making process, the survey report states.

About 71% of the web buyers in the survey said they would use the same agent again, down from 92% in 2007.

Among the "traditional" buyers, 27% reported they would use the same agent again, down from 47% in 2007 and 79% in 2005.

Participants who used the web in the home-buying process reported that the first Web site they visited was Google (40%), followed by Realtor.com (28%), Yahoo Real Estate (8%), and Zillow (5%). Four percent reported that they first visited the Web site "of a home that I was interested in," while 3% reported that www.craigslist.org was the first site they visited and 13% were unsure.

Key Point: An individual real estate agent's Web site was cited as the most useful Web site during the home-buying process (33%), the survey revealed, followed by Realtor.com (23%), an "Internet listing of a home that I was interested in" (22%), Zillow (11%), real estate company Web sites (8%), and Yahoo Real Estate (4%).

And among the most-visited Web sites: Realtor.com, a real estate agent's Web site, Web sites that included the specific home listings that buyers were interested in, real estate brokerage company Web sites, Zillow, craigslist and Yahoo Real Estate, in that order.

Multiple pictures and a slide show were named by survey participants as "extremely important" Web site features by buyers (61%), followed by maps and directions, agent contact options, virtual tours and neighborhood profiles.

About 88% of survey participants hired an agent to assist them in the home-sale transaction. About 90% of buyers in the Internet group found their real estate agent using the Internet, while 9% found their agent through a for-sale sign and 1% through an agent's marketing materials.

About 32% in the traditional buyers' group reported that they had a previous transaction with the real estate agent, 28% found the agent through marketing materials, 27% through a for-sale sign and 14% through a referral, according to the survey.