Very interesting statistics coming in, now, re the impact of the internet on the real estate industry.

In one recent survey, done by the National Association of Realtors and Baylor University School of Business, in the U.S., it charted where buyers found the home they purchased:

* 34% from Real Estate Agent.

* 32% Internet.

* 15% yard signs.

* 7% Friend, relative or neighbour.

* Less than 1% from Home Books and Magazines.

In the same survey, when buyers and sellers were queried as to how they chose their Realtor, only 4% were chosen because of their company affiliation.

I find the above statistics to be very interesting, indeed, and to support what I first noted a good three years ago. Affiliation with a name brand franchise model no longer delivers on the referral option that was once an essential part of that "big box" name.

With the internet, the buyer doesn't pop by a franchise office in Toronto, say, and ask to be referred to a Salt Spring realtor. It's rare that this would happen, today, and yet 10 to 15 years ago that was a vital part of such a franchise option.

With the internet, the buyer is searching out areas / realtors/ inventory on Google or some other search engine, and they do this for a substantial time before deciding "where" to look more indepth, and "who" to call to do so. The contact comes directly from the internet, and the contact for this buyer might simply be the realtor who has the last listing that caught the buyer's eye. Company affiliation, then, has become unimportant. Even realtor "name" becomes less important. It's about the listing information that captured the attention. Brand loyalty, to either a company or a well-known realtor, is evaporating.

In a city environment, yard signs might play a role in being discovered. Not so useful in a secondary home/discretionary marketplace, though, unless the sign is "up" during the "season". July/August/September could be seen as Salt Spring & the Southern Gulf Islands "season", where signage might attract a potential buyer's interest, while they're "on Island". Otherwise, the sign sits for a lengthy time, and only the "locals" are driving by it.

With only 1% of buyers coming off Home Books and Magazines, where does that leave the Driftwood supplement, our main print publication? It might catch a few "looks" in the "season" -- someone popping off a boat, at the marina, and picking up the real estate supplement, or catching the ferry to a Gulf Island, and viewing property options en route, but in the "off season", no one would see this publication, except the "locals". It doesnt' "bring" a buyer, then, for most of the calendar year.

The car industry, the stock market side of investing, the book business...the internet changed all of these businesses, severely, at an earlier point in time. It's now the turn of the real estate industry.

Even the mls system is not as valid a medium of information as one would hope for. The data input sheet used for all areas are too uniform. If there's one thing the internet is teaching us all, it's the ability to be "niched". In one Board, recently, they stuck a private island listing in an area that was a good 3 hours away, geographically, just because they didn't want to create a "slot" for this one-off Island. Was that good service for a seller, a buyer, a listing agent, a buyer's agent? I don't think so! Surely, in today's digital world, it would only have been a couple of mouse clicks, to "get it right"????

So, if we're in the middle of a serious shift, in how real estate is "being done", for the benefit of the two parties to any transaction (that's the seller and the buyer), what is the way for a realtor to significantly "market" a property? And how can that be made to work for a secondary home/discretionary marketplace, where the buyer isn't "local"?

Big questions! Needing answers....

Your thoughts are always welcome!

liread33@gmail.com