How Customers Shop for Real Estate

According to the National Association of Realtors, 74% of all US home buyers used the Internet in their search and 15% of all buyers discovered their home on the web in 2004. Additionally, 69% of buyers reported that the Internet was "very useful" in their search. 52% said the same about yard signs and newspaper advertising lagged behind at 32%.

The clear message is that today's homebuyers are doing more of their own research and most are using the Internet to do it. While only 15% discovered their own home this way, keep in mind that number will only continue to grow as it reflects continuous increases of 2-6 percentage points annually since 1997.

Where Don't They Shop?

Today's Realtors need more than just a website. We've all seen them; those websites that a business has put online to be able to say, "Yes, I have a website."

These quickie and often sloppy sites will do more to harm their business than if they had no website at all. Under construction and coming soon are red flags that often function as an invitation for someone to leave a site. Out of date sites will give the impression that you are not serious about your business. My personal favorite was the website that still had advertisements and ticket sales for an event that happened over three years earlier. Just how current were their listings?

Where Might They Shop?

If more than 74% of your potential buyers are using the Internet in their home search, do you want to give them the impression that since your website is thrown together that you will have the same cavalier attitude about their home search? Or worse yet, lose a listing you've worked hard to get because the property owner feels your site is not effective.

Maybe you've put a little more effort into your website; but it is one of those cookie cutter sites offered to Realtors that all have the same look and feel and charge extra for everything.

Do you want to be limited in what you can offer on your site by what services these "Do-It-Yourself" template sites offer? Wouldn't you rather have your web visitors find a professional, content-rich site that offers those things they came there for? Wouldn't you rather develop a partnership with someone who can make your site unique and useful to your marketplace and target clients?

Where Do They Shop?

Today's homebuyer wants information, they want it on their own time, not just 9 to 5 and they want to find it anonymously. Too many Realtors are resisting this change and are losing these tech savvy customers.

One Customer, One Sale

My mother, one of the over 26% of those 65 and older who use the Internet was also part of those 65% of homebuyers in 2003 who used the Internet as part of their search.

Think about the advantages to you, the Realtor, in this type of transaction. In the old paradigm of the buyer coming to the agent with an idea of what they wanted in the way of amenities, price and location; now they arrive at the office armed with a great deal of knowledge that you once had to take the time to impart. In my mother's case, we arrived at the agent's office with a list of properties that we wanted to see.

Consider that situation for a moment. Yes, the agent did not 'find' those listings; however, the agent knew based on our list what we were looking for, the price range and the agent had us walking through one of those homes within an hour of our arrival at her office.

What if one of those listings ended up being the one she had purchased?

How much time and effort did that agent truly spend on the transaction?

How much of the agent's work had already been done by the customer?

How quickly could that agent be working on their farming or working with another customer?

Keeping It All

Most Realtors who are both buyer's and seller's agents hope to hit that grand slam of both listing and selling the same property.

If your website has unique information on that listing and impresses the buyer; they could come directly to you. If you offer nothing other than what they could already find on Realtor.com or through another site using IDX (or your local MLS system), you might still get the house sold; but another Realtor will likely receive the seller's commission.

Realtors who wish to do well in the coming years will have to learn how to use technology to market their listings and their services.

The smart ones will find people such as myself with a background in working with real estate professionals, implementing technology and using that technology as a marketing tool.

Those smart Realtors will find themselves with more time to do that work which they love and will be spending less time researching, showing properties that the client will immediately reject at the curb, and hoping that their day at the desk will bring in that walk-in who has or wants that multi-million dollar listing.

A note about the author:
Articles appearing on www.yourmessageconsultant.com were written by Michele Tway. Michele has almost 20 years of experience as both an IT and writing professional. She has worked with publicly traded, private and government organizations, and now offers her services as Your Message Consultant. While this article is not available for reprints, she is available to write similar content for your website, newsletter, blog, or print publication.