Reading through the 2008 Realtor Technology Report.

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?