Looking for love in all the wrong places?  These words, from a famous country western song, are relevant if you feel "loved" when you have a number of qualified buyers today.

In most markets today, agents face an excess of listings and a shortage of buyers.  They need qualified buyers, and serious agents are increasing their marketing efforts in order to find them.  Unfortunately, many of these efforts are ineffective and bring little or no results when it comes to attracting buyers.

Why? Because many agents do not take into account the information sources used by today's buyers. The marketing methods they use to find buyers, in other words, are based on what worked in years past but do not work today.

One example?  Suppose you increase your presence in real estate magazines because you think it is a valuable source for reaching buyers.  A study that we CRS Instructors(Council of Residential Specialists) saw recently, however, showed that only 15% of Gen X and Gen Y buyers polled cited such magazines as an information source they used when looking for homes.

Another way of saying this is: many agents don't know where today's buyers live. To paraphrase that good ol' country song, they are "looking for buyers in the all the wrong places."

The study, by Murray Consulting, Inc., showed the following as the leading information sources for Gen X and Gen Y buyers as they began their search for a home:

• Internet (cited by about 70% of those polled)
  
• Driving around neighborhoods
• Talking with friends & colleagues
• Yard signs

The least valuable sources cited, in descending order, were:

• Newspapers
• Real estate magazines
• Agent direct mail 

NAR also does an annual study of a significant number of buyers and sellers.  Here is their data on the use of the Internet to buy or sell:

• 2002: 41% of those polled cited the Internet as their number one source of information
• 2003: 71%
• 2004: 74%
• 2005: 77%
• 2006: 80%
  

What do you conclude from the above data?  My take is that the majority of today's buyers depend primarily on the Internet for their information. Which raises this question: can they find you when they search? Are you there?  Do you have a deep, information-packed, consumer-oriented personal Web site?

So....if you want more buyers today, make sure your Internet presence is a strong one. If you need tips on making your site better, you might want to check out my AR posts on the subject: 

Effective Web Sites To Check Out

So Many Sites: So Few Are Making Money.  Why?

Making Money With Template Sites

What Makes A Web Site A Money Maker? Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

You will also find some useful tips on the topic on my personal blog.  You will also profit by taking the time to look at all the sites of my CyberStars(r). 

It's a beautiful (hot) day here on the lake in Reston...hope it's a beautiful day/evening wherever you are, too!