Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
An interesting article in RISMedia looked at the profile of home buyers and sellers in a survey that was recently released by the National Association of Realtors. The report polled consumers about their experience when selling a home and it yielded a number of facts that are worth bearing in mind.
It revealed that nearly half of people selling a home were trading up to buy something bigger and costlier, and some 59% chose to buy a newer home. The typical home seller had lived in their current home for nine years, a figure that has increased over the past few years. In 2007 the typical homeowner lived in their property for just six years. Most were assisted in the sale by a real estate agent, and sellers typically achieved 97% of the listing price, although nearly half reported that they had to reduce the asking price at least once. Some 13% of sellers had to delay putting their property on the market due to the fact that their mortgage was worth more than the value of their home. A little more than a third of sellers offered potential home buyers incentives such as help with closing costs and home warranty policies.
Just 9% of sellers chose to sell their home without the assistance of a real estate agent, and out of these 40% already knew the person buying their home. Nearly half of those who sold their home without the assistance of a real estate agent chose to do so as they did not want to pay a commission or fee. Around one third of those who chose to sell their property themselves did not actively market their home, and nearly 2/3 didn't offer any additional incentives to attract buyers. The typical price achieved for an agent assisted home sale was $230,000 whereas the typical sold by the owner achieved just $184,000.
Nearly half of those looking to buy a home began their search online, and some 14% of would-be buyers looked for information about the home buying process on the Internet. Overall the use of the Internet when searching for a new property has risen to 92%. Most buyers viewed real estate agents as being a useful source of information when searching for a new property. Buyers typically spent approximately 12 weeks searching for a new home, and would view 10 homes during this time. More than half of buyers found this part of the process the most difficult. Satisfaction rates were high, as approximately 90% reported they were somewhat satisfied with the whole process of buying a new home.
