Doing a Google or Bing search is great for a lot of things, but using a search engine can put you in the danger zone when you need a repair at your house.

Let's say you're looking for a locksmith, a plumber an electrician or another kind of worker. You put in that search term "plumber in [name your city]" and a list pops up on your computer. Great, right?

Not so fast. The danger is that very often criminal rings run online operations that can be located who knows where, and they just refer you to a service that rips you off with high costs.

A better option is to use sites like Yelp.com or Kudzu.com to read user reviews of local services. You want to see a minimum of 25 reviews and you want to read them to be sure they weren't planted by the business itself.

This is an area where dealing locally is very much to your advantage. You don't want to get scammed, and you don't want to allow questionable people on your premises.

Listeners have asked me if Angies List is a good alternative. That's another site that has stood the test of time as a way to find organizations that you can trust.