Everything You Need to Know From the 2018 NAR Buyer and Seller Report
These days, the importance of online marketing in real estate is taken as a given. You'll find vague statements about it all over the place:"With more buyers searching online...." Or, "In the age of internet sales...."What's rarer to find is hard facts about the ways people are searching for and buying homes today. That's why we love it when the National Association of Realtors issues its annual trend reports. They have a stake in getting their information right, and use surveys taken of buyers and sellers to compile their research.What'd they find this year? Here are a few of the visual marketing insights we pulled from their report:
- As their first step in the home buying process, 42% of buyers looked online for properties for sale. That's a big jump over the next most popular step, which was contacting a real estate agent at 17%.
- 95% of buyers used an online website as a source in their home-buying process. The internet was the most used source. Realtors were in second at 89%, while 74% used a mobile or tablet search device...which is basically internet, too!
- 49% of buyers eventually purchased a home they found by searching online. 31% found their "winning" property through a realtor, but only 7% found it through a for sale sign or an open house.
- Online searching wasn't a dead end for most buyers, either. 63% of buyers walked through a property they viewed on the internet. 43% at least went by for a look at the exterior.
- Of the information available about properties online, 89% of buyers said that photos were the most valuable. Floor plans and virtual tours also earned high percentages (51 and 48%, respectively).
For people like us, who constantly want to make sure we're providing the most valuable service possible, the NAR report is incredibly affirmative. If online searches play such a big role for buyers, and photos, tours, and floorplans are some of the most important things online...well, it means our work is helping REALTORS sell!The full report is available here. If you market real estate, you may want to read the whole thing! When it comes to the value of visual marketing, it's pretty persuasive.Prefer photos to numbers and words? We'll leave you with a few we find convincing. Visit our photo archives for more or contact us to set up your own real estate shoot!
