Once a year, the National Association of REALTORS® conducts a survey of home sellers and home buyers in order to determine the methodologies and experiences of buyers and sellers in the real estate market. Each year we get to study this report to look for changes and trends in the housing market that will allow us (real estate professionals) to do a better marketing job when helping people sell a home.
This year’s survey points out two key trends that homeowners need to understand if they want to attract a buyer for their home. You see, the first step in selling a home is to figure out who (demographically speaking) will be most likely buying it, and then stage the home in an effort to attract that type of home buyer.
Key Buyer Trends In The Real Estate Market
Two key trends that the NAR consumer survey revealed are that first-time home buyers are an increasing part of the buyer pool, and they intend to remain in the house for a longer period of time than buyers in the past intended. The survey showed that first-time buyers have increased in the market in each of the last two years.
I also think that we will see this trend continue in next year’s survey, as most of this 2008 survey data was completed mid-year, long before the financial markets busted and the new FHA loan programs appeared. The temporary first-time home buyer tax credit should also bring a flood of new first-time home buyers into the market, so home sellers need to prepare for nearly 1 in every 2 shoppers in the buyers pool to be looking for their first home.
Home Buyers Planning On Staying Longer
Another key finding of the NAR survey found that today’s home buyers are planning on owning the home at least ten years. This move away from “disposable” housing will require home owners who want to sell a home to consider what this will mean to a buyer. A key question for home sellers to ask is “does my home look like the kind of place people want to live in for a long, long time?” If not, changes need to be made in order to sell the home!
Where Do Home Buyers Come From?
This question is the one that real estate marketing companies ask themselves all the time. During the survey, home buyers were asked how they found the home that they eventually purchased. The following real estate graph shows their responses.
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Internet Marketing Is The Key To Find Home Buyers
I think it is key to note that over 80% of home buyers found a home to buy from their real estate professional, the internet, or a sign in the yard. With less than 4% of buyers coming from newspapers and magazines, you shouldn’t be surprised to find that our marketing budget at Century 21 First Realty has moved to the internet!
Internet visitors to the Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site were over 31,000 in the month of November (compared to less than 900 for two of the larger real estate companies in Tallahassee). This push to grab the internet savvy buyers has now been confirmed by the NAR study as the current marketing medium of choice for people who want to sell a home in today’s real estate market.
The key for any great real estate company is to read the NAR study and apply it to help home buyers and home sellers with all of their real estate needs. Today’s real estate market is going through quite a bit of turmoil, so every bit of information that we can get can only help us do a better job.
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Looks like first time homebuyers are an important part of the market.