The National Association of Realtors
Where do we go to find information on a specific topic? Do we still riffle through books, per chance find the solution in the newspaper, or maybe we ask a friend? Not likely, we instead go to the Internet. The Internet will take on a greater role in determining how we portray and deliver our properties to our prospective clients from today going fourth.
The National Association of Realtors profiled home buyers and sellers in 2011 and has released some intriguing results about the direction the real estate market is heading in. 88% of all those searching for real estate do so via the Internet with an impressive 45% of these searches online resulting in a purchase. The previous statistic of 45% is an increase of 9% as compared to the rate of success we saw from 2009.
Besides this 88% using the Internet to locate a property, 87% begin their search through a real estate agent, 55% embark on the journey of finding a home through seeing For Sale signs on properties, 45% search through open houses, and finally, 30% view newspaper ads and other forms of print material.
The economic recession is much the cause for the recent trend for real estate buyers to shift from younger, first time buyers to now more middle-aged, distinguished families. Despite this, the aforementioned segment of the population still does not use the Internet nearly as much as the younger generations, although this is still catching on.
The most important thing to learn about what NAR is aiming to get across, is that we all must use the Internet to the best of our ability. 85.8% of individuals in America who use the Internet are frequently visiting video websites such as the popular YouTube. It is now ever so common that houses are being viewed on such sites. This can come in the form of a video or a simple slide-show of photos with background music. Just the notion of sitting back and viewing a property come to you as opposed to clicking through countless photographs is a pleasant change. The sense of entertainment is what this all comes down to, and yes as mentioned before, YouTube is another option for real estate agents that is free to use!
Now more than ever do we have the ability to instantaneously connect with people from all corners of the globe. So with the Internet as your guiding tool, get out there and lets make it happen!
Source: SEOMyListing.com
