Realty Times: Home Buyers Name Preferred Sources For Realtors, Listings, Mortgages

August 18, 1999

Home Buyers Name Preferred Sources For Realtors, Listings, Mortgages
by Broderick Perkins

LOS ANGELES: California's Web-surfing home buyers are smarter, richer, younger, single men who are down right picky about choosing a REALTOR® and a home, compared to those who don't use the Web to seek shelter, according to a study by the California Association of Realtors® (CAR). And, what could be a wake up call for realty industry practices on the Web, Californians browsing for housing, prefer real estate company Web sites over all others for two of their primary realty transaction needs.

Both to find real estate agents and to find homes for sale, Web-based home buyers chose real estate company Web sites over all others -- including CAR's own California Living Network, the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) Realtor.com and other large realty sites, including Microsoft's HomeAdvisor and Cyberhomes.com, according to CAR's survey, "A Profile of the Internet Buyer," released Aug. 17.

California's first

The Golden State's first major study of home shopping on the Internet reveals an ultra-savvy, high-paid and educated consumer who turns to the Web both to save time (which is money) and to learn more about what's likely to be his or her most expensive purchase ever.

"Buyers using the Internet spend significantly less time and resources in the home buying process than do traditional buyers," said Diana Bull, president the California real estate association. California is the home of Silicon Valley, the nation's foremost high-tech center where much of the Internet's technology is developed.

"Internet buyers are likely to spend only half the time -- two and a half months -- compared to traditional buyers from the time they select a REALTOR until their home purchase decision," Bull added.

CAR's survey, conducted during the second quarter of this year, examined the differences between Internet home buyers and non-Net buyers, tracked Internet sites visited as part of the home-buying process and compiled demographic information of both Internet and traditional home buyers.

Additional highlights

Among the findings for California home buyers on and off the Web:

On the average, each California home buyer visits only two Web sites for mortgage information. The most common were iOwn.com, at 61 percent, E-Loan, at 52 percent and individual mortgage companies, at 46 percent. Not all consumers visited the same two sites.

In addition to using the Internet to search for real estate firms, REALTORSŽ and homes for sale, Net shoppers used the Web to gather information about home financing and down payments (71 percent), to learn about specific neighborhoods (69 percent), to learn about cities and areas where they are relocating (61 percent), and to prequalify for a loan (58 percent).

When compared to technophobes and others who don't shop the Net, Web shoppers are more likely to have four-year or post-graduate college degree, to be single men at the median age of 32, to earn a median $125,000 a year and to work in managerial, professional and executive positions, or as business owners or the self-employed.

They also pay a median price of $450,000 for a home, compared to $300,000 for those who don't shop for homes on the Web.

Web shoppers are also more prepared to deal with the home buying process and more likely to understand affordability issues and housing options. They rely on the Net for information about homes for sale more than those who don't shop on the net and their REALTOR is plugged in.

Internet buyers reported that their REALTOR used six technological tools in the home buying process including e-mail (100 percent), a Web site (100 percent), Internet listings (97 percent), updating on home closing by e-mail (67 percent) and an individual Web site (64 percent). "If time is the currency of the '90s, then homebuyers using the Internet are making a very sound investment," said Leslie Appleton-Young, CAR's vice president and chief economist.

Editor's Note: This survey included 300 Internet buyers and 300 Internet buyers, who were interviewed by telephone in May and June. The survey had a margin of error of 5.8 percentage points.

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