How many homes should buyers look at before making a decision?

That's a question every real estate agent worth his or her salt has heard, most more than a few times. And there is no right answer. Some folks fall in love with the first place they see, while others look for years and never find their dream home.

Generally, the ones who make what seem like "lightning decisions" have already done their homework online before venturing forth to take first-hand tours of their favorite offerings. Those who must see lots of homes usually don't know exactly what they want, or fear that if they stop looking, the next house would have been even better than the last.

According to the latest National Association of Realtors' Profile of Home Buyers, the typical home search takes 12 weeks -- almost a full quarter-year from beginning to end. Buyers usually spend two weeks looking at houses for sale on the Web before contacting an agent, and then after doing so, they look at a median of 10 houses before making their choices.

A whopping 43 percent found the house they ultimately purchased on the Internet. Real estate agents are now the second most common source for finding houses, according to the profile.

Still, when you get down to it, the most difficult part of the homebuying process, for most people, is finding just the right house. And the question of how many houses to visit came up the other day on ActiveRain, an online real estate community.

As usual, the responses were all over the ballpark. But a post from Ann Wilkins of East Bay Sotheby's International Realty in Oakland, California, summed it up.

"Most buyers have done extensive online research and open house research before even contacting an agent," Wilkins wrote. "I have had clients buy a house the first time we have gone out looking. Doesn't happen often, (but) they know what they want and have been watching the inventory (online) and stepped up to the plate the first time out."

At the same time, the agent said she has been working with a few clients for a year who have yet to the pull the trigger and are "still looking."

"It really depends on the client and how specific they are in their requirements," she said.

Claude Labbe of Real Living in Washington, D.C., agreed. "Isn't it like dating? You look until you find the one you know is 'the one.' Some people walk down the aisle at 19, some at 23 and some at 31."

Several agents who joined the discussion said some buyers, typically first-timers, have been led astray by those reality shows in which people look at one house, then another and finally a third. After just three, they are ready to make an offer. Should it always be that easy?

"Only on TV," commented Mark Robinson of America's First Funding Group in Beachwood, New Jersey.

Then again, sometimes it really does work that way.

"I have had buyers who bought the first house we looked at, and I had one buyer who looked at more than 50 before he made the decision to buy," said Maria Morton of BHG Real Estate in Kansas City, Missouri. "He actually would have bought the second house we looked at, but waited two months to tell me that was the one. By that time, the house was sold."

Ritu Desai of Samson Properties in Ashburn, Virginia, said that clients of hers recently asked how many houses they should look at. "They loved one of the homes they previewed, but wanted to confirm they are ready to make a decision or (know if) they should see more homes," Desai said.

But, as Norma Toering of Charlemagne International Properties in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, pointed out, "There's no magical number. They have to shop until they find the 'right one.'"

One of Eve Alexander's clients certainly knew. They were scheduled to view eight houses, but after the third, they were finished. They had found that elusive "one."

"I tried to encourage them to look at the rest, but nope, they were done," said the agent, who works with Buyers Broker in Windermere, Florida. "Bought house No. 3."

Agents tend to agree, though, that with all the information that's available on the Internet, it doesn't -- or at least it shouldn't -- take as long to find the right house as it used to.

Rod Pierson of Coldwell Banker C&C Properties in Redding, California recommends looking at many houses on the Web, then narrowing your choices to a handful, then doing a few "drive-bys" to narrow your list even further. At that point, it's time to start touring.

"I used to spend weekends showing many properties to one client," he said. "By the time we were done, they didn't remember the first property."

Said El Silva of RE/MAX Professionals in Waterbury, Connecticut: "With the amount of information online ... it doesn't take long for many buyers to feel 'at home' once they get inside."

Once you've reached this point, your instincts should take over. In other words, trust your gut. And once you've found "the place," act quickly, agents advise.

"You need to buy it, as it may not be available the next day or next week," warns Ric Mills of Keller Williams Southern in Tucson, Arizona. "I have had many hesitate, thinking there might be a better (house) and lose their first choice.

