Modern Day Real Estate Marketing Designed For Top Agents

RISMEDIA, Feb. 8, 2007-If you are one of those many agents or brokers who don't really believe that the Internet is "the way" in real estate today, perhaps the following data compiled and presented by Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist and vice president of the California Association of Realtors (CAR) in her analysis of the real estate market in California for 2006 will get your attention.

If you believe that the Internet is the single most important factor in your future success, here's your continuing proof that you are correct. Pages 62-82 of the Appleton-Young and CAR (www.car.org) study compare some distinctions between Internet vs. Traditional buyers and the findings are powerful.

The charts in the report show the undeniable trends and the clear preferences consumers have for the Internet approach to buying a home: since the year 2000, virtually every preference that used to favor the traditional approach has been turned upside down and the Internet approach is now overwhelmingly favored. This report is unequivocal evidence that if you are not on the Internet bandwagon and if you can't be found by people searching for homes on the Internet, you are completely "missing the boat" in the real estate business.

92% of Internet buyers found their agent on a Web site; 63% found them through an Internet search engine; 0% of Internet buyers found their agent through brochures, flyers, yard signs or mailers to their home (does this tell you to spend more on Internet marketing and less on print)?

- In 2000, 28% of people said that they used the Internet as an important part of their home-buying and selection process. In 2006, 70% said they did;

- 86% of home buyers started using the Internet as part of their process before they started looking for a specific home; the other 14% did after they started looking, but before they contacted a real estate agent; that means that 100% of buyers surveyed started looking at homes first, agents second.