REALTOR®: Home Buyers Say Real Estate Agent Provides More Useful Information than Internet, according to C.A.R. Survey
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
An annual survey reveals despite heavier use of the Internet, home buyers ultimately get more information from their real estate agent than they do from the Internet. Also, declining home prices, coupled with low interest rates, prompted more home buyers to purchase a home in 2008 compared with last year, according to the California Association of REALTORS® "2008 Survey of California Home Buyers."
The C.A.R. survey says the Internet continues to be an integral part of the home-buying process, but home buyers surveyed said they still relied on an agent for more information when searching for a home. Seventy-eight percent of buyers in 2008 utilized the Internet to search for a new home and find a real estate agent, compared with 72 percent in 2007. Those who did not use the Internet during the home-buying process decreased from 28 percent in 2007 to 22 percent in 2008.
More time was spent with the real agent in 2008. Both Internet and traditional buyers spent considerably more time searching for a home with their agent than in previous years, a reflection of the variety of home choices available in today's market. Internet buyers spent an average of 8.3 weeks looking for a home with their agent, an increase from 5.2 weeks in 2007, and nearly quadruple the number of weeks from two years earlier when Internet buyers spent 2.2 weeks looking for a home. Those buyers that did not use the Internet spent 10.3 weeks looking for a home with their agent, compared with eight weeks in 2007. These traditional buyers also visited nearly twice as many homes with their agent, averaging 23.3 homes, compared with Internet buyers, who visited 12.7 homes.
William Brown, president of the California Association of REALTORS®, indicated the Internet "has solidified the relationship between REALTORS® and home buyers."
According to the survey, 72 percent of home buyers either "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that using the Internet helped them better understand the role of real estate agents, and increased their appreciation for real estate professionals and how key they are in the home-buying process. More than half of Internet buyers thought the information their real estate agent provided was more useful than the information they gathered on the Internet. None of the Internet buyers reported the information they found on the Internet was more useful than the information provided by their real estate agent.
The survey also reveals price declines encouraged 69 percent of all home buyers to buy a home, while 40 percent of home buyers said it was low interest rates that enabled them to move to a better location. Seventy-seven percent of first-time home buyers said lower home prices played a critical role in their decision to purchase a home.
"The housing market has confronted headwinds on several fronts since early 2007," said Brown. "As the housing market dropped sharply from record sales levels set in 2004 and 2005, and prices began to soften, home buyers dramatically changed their attitudes and behaviors towards home buying and adapted to the new housing environment."
The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.
The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers.
For further information, please email or call the SILVAR office at (408) 200-0100.
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