Are you the best real estate agent in the world? I bet you are, but if no one else knows about it, you’re still not going to have much business. In fact, marketing is a critical part of any Realtor’s job description, and yet one that is sometimes conducted in an unfocused and haphazard fashion.
So, in part one of this blog, I brought you a host of statistics about the state of marketing for real estate agents. Today, we’re going to still talk about marketing, but flip the script and look at the stats, facts, and data for home buying and selling consumers.
I hope this will help you get more listings, work with more homebuyers, and have the best year of your career!
Let’s start with a depressing fact about consumers and their real estate agents: Did you know that 70% of all homebuyers forget their real estate agent after just one year?
How are homebuyers searching for homes? BY now, you know that the answer is “The Internet.” In fact, 80% of all buyers are searching for their next home online.
Consumers aren’t only searching for their next home on the Internet – they’re finding them! In fact, 56% of buyers age 36 or younger found the home they purchased on the Internet, while 50% of buyers ages 37 to 51 years did the same. In total, 44% of current homebuyers purchased a home they found with the help of the Internet.
Our shifting technological trends don’t only mean we’re going online to find homes, but that we’re going online on our mobile devices to do so. In fact, 58% of Millennials, 46% Generation X, and 33% of Younger Boomers found their home on a mobile device.
Currently, the typical homebuyer uses their mobile device to search for homes on websites, scroll through photos of For Sale homes, pull up more information about properties, and even request more information from an agent.
83% of all home buyers want to see pictures of the property online, and video tours perform even better.
After finding a home on the Internet, consumers took these actions:
45% Walked through a home they viewed online
29% Located a real estate agent through that online home sear
21% Dropped by or drove by the home to see it in person.
Since the Generation Y accounts for 68% of all first time home buyers, Realtors need to make sure that their online marketing is up to speed, including being optimized for mobile use.
There are other compelling reasons to get on board with new technology. According to surveys, Realtors report that they use technology the most to:
- To conduct business on the go
- To be able to impress clients
While impressing clients is always important, there are more practical uses of mobile technology. For instance, Realtors use their mobile devices:
94% To communicate with clients
68% To take photos
61% To read real estate news
41% To manage documents
35% Customer relationship management
In fact, the typical Realtor now spends about 44% of his or her time doing business on/with the help of their mobile device, and 80% of all social media activity will occur on a mobile device in 2018! So, it’s no wonder why the average real estate agent spends $845 on new technology every year, from websites to new smartphones and much more.
Ok, back to consumers since I promised you that we’d focus on homebuyer and seller behaviors in this blog. Your future clients are looking on their smartphones and mobile devices not only to search real estate websites and check emails, but to look up real estate information on social media.
To fill that consumer need, 91% of Realtors are currently using social media to some extent. However, there is far too much blurring of business and personal on social media for real estate agents, as only 30% have dedicated social media accounts that are active.
Only 43% of real estate agents use social media for prospecting, and only 64% – or two out of every three – use social media for marketing. Even more alarming, only 9% of Realtors are now using social media to market their listings!
But before you go to build a new business Facebook page and start posting tons of content, you have to be discerning with what you post (and when and why) to really make an impact with consumers.
About one out of every two Facebook users never visit a real estate agent or company’s page after first “liking” it.
43% of people who unlike or unfollow a real estate professional’s page do so because of too much overt advertising and sales messages.
In fact, the real estate industry ranks lowest in social media engagement of any major industry, with an average of only 0.45 interactions per week on social media.
Can you use some of this data about consumers to shift your online marketing and attract new prospects?
Look for a new blog coming soon where we cover the pros and cons of the different social media platforms for Realtors – and the one social media account you MUST have in 2018 and beyond!
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