NAR's 2013 study of Home Buyers and Sellers includes survey responses from 8,767 people who purchased a home between July 2012 and June 2013.
For those who purchased a home during this time period, the highest share ever - 92% - reported using the Internet to search for a home to buy, up from 90% from the year prior and 71% in 2003.
Forty-two percent of buyers reported starting their home search by looking for properties online, while 17% said their first step was to contact a real estate agent. Most home buyers located the agent with whom they worked through a referral from a friend, neighbor or family member, an agent with whom they'd worked in the past, or through an online website. Buyers were twice as likely to find their agent through an online website.
Seventy-six percent of respondents considered online websites to be "very important" as information sources in their home search, compared with 68% who said real estate agents were "very important". Nearly equal shares, 81% and 78%, respectively, reported online websites and real estate agents were "very important" in terms of usefulness.
An ever increasing share of buyers found the home they purchased online, 43% this year, up from 8% in 2001. The share of buyers who found their home through an agent came in at 33% this year, down from 48% in 2001.
Among those who searched for homes online, three-quarters drove by a home and 63% walked through and toured a home they saw online. Thirty-four percent of buyers found the agent they used to buy a home online.
Despite home buyers increasingly relying on the Internet for their home search, the overwhelming majority turn to a real estate agent for extra help.
Eighty-eight percent of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent. Among those who used the Internet to search for homes, that share grew higher -- up to 90%.
“While the vast majority of buyers use the Internet during the home buying process, the Internet does not replace the real estate agent in the transaction,” according to the report. “In fact, buyers who used the Internet were more likely than those who did not use the Internet to purchase their home through an agent.”
Buyers who did not use the Internet to search were more likely to purchase through a builder. * See Tips to Buying a New Home and How to Negotiate With the Builder on a New Home
Among the skills buyer respondents valued most in their real estate agent were honesty and integrity, knowledge of the purchase process, responsiveness, knowledge of the local real estate market, and negotiation skills.
Buyers ranked the following services highest that agents’ can provide them in their search: finding the right property, helping to negotiating terms of the sale and price negotiations, identifying comparable properties, and assisting with paperwork. * See Why Use a Realtor When Buying a Home
Neighborhood quality was the No. 1 factor for neighborhood choice by buyers (63%), followed by commute-to-work convenience (48%), affordability of homes (40%) and proximity to family and friends (38%). * See How to Choose a Neighborhood and How to Choose a Home
Only 9% of sellers reported they'd sold their home without the assistance of an agent ("for sale by owner", or FSBO), and 40% of FSBO sales were to buyers who were previously known to the seller.
Real estate professionals know that buying and/or selling a home is not only an enormous financial decision, but also a highly emotional one. Homes are the culmination of living dreams, wishes, needs and visions blending together. They are dwellings in which we find comfort in what is familiar; what we call our own. When you choose a home, you choose a lifestyle, a house in a community that meets the criteria for the way you want to live! It is this expanded definition of home that drives our business.
When buyers and sellers need guidance, they want a human being, and someone who cares. They want someone to validate their feelings and put them at ease. Top real estate professionals do exactly that!
If you, or someone you know is considering Buying or Selling a Home in Columbus, Ohio please contact The Opland Group. We offer professional real estate advice and look forward to helping you achieve your real estate goals!
The Opland Group Specializes in Real Estate Sales, Luxury Home Sales, Short Sales in; Bexley Columbus Delaware Downtown Dublin Gahanna Grandview Heights Granville Grove City Groveport Hilliard Lewis Center New Albany Pickerington Polaris Powell Upper Arlington Westerville Worthington
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