Earlier this year, The Minnesota Association of REALTORS® shared some very interesting survey data regarding Minnesota home buyers, and this is a great venue to share the findings with you. If you’re a buyer or even more so, a seller, we think you’ll find this interesting.
As a company, we are always trying to determine where consumers frequent for real estate information. We know that in the last few years the answer to that question has drastically changed. The results of this survey showed that the Internet is far and away the leader now (with 70% of consumers stating they seek information “frequently” from the Internet), with newspapers (11%) and open house signs (16%) falling dramatically.
One of the greatest examples we have witnessed is a significant drop in lakeshore being advertised in the Sunday Start Tribune classifieds. It was once a regular activity in our office on Sundays to have calls off those ads and even folks stopping in with the ad in hand, looking for a map and more information. Today’s buyers are showing that they prefer the convenience of the Internet, the ability to search at all hours and find a wealth of information like numerous photos, virtual tours, aerials and more before even seeing a property in person or contacting anyone about it. This simple fact has drastically changed our approach to marketing.
The following chart shows where Minnesota home buyers found the home they purchased in 2007.
The National Association of REALTORS® has tracked this figure since 1997, when the real estate agent was 50% and the Internet was 2%. The National figure today is 34% real estate agent and 29% Internet. More buyers in our state are using the Internet to find their next home than in other parts of the country!
This survey helped solidify some decisions we had already made as a company to focus our marketing efforts on the Internet: offering a locally-focused web site with useful tools and a format that was enjoyable and easy to use. We have also increased the number of Open Houses we do, by putting together “like-property” tours atleast twice a month, flooding specific target areas with our signs. By opening more homes at once that are similar, each home gets more visitors than it would have had open alone. And it’s continuing to work – open house visitors have increased in the last weeks of July and we’re looking forward to organizing some even larger tours in August and September. Watch our web site and the blog for more information in the coming weeks.
Information courtesy of REALTOR Magazine and the NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers survey.
