That homebuyers and
sellers are using Internet resources to aid them in their transactions has
become abundantly clear. The Economic Research Council of the National
Association of Realtors®
(NAR), in its June 1999 report entitled “Realtors®
and the Internet: The Impact of Online Technologies on the Real Estate
Industry” (see full report at http://www.onerealtorplace.com), reported
that 23 percent of all potential homebuyers used the Web to search for a
home. Furthermore, the study found that even potential homebuyers who do not
currently use online services expect their Realtor®
to be Internet-savvy and have clear opinions on what they expect from
online real estate services.
A 1999 study20
conducted by Weston Edwards & Associates, Laguna Beach, CA, concluded,
among other things, the following: “By 2000, half of all homebuyers will
use the Internet to help them find a home and the money to finance it,
compared to 40 percent last year. Realtors®,
lenders, and title insurance companies are struggling to catch up with the
demand for Internet services.”
In some areas of the
Northwest, according to a 1999 survey by John L. Scott Real Estate
(http://www.johnlscott.com), up to seven of every ten homebuyers used the
Internet during their property search.21
Inman News (http://www.inman.com),
citing the Atlas Van Lines 32nd
Annual Survey of Corporate Relocation Policies in June of 1999,
reported that 71 percent of 214 relocation executives are accessing the
Internet to research, administer, and track employee relocations. Three
years previous to this report, only 6 percent of these executives used the
Web for such purposes. The increase was steady:
19 percent of this group used the Web in 1997 for relocation
assistance; 48 percent did so in 1998.
Why are homebuyers and
sellers using the Web? How do they find the Internet useful? Users of the
home-search site, Realtor.com, appear to be “performing the early stage
of their home search on line. Yet, once they find a set of homes in which
they are interested and/or they become more serious in their home search,
users of online services contact a Realtor®
to assist them in the home search.”22
In its May 1999 study,
“A Profile of the Internet Buyer,” the California Association of
Realtors®
(CAR) found that Internet-using homebuyers spend far less time on the home
buying process.23
In fact, the study said that “Internet buyers spend half as much time
(two and a half months) as do traditional buyers (five months) on the
buying process—starting from the point of considering buying a home, to
the time spent looking for the home with a Realtor®,
to the decision to purchase.”
The study also indicated
that online buyers spend half as much time looking with an agent for a
home (a median of 4 weeks). Furthermore, an online buyer previews and
visits only four homes, compared to eight homes viewed by a traditional
buyer.
The same study reported
that 71 percent of Internet buyers surveyed strongly agreed that the
Internet gave them better understanding of the homebuying process;
52 percent said the Internet helped them shop for the best deal; 76
percent claimed the Internet put them in better control of the home buying
process; and 56 percent claimed the Internet helped them locate the best
possible neighborhood.
The CAR study also
concluded that “89% of Internet buyers used the Internet to locate real
estate firms, 87% to find a specific real estate agent, 82% to preview
homes, 77% to learn about rights and obligations and 75% to identify
specific homes to view. Almost all (93%) of the buyers are ‘very
likely’ to use the Internet in the purchase of their next home. The
remaining 7% stated that they were ‘likely’ to use the Internet in the
future.”24
Excite (http://www.excite.com),
a portal and search engine (see Chapter 5) with high stakes in the
Internet behaviors of consumers, provides a profile of “the average
Internet user who is interested in real estate,” based on a Spring, 1999
study.25
If Excite’s profile of
users is correct, these are the Internet users whom you need to attract to
your site and make happy when they get there.
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