In a mood of curiosity, I searched “real estate blog” in the Google toolbar. At the top of the organic list was http://houseblogger.typepad.com/ , Tim O’Keefe’s Real Estate Marketing blog.
Some attributed nuggets:
1. Eight out of ten buyers who used the Internet to find a home, used an agent to help complete the transaction.
2. A September 2006 survey of consumers by Discover Small Business Watch found that 61 % of home sellers said they would prefer the services of an agent versus only 4 percent who said they would prefer an online service to help sell their homes. (What about the other 35 percent???)
3.The faster you get to being human with a prospect, the faster you will create more sales. (In other words, call those internet leads and put a friendly, approachable voice to your links and written words.)
4. “People buying a home do more research online than people selling a home,” said Sastry Rachakonda, director, Discover Business Card.
5. “People selling a home aren’t looking for information necessarily, they are looking for buyers, and getting them buyers is what they expect from real estate agents,” he concluded.From these points, we might simplistically conclude that our real estate websites should be very buyer and user-friendly --with good capture rates.
I believe sellers want the reassurance that we have potential buyers for their homes and the proof of that is in our databases. Tim's blog is certainly worth a visit!
Good stuff Roberta. I'll have to check it out.
What portion of your business is generated by your online activities?
PS - I've become a regular snooper of your post!
...Ah good I got a peach this time...
Roberta,
I agree....referrals are strong or repeat clients. But it is cool when you get a client from your web page. I settled on my first client from my web page about 4 months ago and I have had a few since then.
How could one find out about information in regards to people searching for mortgages online. I know it's a strong number. I have been trying to tap into the market for a few years now. And just trying to find the best avenues.
jbelonger@e-americanmortgage.com
thanks,
jeff