"If it is the right home -- even if it's the first home you see -- don't wait, or you could miss out."

If you thought the evil "bad guys" had left the mortgage business for greener pastures, think again. The thieves are still out there, ready to separate you from your money. But at the same time, many of us are still not above stretching the truth a little when we are trying to obtain financing.

First, the business bad guys, represented today by the Amerisave Mortgage Corporation, which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered to pay $19.3 million for perpetrating a deceptive bait-and-switch scheme on would-be borrowers.

The CFPB found that the Atlanta-based online company, which lends in all 50 states, lured consumers by advertising misleading interest rates, locked them in with costly up-front fees, failed to honor its published rates and then illegally overcharged them for affiliated third-party services.

Here's how it worked, according to the CFPB: Since 2011, the company advertised inaccurate rates and terms in online banner ads and searchable rate tables on third-party websites, inducing consumers to pursue a mortgage with Amerisave. Once at Amerisave's website, the company gave consumers quotes based on an 800 FICO score, even when they had previously entered a score well below 800 on the third-party site that led them to Amerisave in the first place. The result: misleading quotes.

The company also required consumers to pay for an appraisal before it would provide a good-faith estimate, then it ordered the appraisal from an affiliated company. Borrowers weren't told that salient fact until later.

Then, at closing, Amerisave charged its customers for something called "appraisal validation" reports without disclosing that that service was also provided by an affiliated company. They also weren't told the fee was marked up by as much as 900 percent.

In its investigation, the CFPB found that Amerisave and its owner, Patrick Markert, pocketed more than $3 million in indirect profit distributions by overcharging unknowing borrowers. The validation reports cost $20, but Amerisave charged $100, with the $80 windfall finding its way to Markert's wallet.

Markert, by the way, has been ordered to pay an additional $1.5 million personally.

Not all lenders are such scoundrels, of course. Heck, most of them are honest and forthright.

But at the same time, it's your money and you'd better take the necessary precautions to protect it.

"By the time consumers could have discovered the advertised low rates were too good to be true, they had already committed to pay hundreds of dollars," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement.

Next comes the Ocwen Financial Corporation, which has been called on the carpet by the New York Department of Financial Services. According to an open letter by DFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, Ocwen has been running a "complex arrangement" that "appears designed to funnel as much as $65 million in fees annually from already-distressed homeowners" to an affiliated company for minimal work in providing force-placed insurance.

No charges have been filed, and no guilt has been found -- at least not yet. But Lawsky has asked the company to explain itself. After all, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has banned banks and mortgage servicers from accepting commissions on force-placed policies issued by affiliated companies.

Now this from Interthinx, a provider of risk-mitigation solutions for the financial services industry. Interthinx reports that occupancy fraud, while down somewhat from last year's third quarter, is still significant. At the same time, valuation fraud is on the upswing.

An explanation, as those terms may not mean much to the average Joe: Occupancy fraud is when the would-be borrower says he will occupy the property -- when he has no intention of doing so -- in order to obtain the better rates and terms that are reserved for owner-occupants. And valuation fraud is an attempt to create instant, nonexistant equity in a property by artificially inflating value, then extracting it from the proceeds of a larger loan than would otherwise be granted.

Another report, this one from mortgage giant Fannie Mae, shows an alarming increase in income misrepresentation and a lesser, though no less important, jump in falsification of social security numbers. Put all these together and you have a real catch-22: You cheat me and I'll lie to you.

Occupancy and valuation fraud are typically the province of investor-buyers of foreclosed properties, whereas faking how much the borrower earns is usually a crime perpetrated by individuals.

So, while those of us on this side of the transaction would do well to deal carefully with those on that side, those on that side need to be just as vigilant -- otherwise they'll be taken in by the shady among us. You know who you are.

With offers and counteroffers flying back and forth across the table, negotiations between buyer and seller are an important part of the real estate dance, with each side trying to glean any advantage they can.

