According to the National Association of Realtors 2003 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, it is the first time in real estate marketing history that more buyers have turned to the Internet than their local newspapers to find a home. Two-thirds of homebuyers in the first half of 2003 used the Internet to search for a home while only 49 percent of buyers reported using newspapers. What does that mean to Realtors and their marketing strategies?

It means it is time to take Internet marketing of listings more seriously.

Homebuyers are turning to the Internet to look at homes (93 percent) and to get neighborhood information (22 percent.)

In 2003, 41 percent of home buyers found the home they purchased through a real estate agent. Sixteen percent found their homes through a yard sign, and eleven percent found their homes through the Internet. These are important changes from 1997 when 50 percent of homebuyers found their homes through agents, seventeen percent through yard signs and two percent through the Internet.

While it appears that the Internet is stealing thunder from the agent, consider this - nearly 90 percent of Internet searchers also used an agent to find a home, and 18 percent found their agent online.

It's obvious that homebuyers are using the Internet to preview homes. Buyers told the NAR that the two features they look for in a real estate Web site are photos and property information. Seventy-eight percent found photos useful, and 77 percent found property information useful. Forty-seven percent of buyers found virtual tours to be useful. So useful in fact, that the buyers took action - 72 percent actually drove by or looked at a home they found online, 46 percent walked through the home, and 18 percent found an agent online. While it isn't spelled out in the survey, it is safe to say that most or at least a large percentage of those lucky agents were found because of online listings.

And how is the real estate industry responding? By putting up lousy-looking listings with as little information to move the sale along as possible.

While this is an unscientific assessment, a perusal of sites as diverse as Realtor.com, the local MLS public view Website, and a selection of Realtor Websites in Dallas, the ninth largest metro area in the nation, shows that as many as one third of listings don't have basic photos, and less than ten percent have virtual tours or multiple photos.

With the availability and expediency of digital photography, there is simply no excuse for this. If a broker can put a listing on his/her Website as soon as the listing agreement is signed, a photo of some kind should be there, too.

This contrast is made all the more obvious by the sharp-looking presentations done by some online Realtors, where there are plenty of photos, the listing remarks are well-phrased and correctly spelled, and there is plenty of property and neighborhood information for the buyer.

It's understandable if the agent wants to give some time to the homeowner to clean up, but there's bound to be a view of something that could go online right away. The homeowner should be told that once the listing agreement is in place, that MLS rules state that the marketing to other MLS members must begin within a certain time frame - usually about three days. In three days, can't the homeowner cut the grass, clear off the porch and at least let the front-door view of the home get photographed?

Marketing without photographs isn't marketing. In fact, according to Realtor.com, Internet shoppers pass over listings without photos, so the longer the homeseller and listing agent delay, the worse for the seller.

There's also a time-lag in many communities to get virtual tours completed. In some areas, due to lack of service providers, it can be days or weeks before a virtual tour is ordered, completed, and posted to the Web. Well, that’s unavoidable if a professional service is the only way to get a virtual tour ordered, but that doesn’t mean the listing agent can’t go to plan B. Can't the listing agent, an assistant, the broker or somebody get out to the house with a digital camera, and take some shots?

The lack of photo enhancements wouldn’t be so bad if the problem didn’t go on and on. Most of the listings that didn’t have photos weeks ago, still don’t have photos. Does the listing agent have something better to do than to market the listing s/he already has under listing agreement?

The marketing of single-family homes is deplorable, but heaven help the customer who wants to look at townhomes or condominiums. The same building view pops up over and over. What in the world makes any agent think that is helpful to the buyer? Can't Realtors take a hint from apartment listing sites and include a floor plan or at least multiple photos of the interior, community pool and grounds?

And speaking of property information, is there any reason why HOA fees and what they cover are seldom included? Aren't community fees that can impact a monthly payment by as much as several hundred dollars important to a buyer? Most agents leave them off because they don't want to startle the buyer - like it's better to startle them later? Explaining what the HOA fees cover doesn't have to be bad news - it can help make the sale. A several hundred dollar per month fee doesn't sound so bad when it is explained that it includes all exterior maintenance, water bills, and insurance, for example.

And that "no room to put more information" excuse doesn't fly, particularly in areas with a high concentration of multi-family housing stock. Any MLS software can be modified to allow the expansion of listing features. That is what it is for. If you want a field that provides a space about what the HOA fees cover, it is possible to have it. Just make the request of your MLS.

Either a broker and agent are part of the problem or part of the solution. If you want to be the agent that 18 percent of 75 percent of homebuyers in the U.S. finds online, you’ll have a much better chance if you take the time to enhance your listings with photos, property and neighborhood information.

In fact, you can use your prowess on the Net to knock your competition out of the running. The next listing presentation you go on, be sure to show your seller how you present listings online, and how quickly you get them to the marketplace. Then go to your browser and show your seller some of your competition's listings - how they've been on the market for four weeks with no photos, no enhancements, and no interest from buyers.

There's a reason why many agents are so neglectful of Internet marketing - they still see it as secondary advertising, when all the new NAR data says they are wrong.

Judging by the number of agents who still heavily invest in newspaper marketing of listings, it stands to reason that they are still convincing sellers that newspapers help sell listings. They do, but by quite a bit less than the Internet. In fact, less than 7 percent of homebuyers bought the home they found in the newspaper, while 11 percent bought the home they found on the Internet, and that figure is doubling every two years, according to the NAR.

Blow your competition away by showing the seller how listings should be handled on the Internet.

Brokers, don't settle for any excuses when it comes to why your company's listings don't have photos. If the agent had time to get the listing, s/he had time to snap a pic while at the seller's home.

Don't let your competition show the next seller what a lousy job your company does with Internet listings.