Where Buyers Found The Home They Purchased

In every industry an incredible amount of research is conducted every year for the purpose of marketing products. Real estate is not the exception. The National Association of Realtors conducts a major marketing study every year. I recently read the most recent release, “The 2006 National Association of Realtors profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.” It was the first time I read the report and it was very interesting. The report was conducted by interviewing over 7,500 home buyers and sellers in 2006. The most interesting part of the report to me deals with Marketing.

I have been a Realtor selling homes in the Phoenix metro area since 1995. I was raised by Realtors (mom, dad, aunt, sister, step dad, grandmother) so I have been exposed to this industry since being a child. I looked to the report for answers about MARKETING homes for sale. Where is the best place to invest my time, money and effort to expose the home to more buyers? In the report there is a section about buyers titled “Where Buyer Found The Home They Purchased.” I found this most interesting. It supported what I had been taught, my experience told me and what most industry experts say. One must understand what the National Association of Realtors was looking for. It wanted to determine where the buyer was FIRST exposed to the home, whether they bought it on their own, through their agent, from the listing agent, from a builder or even from the seller directly. The report states the following:


Where Buyer Found The Home They Purchased

(Where)--------------------------(Study)------------(Remove Builder & FSBO)

Real estate agent --------------------36% ----------------40%

Internet ----------------24% ----------------27%

Yard Sign ----------------15% ----------------17%

Referral by friend or family ----------------8% ----------------9%

Builder ----------------8% -------------------

Print advertisement ----------------6% ----------------7%

Seller directly/knew the seller ----------------3% -------------------N/A



When discussing residential resale we can take two of those categories out of the mix. That is Builder and knew the seller, because we are not dealing with new homes or For Sale By Owner homes (FSBO). FYI, did you know 42% of homes sold as a FSBO are sold to a friend or family member.

I created another set of numbers by removing both builder purchases and FSBO transactions. That would give us a better picture for the residential resale market, which affects me and my clients.

What I think is most important is the growth of home buyers finding their home on the internet. If you really think about it, most of the homes designated as “Real estate agent” are also Internet. Why? When I work with my buyers I email them a link directly into the internet for them to search or I search the internet to find homes for them. Therefore, somewhere close to 67% of buyers are first exposed to the home they buy through the Internet. The research shows 17% are from the Yard Sign. I have experienced this fact over and over. The reality is most of our sales where we represent both the buyer and seller are from sign calls. Next is referral by friend or family. This is why it is important to send us those referrals. Lastly is Print newspaper, magazine or advertisements with 7%. The public construes this as meaning the local paper when in fact it is 100’s of different Lead Generation periodicals combined.

Here at The Cameron Team we focus our marketing efforts towards the most effective advertising to reach the most buyers. Call me anytime for a FREE Total Market Overview and to learn about the most effective marketing in today's market.