Home Shopping on the Internet

A new study just came out on how home buyers shop for a home.  This study was a collaboration between Google and the National Association of Realtors.  A couple of interesting statistics were found.  (interesting to me).

As anyone who is currently alive can tell you, home buyers shop for homes on line.  Actually only 9 out of 10 use the internet as their primary shopping tool, and that's mind boggling to me.  I just can't understand what the other 1 out of 10 does.  ???

Another interesting stat from the study:  Days of research on the web before a potential home buyer "takes action on the site".  That would lead me to believe before they request information about homes they've found or sign up to keep up with their favorites, etc.  The stat finds 40% will shop online for 120 days+ before taking that action!  That's 4 months of pre-shopping!  Time to start shopping for your jacksonville real estate?

And lastly, is the % of shoppers who used the web to search for "categories" of homes for sale.  To me, this would be waterfront homes, condos, golf communities, etc.  93% of vacation home buyers search by category!  This is awesome news and confirms the number of out of state home shoppers who contact our office on a very regular basis.  

In the end, the results of the study just confirm what we've known for 10 years.  The real estate industry has changed from the old school of having to contact an agent who holds the book of homes for sale in an area to now being able to shop for all homes for sale on line.  

ONE LAST KEY POINT:  Even with all the great information on the web that exists, home buyers are using agents to help find and purchase property as much or more than ever.  88% of buyers used an agent.  By the way, even the guy who owns one of the largest national for sale by owner companies used an agent to list his property.