The California Association Of Realtors recently released their 2007 Home Buyer survey.  The survey is based on Buyers during the second half of 2006.  Overall this report has a wealth of information and many, many AR posts could be written about the various pieces of information this report delivers.  Any agent working to put together a media strategy should read this report to help them make strategic marketing decisions. 

Today I wanted to touch on one interesting piece of information that jumped out at me regarding where Realtors are spending their ad dollars. 

The report found that 72% of Buyers used the Internet as an important part of their home buying and selection process.  This compares with 2.5% that said they looked at a real estate magazine during their search, 4% who said they used a newspaper ads, and 7.6% that said they viewed newspaper Open Houses. 

Borrell Associateshas said that approximately $5 billion dollars will be spent this year on advertising in the real estate category.  They also estimate that of this amount, approximately 14% of these advertising dollars is spent on online advertising. 

There is huge gap between where consumers are going to find real estate information and where Realtors are actually spending ad dollars. 

I know that many Internet sites allow you to advertise your listings for free, so the gap in the amount of exposure online may not be as big as the advertising dollars show, but nonetheless, the gap is very big. 

Knowing this, it seems the current trend in shifting ad dollars online is inevitable, but it surprises me how slow this shift is occurring. 

The CAR report goes on to examine where these consumers are spending a bulk of their time online.  Again, good information to know when building a media strategy. 

- 35% of Buyers visited Google first when starting their search for a home. This means Realtors that show up in Google search results have a big advantage.

- When asked "what was the most useful website visited during the home buying process?" Buyers said:
       - Individual Realtor web site (31%)
       - Realtor.com (20%)
       - Real Estate Brokerage/Company site (12%)
       - Zillow.com (12%)
       - Yahoo Real Estate (5%)

Hopefully knowing this information will help you put together an efficient marketing strategy moving forward.