The Petalumahomes.com Realty WebLog

So what is the latest news and trends regarding the Internet and Real Estate?

Well according to the California Association of Realtors®, aka (C.A.R.) the internet buyer has now become the “typical” home buyer. Since 2001, just 7 short years ago, the share of home buyers using the Internet as officially become an integral part of the home-buying process. Statistics now clearly show it has nearly doubled to some 70 percent of all home buyers. While the personality of Internet buyers and their traditional counterparts have started to converge, important distinctions between the two groups remain. C.A.R.’s conducted a survey known as “2006 Internet Versus Traditional Buyer Survey” and will be released in May 2007 at the National Association of Realtors® event.
According to the survey results, internet buyers were younger, wealthier, better educated and more likely to be married than traditional buyers. Internet buyers also reported greater satisfaction with the home-buying process compared with traditional buyers. So maybe it was ok for our kids to play a few of those computer games.
If it wasn’t before, it is now clear to any Realtor, that the internet has changed the way we do business with buyers and sellers. However, while the Internet has become an important research tool for home buyers, there is clear supporting evidence that it is not replacing the Realtor®. According to the survey results it only enhanced the Realtor’s role in the transaction. Buyers continue to rely on their REALTOR® for help with interpreting the information gathered from the Internet and to guide them through the home-buying process. “Caveat Emptor” or “Buyer Beware” because you can’t always believe what you see and read on the internet. Technology is powerful and unfortunately it can be used an erroneously and/or unscrupulous manner.
According to the survey more than nine out of 10 Internet buyers indicated that the Internet helped them better understand the process of buying a home. Additionally Internet buyers received more frequent communication and faster response times from their REALTORS®.
“With the availability of high-speed Internet access to almost anywhere you might live, it is enabling buyers to gather information on the home search process and stay in contact with their Realtor. Don’t be surprised if in not to distant future you see in the Realtors hosting “webinars” with their clients. As a result, home buyers are more informed, have a greater sense of control over and during the process of their purchase.
Internet buyers and traditional buyers expressed significant differences in how they conducted their home-buying research. Internet buyers conducted more research at the onset of the home-buying process, while traditional buyers relied more on their agent as their source of information. So one size does not fit all which is why agents must be able to service both kinds of buyers to remain in business. Personal contact is still required as my manager likes to always say “real estate is a contact sport”.
The survey results will be out in several months and first only to Realtor’s, but some of the early release findings are as follows:
• The median age of Internet buyers was 39 years compared with a median of 42 years for traditional buyers.
• More than nine out of 10 Internet buyers were married, as opposed to eight out of 10 traditional buyers were married. Evidently using the internet to buy your home is good for your marriage, who would have thought.
• Seventy-three percent of Internet buyers had at least a four-year college degree and 11 percent completed post-graduate work. By comparison, 72 percent of traditional buyers held a college degree and 5 percent completed post-graduate work.
• Internet buyers had an annual income of $184,900, compared with $148,910 for traditional buyers. Another interesting fact”
• Internet buyers spent an average of 5.8 weeks considering buying a home before contacting a REALTOR®, nearly three times more than traditional buyers, who spent 2 weeks in this stage of the home-buying process.
• Internet buyers spent 2.2 weeks looking for the home they ultimately purchased, compared with 7.1 weeks for traditional buyers. “I thought this was an amazing finding”.
• Fifty-four percent of Internet buyers said the information that they gathered from the Internet was less useful than that provided by their REALTORS®; none considered the information gathered from the Internet to be more useful than that obtained from their REALTORS®.
Well that is about all I have room to write about in this article so you will just have to wait along with me until the middle of May. And by the way, the best way to see the full survey is take your favorite Realtor® to lunch and ask him or her to bring and copy to share with you. And if that doesn’t work, then look for it on my website at www.petalumahomes.com later this year.