What information can’t you find in internet now a days?

In most cases, if you follow asking price and sold price and house data (size, etc) and photos, which are all availale on internet, you will have pretty good idea what the market is pretty soon. In the meantime, you can ask your agent to show some properties on the market.

Anyways, I don’t believe you need 6-12 months of looking to find a house in most cases. Sure, you need to do home work but time is also essense here for catching an opportunity. If you really wait that long, you are either unlucky or hesitant (hesitation is normal for most people, especially for big transactions, and that’s why most money are made by few people).