Real Estate Marketing Tips

Learn what it takes to build a successful online marketing campaign and start leveraging the Internet's potential today.

The Internet Homebuyer Profile

Internet Homebuyers will go through three distinct stages in their home buying process. During each of these stages they will be looking online for content specific to the stage they're in. For realtors, a good understanding of this process will help them make the most of their internet leads.

Stage One - Getting My Feet Wet

The first stage is called getting my feet wet because buyers are really not ready to make a purchase quite yet but are in the planning stages. During this stage home buyers are gathering a lot of information about surrounding areas, home prices and mortgages. During this stage they're not working with any realtors, and rely heavily on the internet for answers to many of their questions. Since they are looking for a lot of information and don't have a realtor this is the ideal stage to capture their interest with your website. However, if your website doesn't have a broad range of content the buyer likely won't spend enough time on your website to make the connection with you and the services you have to offer.

Stage Two - Let the Search Begin

The second stage occurs when the home buyer feels confident in the decision to purchase a home and the only detail left is finding their dream home. Many internet buyers at this stage may have contacted a realtor for finer details on a listing, but are most likely not working with a realtor seriously. Today the internet gives these buyers the ability to quickly see new listings in the areas they are interested in narrowed down to a particular zip code and neighborhood. In fact many services on the internet like ZipRealty.com offer buyers the ability to see new listings matching pre-defined search criteria in their email box. During this stage the home buyer will look at many listings online, trying to find a match in both the physical and aesthetic aspects they.re searching for. Realtors with a great web site lucky enough to have captured the buyers. attention in stage one, will likely benefit during this stage with calls from eager Internet home buyers wishing to see the homes they've found online.

Stage Three - Show Me My Dream Home

The third stage is where the Internet home buyer has made appointments with realtors to see listings they.ve found online in stage two. Realtors will notice a big difference between the internet home buyer and the traditional home buyer during this stage. In the "2005 Internet Vs. Traditional Buyer Survey, published by the California Association of Realtors, the traditional home buyer spent 7 weeks searching for a home with an agent and viewing 14.5 homes. By contrast, internet homebuyers devoted more time to research and spent only 2 weeks working with an agent and viewing 6.2 homes.

Conclusion

The most likely stage at which an Internet homebuyer will get in contact with a realtor is when they want to take a look at a home they saw online. Since these buyers are most likely very close to putting an offer in on a home, it is very important for a realtor to quickly respond to any requests for more information. These buyers are use to quick answers from the Internet, and likely will not wait to long for you to call them back. Instead they will contact the listing agent directly or find another realtor online.