The internet and newspaper ads are all over the place, each of them promising to be the best. Everyone is looking for the top homes for sale in Houston, and the advertising can be very misleading. It is nothing less than frustrating to walk into a home that was plastered all over the internet, presented as one of the top homes for sale in Houston, only to find that the electrical system needs to be replaced, the roof is marginal, and the inside of the house does not match the photograph that you saw online.

This is known as marginal advertising. You are permitted to dress up photographs for "clarity," but you are not permitted to use misleading photographs when selling a home, or any other property for that matter.

So while you are standing in the middle of a crooked floor wondering how it is that this place got listed, you might want to reconsider how you are approaching your search for your new home. Naturally, life would just be simpler if everyone was completely honest and every deal was as good as it was presented to be.

Now, it's time to get serious. There's no need to seek out the top homes for sale in Houston unless they really are some of the finer luxury homes available for purchase, without reconstructive home surgery. Start at the beginning and end at the beginning. You need more than a realtor. Realtors are very good at working on behalf of the seller. After all, this is how they earn their living.

Thus, it makes sense for them to want to put the seller's needs in front of the buyer's. If they can convince you to buy their largest, most expensive home, then they receive their largest, most expedient commission. This would be fine except that the top homes for sale in Houston are not necessarily represented by a realtor nor are they listed with realtors. They are most likely found behind gated communities, preplanned communities, or otherwise pre-qualified communities that have everything from community clubs to community pools and even community gyms.

Now, let's be clear. Realtors do work with these top notch Houston communities, they simply don't work solely for themselves without accountability. When realtors look into selling homes for the top homes for sale in Houston, they are held accountable for their representations, which make them more available to the buyer.

This is a key factor in working with any realtor who is representing a large preplanned or gated community. Working with a realtor who represents the buyer's interest is more likely to bring you directly to the doorstep of the top homes for sale in Houston.

Homes are a very high level of commitment. The purchase price coupled with all the additional fees and costs make buying a home a very big ordeal. It brings you into not only the house, but the community in which the house exists. Nothing is worse than finding your dream home in one of the worst communities that you could end up in.

I'm not talking about violent, high crime areas, but rather communities where for whatever reason you and all your neighbors just seem to clash. Whether you have a neighbor who carelessly allows their dog to use your front yard as their toilet, or neighbors who are disrespectful in the late hours, or neighbors who are just all around snobby and feel that for whatever reason, they are better than you, a dream home can become a trap to someone who is genuinely uncomfortable in their surroundings.

Working with a realtor who maintains the buyer's interest first can help alleviate this situation. Your realtor gets to know you, at least the type of individual you seem to be, and can often guide you not only toward the home that is well suited to your needs and desires, but also toward a community that is likely to suit your needs and desires.

Perfection in our world doesn't exist, but near perfection does. Working directly with a realtor who is more concerned with your needs than the seller's is the fastest way to negate those afternoons standing on the crooked floor of a house that doesn't fit your style, or the photograph on the internet. Moreover, finding someone you can trust and work with again in the future if the need arises is one of the hidden blessings of working with the right realtor to find you one of the top homes for sale in Houston.