By Al Heavens, Mcclatchy News Service Be the first to post a comment
What would real estate do without the Internet?
If I had asked that question a few years ago, the reply would have been, “Inter-what?” But these days, the real estate agent who hasn’t latched onto the possibilities offered by the World Wide Web is rare.
A recent survey commissioned by Prudential Fox & Roach supports the overwhelming importance of the Internet -to home buyers especially.
Results of the survey, conducted by the Reed Organization and based on 284 responses to questionnaires emailed to several thousand Philadelphia-area buyers and sellers, show that the Internet plays an oversized role.
That starts with choosing an agent, according to the survey results.
Among the 43 per cent of buyers who reported using Internet resources for agent selection, the most important resources were the website of the real estate firm the agent represented, a real estate website such as MLS.ca, and a search engine such as Google.
Thirty-five per cent said they used recommendations found on social-media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube or Twitter.
Nearly 42 per cent said they first saw the house they eventually purchased online.
Only 14 per cent of home sellers mentioned an Internet search as the resource used to begin selling a home.
Among the 40 per cent of sellers using the Internet in selecting an agent, the three most popular resources were broker’s websites, a real estate website, and an Internet search engine.
Almost two-thirds of home buyers said they used other resources, beyond their agents, to identify potential homes, with five of the top six resources being on the Internet, including a real estate website (63 per cent), the website of the agent’s real estate firm (54 per cent), and a search engine (39 per cent).
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/real+estate+Internet/4717369/story.html
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
