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Selling Real Estate: A Look at Home Buyer Trends

Every year, the National Association of Realtors® produces a report on the trends of real estate buyers and sellers.  NAR’s 2008 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers is a 116 page document filled with graphs, charts and brief analysis on real estate consumers’ behavior.

Here at theRockStarAgent.com, we strive to assist agents making the jump into Real Estate 2.0.  Part of the jump includes understanding the reason for the shift.  Real estate changes rapidly and if you’ve not noticed, the internet and technology of merely increased the rate of change.

This post will focus on the Buyer side behavior of the real estate transaction.  But really, who cares? Right?  After all, once you get in front of a buyer, you know instinctively what you need to do to help them meet their real estate goals.  These assembled words and charts simply attempt to show where the change is and where you as an agent should be moving your business and marketing efforts.

Overview:

The internet is not a fad.  It’s here and it’s changing how real estate is searched for, how housing information is accessed, and what’s important.  From the report we know that:

• the internet is as important as an agent in finding a home for buyers;
• members of Gen Y are using “off the beaten path” sites with real estate listings nearly 15% more than any other group;
• agents and the internet are seen as equally useful among home buyers;
• buyers want help in negotiating and finding the right home, but NEED help in determining price.

[after the jump, charts and stuff...you've been warned!]

Where Buyer Found the Home They Purchased

Ok, let’s start with the obvious, buyers use the internet to find information about their next home.

In 2008, 66% of surveyed home buyers found their home via the internet or their real estate agent.  The interesting part of the chart, is not the 2008 numbers, rather the trends.  While the internet has yet to replace the agent, it is interesting to see how “blurred” the line has become between ‘net and agent on the source of where the buyer found their home.

This blurring of distinction is an important one for agents to remember.  As you promote your listings, be mindful to be in as many places on the ‘net as possible.

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