Toward that end, Britain's largest online brokerage firm, House Network, has teamed up with a leading body-language analyst to create a 10-step guide to help sellers decipher the unspoken intentions of potential buyers through their physical behavior. The guide, entitled "The Art of the Silent Sell," offers the insight of body-language expert Robert Phipps, an analyst, public speaker and the author of "Body Language: It's What You Don't Say That Matters."

The guide offers insights into the nuances of what a would-be buyer's body is saying that his mouth isn't. It also provides advice on how sellers can change their own behavior so they don't reveal their bargaining position.

"The importance of understanding nonverbal communication, both yours and that of your buyers, cannot be underestimated," says Phipps. "Buyers make purchase decisions with their senses, so this guide explains how sellers should use this to their advantage by appealing to their buyers' basic instincts, which are hard-wired."

Being an online operation, the House Network doesn't use agents, so much of the advice is premised on the notion that sellers should show their homes themselves.

Here in the States, that's pretty much frowned upon. Sellers are told to sit back, or actually leave the premises, and let the agents do their jobs. But as Graham Lock, co-founder of House Network, points out, no one knows your home better than you, so "you are in the best position to sell its positives."

According to the guide, then, the seller's job is to "present the property's best features and observe" the potential buyer's responses. In this way, you can dwell on more of what the buyer wants and likes, and ignore what they don't want.

With no further ado, here are some of the key points from "Silent Sell":

-- Greeting. Not only does the greeting begin every interaction, it sets the tone from there on out. So be sure you are ready and waiting for the buyer, but don't be too eager. Standing and waiting with an open door may be polite, but it might also make you appear desperate. Better to wait for the prospect to knock or ring the doorbell.

-- Handshake. Although some people don't like to shake hands, Phipps suggests going for it anyway. Most people find it difficult to resist an extended hand, and besides, it will give you an idea how enthusiastic they are about seeing your place for the first time.

-- Eyes. It's called a viewing because people use their eyes more than any other sense.

Your job is to show your home's best attributes. As you do, try to notice whether your visitor is engaging with you by actually looking at the features as you point them out.

-- Smile. This shows someone is happy, relaxed and content. So as you go from room to room, look to see if the corners of the buyer's mouth are turning upward. Make a mental note of their positive reactions and try to point out similar features to continue the mood.

-- Nods. Subtle head-shakes are good indicators of positive or negative feelings.

Encourage visitors to do this by nodding and shaking your own head when you speak about the good things about the property, neighborhood and local amenities.

-- Posture. How you stand has a great impact on how people feel about you. So make sure you are standing up straight. That equates to high confidence, which will help convey a measure of truth to what you are saying.

-- Angles. How you stand or sit in relation to your potential buyers can have a major impact on how comfortable they feel in your home. Greetings are normally face-to-face, but after that, avoid engaging visitors straight on. Rather, sit or stand to the left of the person you are showing around, because most people are right-handed. If they are left-handed, go the other way.

-- Feel. Encourage the prospect to sit on the sofa, lie down on your bed or open the kitchen drawers. The more folks can try things out, the more comfortable they will feel -- and the easier it will be for them to envision themselves in your place and make up their minds. That's why car salespeople practically demand that you sit behind the wheel or take a test drive.

-- Smell. This is the most basic of all the senses. From birth, people react almost automatically to odor in either a positive or negative way. Here, you needn't bake a cake or brew fresh coffee to make people feel at home, although there's nothing wrong with that. But you must make sure your place either smells completely neutral or has a pleasant fragrance.

-- Sound. Every home has noises, from creaky steps to the rush of traffic outside. If you have a noise, fix it. And if you live on a noisy street, pick a showing time when there's the least amount of traffic.

Says Lock: "Each and every buyer will interpret your home differently, according to their needs and requirements. Your challenge is to sell your home's best features.

"Appeal to the senses, notice how your potential buyers react and what their body language tells you, and concentrate on the positive while moving on quickly from the negatives."