Do buyers search the Internet for "Property" or for "Real Estate Agents"? This question from one of our customers drove me to do a little research on searches and I did come up with some very interesting information. Following is a chart that displays estimated clicks per day for some popular areas. This data was accumulated from Googles AdWords traffic estimator so is not 100% accurate but still gives us an idea. The searches are broken down into property specific searches and real estate agent specific searches.
As you can see the property specific searches are much greater then real estate agent searches. This tells us that more Internet searches are being done for property then for Agents. This doesn't mean buyers are not looking for Agents but instead probably looking for property and when they find a property that interests them they will contact the Agent associated with the property.
Look at San Diego and San Francisco "property" searches compared to "real estate agent" searches. WOW!
Want my suggestions? ADVERTISE YOUR LISTINGS! Get your listings on the Internet and make sure your listings have your contact information. Your chances are greater that more buyers will find you from your listings rather then buyers searching for Agents. It's fairly simple to create listing ads and have them syndicated to online directories and search engines. A good listing ad will have your contact information or an easy way for the buyer to contact you for more information. Many Agents even have their listings on their website. If each of your listings on your website have their own page I suggest highly optimize each of your listing pages so they can be found on the Internet for searches that relate to your individual listings.
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Go Smart Solutions, LLC |
Great Information!
Very True. The more listings you have the more guaranteed hits you will have to your website. Many people searching already have an agent but like the control they have of looking for properties themselves. As everyone knows buyers don't always know themselves what they want and certainly don't always define those parameters to us as realtors because they don't know themselves what they want until they see it.
Most people aren't searching for the right realtor, but the right property. If they are looking for the right realtor than they are more than likely going to ask a friend. That is where a good referral system works well.
Misty,
While I agree that searches will show that buyers search for homes more than for agents. What I tend to find is people generally search the internet for homes whether they have an agent already or not. I believe most people will use the internet to look at properties and either know someone in real estate, already have and agent or make phone calls to local companies to find an agent. So reports like this really don't paint a clear picture. Now if you could collect all the facts from everyone online, you might get a clearer picture, but the consumer would not give you all the answers needed to create a good report.
The other skewing factor to this, is a lot of agents will go to websites to view homes that their clients are interested in to try and get more information for their clients. Have you ever had a client call and say, " I found this home on XYZ website, but it doesn't show the address. Can you look at it and tell me more or if it is available?"
Mike - great points and what you are suggesting is actually what I have done in the past. I searched online and then contacted my Agent with properties I found.
From a buyers standpoint, I personally hate it when the property address is not on a listing. I understand why Agents do this but honestly if a listing doesn't have an address, photos or the most important info (beds, baths, price, sqfeet) I move onto other properties that do have this info. Maybe thats just me.
Misty,
This just confirms what I already knew. People are internet savvy and are just searching for information.
David Soto - Thanks. We work hard to achieve the page 1 ranking for flyers and are continually adding new directories. Thanks for the kind feedback.
Leesa - Thanks for the feedback. Yes keeping your listings up to date is important.
GITA and Karen - Good points regarding sellers look for "Real Estate Agents" online. That is why AR is so important.
Mike - Thanks for the information. 95% is very confirming. Do you by chance know have a web link to the NAR study?
Last year, 85% of my transactions came from referrals by my database. I, also, post my listings onine and in print. I think you need to do as much as you can, to make your listings and yourself, visible. Blogs will be a good tool, too!
It's a Good Life!
Fran
Julie - Yes I agree that many buyers find their Agent based on a listing of that Agents they found. This is how we found our Agent and we have used her for 2 homes and referred her to 3 friends.
Debbie - I don't think that. At least not from my standpoint. I look to my Realtor as someone who can give me honest feedback, area information, if the price is right, etc. I like the fact that I can find homes I want online, drive by them and then contact my Realtor. It saves me a ton of time and allows me to show my Realtor what I really want rather then having my Realtor guess and drive me around to a ton of homes she thinks I may be interested in. I value my Realtor because she has been honest with me. On one occasion I was looking at a home I liked and she flat out told me that it was way over-priced and then proceeded to point out all the reasons why. All of the things she pointed out I would never have thought of on my own. I value my Realtor for her experience and knowledge and that to me is way more valuable then having her spend her time looking for property she thinks I may like.