What do 90% of Buyers Use to Search for Homes?

Seller

The 2009 National Association of Realtor Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers came up with some important information if you are wishing to sell your home.

•They found that 90% of all buyers used the internet to search for homes.
•84% of Buyers reported the photos to be the most useful information
•Then the number one action taken after viewing a home online was to drive by or visit the home.
•Only 3% of Buyers found the home they purchased in a print ad.
•85% of sellers sold their home with an Agent. (Thus 15% sold by themselves).
So what does this mean?

#1 You must have an internet presence.

Not just on one website. Not just on the real estate broker website. But on the all the major real estate websites out there. If not you are missing out on 90% of the buyers. If you are focusing on print advertising you are only going after 3% of the buyers.

#2 You Must Have Great Pictures

There is no excuse for bad pictures with digital cameras. I know I often take 100 photos of a house just to get 20 - 40 photos that look good. Your Realtor shouldn't be using a simple point and click camera. You want to see a professional camera with slave flash to know your home will be caught in the best light. If you are unsure then check out your realtor's other homes online.

#3 Hits on Your Home on the Website is A Major Measuring Factor

In the good old days or just the old days, Buyers couldn't see what your interior looked like with out touring the home. So we had more showings and more feedback to give to the seller. Now, Buyers see your entire home inside & out along with your neighbors home and every other home that is your competition. Then, if it beats out the competition the Buyer will come ride by your home to see if it really looks like the picture online and to check out your neighborhood. So we don't have the plentitude of showings and feedback to give to our sellers as compared to the past.

So in order to gauge the market, you must be made aware of how many visits your are getting on your home online in order to determine the ongoing success of your sale:

•If you are getting low or no hits on your home on the website then Buyers are deciding not to explore your home because all the other homes in the same price range look like a better value.
•If you are getting a good number of hits on your home's website, but you are not getting the showing activity that should come from interested buyers then either there was something on the interior pictures that the buyer did not like or something in the neighborhood that they saw when they drove by that they did not like. If your home is staged then it is a neighborhood factor that you can't do anything about. This may require a price adjustment.
Do You want a 85% Chance to Sell Your Home or 15% Chance? Choice is Yours.

85% of Sellers used an agent to sell their home. While everybody likes to save money, it is not a real savings at all if you don't sell your home because you tried to save by selling it yourself.

If you were in Las Vegas and you were told you have 85% chance of winning hundreds of thousands of dollars or you can win 4% - 7% more (real estate commission savings) but you only have a 15% chance of doing so, which would you do?