Technology continues to change the way buyers find the home they ultimately purchase.
Exactly which methods being used to find homes is of utmost importance to realtors and home sellers who are preparing to hire a realtor.
Fortunately, the National Assn. of Realtors spends a great sum of money, time, and resources doing a comprehensive survey of buyers and home sellers every year and the results were recently released for the 2013 study.
The information is eye opening! Certainly after reading the results of the study, the savvy home seller will not be hiring the realtor who says that “newspaper advertising” is how he/she plans to market the home.
The study found that 9 out of 10 buyers used the internet at some point during their home search, and 47 percent found the home that they ultimately purchased on the internet. This study pulled both single family homes buyers and also buyers of townhomes and condos.
Leaving new homes out, the other popular methods of finding a home were: Real Estate Agent (33%), Yard Sign/Open House (9%), Friend, Relative, Neighbor (4%), Knew the Seller (1%), Newspaper (1%).
So, it can be said that the buyer either found the home on the internet 47% or from a combination of Real Estate Agent – Yard Sign/Open House – or Friend, Relative, Neighbor… these three categories add up to 46%.
The Newspaper is simply no longer effective in selling real estate directly.
Although this study was done on a national basis, Orange County real estate or more specifically – Huntington Beach is a very “connected” town. The buyers of Huntington Beach condos and single family homes have access to high speed internet… certainly at a higher percentage than the nation as a whole. So, we can interpolate that the use of the internet in home searching by Huntington Beach home buyers is at least as high as 90% as reported in the study, but in all likelihood the rate is even higher in our area.
I would venture to guess 92 to 94% may be more accurate… as nearly all of us have either a computer, iPad/tablet, or smart phone. It is also likely that as many as 50% of the Huntington Beach homes sold in 2013 were initially found by the buyer on the internet.
Huntington Beach real estate sellers who want to maximize the sale price of their home and minimize the marketing time need to hire a realtor who understands how to make the home look its best on the internet and has the widest distribution of listings to the most “partner” websites.
Thank you for reading! Please feel free to reach out to us or swing by our office and pick up a list of homes for sale in Costa Mesa or Huntington Beach.
