image courtesy of bradybd
There's a lot to talk about as I'm reading through the 2008 Realtor Technology Report.
You can view the whole report (80MB pdf file) courtesy of Realtor.org. I could probably write the longest blog post of my life on this tech survey by the Center For Realtor Technology, but I'm just going to pull some things that I thought were interesting.
Who was invited, who participated?
Back in July 2008, 40,000 random selected Realtors were asked to complete a survey via email. Want a shocking number? The survey results are based on 942 completed surveys. That's a low 2.35% of the original invitations. According to the survey, that is enough to be considered statistically valid, but to me it seems really low. Guess that's why I'm not a statistician.
Top three sources of new technology information.
NAR (52%), real estate news websites (46%), and colleagues (46%). I would have loved to seen some more data on which news websites were being looked at, but I guess NAR wouldn't want to promote too many other sites, as the news is good for them. I was happy to see that colleagues had a high percentage, as I think the real estate tech-savvy community is a very helpful bunch and love teaching others what they know.
ActiveRain on a daily basis.
Of the 33% of people who responded that they use social networking sites or blogs, 8% said they use ActiveRain on a daily basis. I'm one of that small group and so are you. I think we'll see these numbers rise over the next 2 years.
Using maps on your search site.
69% of participants use maps on their listing site. Of those people, 71% have a map based search and 15% feel that the map based search creates a more effective search utility. I am at odds on these numbers. If 71% use it, but only 15% feel it create a more effective search, why are so many people still using it? I love map search and think its a great idea as a consumer. Being able to get the big picture of where homes are when you're searching is always something I look for.
Growing older and sticking to real estate.
19% of participants are under 41 years old. 28% are 41-50 years old. 53% are over 50 years old. I think this a huge testament to how people stick with real estate. With the attrition rate so high, many younger people drop off like flies when times get tough. 38% of respondents have been in real estate over 10 years. I think when you combine these figures, you can see what I'm talking about.
Franchise or independent?
50% of participants work for an independent non-franchised firm. The other half are split down into more specific categories, but overall, it looks like we're almost 50/50 on franchise vs. non-franchise (of the remaining 50%, only 7% work for a subsidiary of a regional or national corporation, that is non-franchise). Its a pretty close race if you ask me.
Operating system.
I belong to the tiny 4% that uses Mac OSX.
Most used and preferred web browser.
The photo above is based on this piece of the survey. Here's the number breakdown for use: AOL 6%, Internet Explorer 83%, Mozilla Firefox 9%, and Safari 2%. Preferred browser tell a slightly different story: AOL 6%, Internet Explorer 75%, Mozilla Firefox 14%, and Safari 4%. I think there's a simple reason for this (based on my experience). I hate to use Internet Explorer, but up until we recently changed MLS systems, I could only use Internet Explorer. Many of the applications that are designed for real estate are designed around Explorer. I think there's a shift coming. I know am able to use MAC OSX with Firefox for everything (except my GE Surpakey cradle, which only works in Windows). You can see that although Firefox is only used 9%, it takes a 5% jump to 14% when you talk about whether or not they would "prefer to use it." Internet Explorer users who prefer to use it takes a slight decline and Safari goes up. I think if more programs were written to accommodate all browsers, we could see a greater shift in these numbers.
Well there you have it, my view of some of the survery's findings. What did you find interesting in the survey?
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