The Internet Buyer

This data was complied by Leslie Appleton-young, Chief Economist and Vice President of the California Association of Realtors (CAR).  This is a first of a series of articles on this topic. Please check back under the "Real Estate World is Changing" Category.

• In 2000, 28% of people said that they used the Internet as an important part of their home-buying and selection process. In 2006, 70% said they did;

• 86% of home buyers started using the Internet as part of their process BEFORE they started looking for a specific home;the other 14% did after they started looking, but BEFORE they contacted a real estate agent; that means that 100% of buyers surveyed started looking at homes first, agents second.................. 

This is huge! It has been very apparent and obvious over the last five years that the trends of consumers in general were getting very comfortable with using INTERNET for purchases, shopping and performing due diligence in making major purchasing decisions (like doing research on vehicles before they buy a car, etc). However, this data shows a very accelerated trend for consumers using the INTERNET in purchasing a home and all the window shopping and due diligence involved in it.

How does this affect the consumer? With these numbers, would it benefit a home seller to list with an agent that specializes in advertising in the local newspaper? Not in any way shape or form.  A major web presence by the agent and the agents company like REMAX is vital to receive the exposure required to reach these consumers. If you are a consumer, you must re-think traditional habits in what you expect your Realtor to do.

• Open Houses are effective in some (few) circumstances and in some (few) areas. For the most part, it is a chance for the agent to pick up a buyer for a different property and for your neighbors to come by and snoop through your home. In the Memphis area, I have had very, very little success with open houses with the exception of the Midtown Memphis area. Open houses for Realtors are beneficial, however.
•  Don't expect or require you Realtor to run very expensive and very un-productive ads in the news paper. Allow them to target your buyers through INTERNET and other marketing venues.
• Ask if you are going to receive a "Featured Property" (or similar) page or pages on their website. Of course this is useless if they do not show up on the first page of the search engines for major key word searches.
• Ask if they have a "featured Property" (or similar) upgrade for Realtor.com or other on-line marketing venues.
• Is their company website (like RE/MAX, C-21, etc.) a major presence on the web? I believe REMAX.com is the 2nd or 3rd most visited website for home searches and growing. They have dedicated $50 million in marketing and advertising REMAX.com

The point is that every indication is that a high and large presence on the web and especially through search engine searches, is a must for maximum exposure.

• Does the Realtor you are considering have a major web presence?
• Do they rank high (first page) for a variety of major key word searches in the major search engine?
• Do they have a PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing campaign either to compliment their natural search engine results or to bridge the gap because they don't yet have good natural search engine rankings?
• Does their company website play a major role in on-line marketing and advertising?
• Does the company website list high in the natural search engine rankings?
• How easy is it for the home buyers to search for homes on both the agents and their companies websites? If it is not user friendly, the buyers will search else where.

To read the entire article, go here.

• California Association of Realtors

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