According to the California Association of Realtors' "2005 Internet Versus Traditional Buyers Survey," Internet and traditional buyers have significant differences in how they use the Internet.

Internet buyers were defined by the survey as those, "who used the Internet as a significant part of the homebuying process." They conducted more research online, at the onset of the homebuying process, while traditional buyers relied more on their agent as their primary source of information. Overall, Internet buyers were younger, better educated, and had larger incomes than traditional buyers. And more Internet buyers were first-timers, while traditional buyers tended to be repeat buyers.

Details of these findings are as follows:

• The median age of Internet buyers was 39 years compared with a median of 46 years for traditional buyers.

• More than nine out of ten Internet buyers were married, while eight of ten traditional buyers were married.

• 85 percent of Internet buyers had at least a four-year college degree and 11 percent completed post-graduate work. By comparison, 78 percent of traditional buyers held a college degree and 4 percent completed post-graduate work.

• Internet buyers had an annual income of $185,088, compared with $151,190 for traditional buyers.

• Internet buyers spent an average of 5.8 weeks considering buying a home before contacting a Realtor®, nearly three times more than traditional buyers, who spent 2.1 weeks in this stage of the homebuying process.

• Internet buyers spent two weeks looking for the home they ultimately purchased, compared with seven weeks for traditional buyers.

• All first-time buyers typically spent four weeks considering buying a home and four weeks investigating homes for sale before contacting a Realtor. They then spent three weeks previewing eight homes with their Realtor.

• All repeat buyers spent three weeks considering buying a home, and only two weeks investigating homes for sale on their own. They spent five weeks previewing ten homes with their Realtor.

Interestingly, C.A.R. found that Internet buyers and traditional buyers behaved differently.

• 87 percent of Internet homebuyers started using the Internet before looking for a specific home.

• Internet buyers spent 5.8 weeks online before contacting an agent, while traditional buyers contacted a buyer at 2.1 weeks.

• Internet buyers spend 4.7 weeks investigating homes, and neighborhoods, before contacting an agent, while traditional buyers spent 1.6 weeks.

• Yet, when Internet buyers shopped for homes with an agent, they took only two weeks before selecting a home, while traditional buyers took seven weeks.

• Because the Internet allows buyers to preview homes, a typical Internet buyer only viewed 6.2 homes with their agent, while traditional buyers visited 14.5 homes.

• 82 percent of Internet buyers used a real estate agent.

• Nine out of ten Internet buyers found their agents through an online real estate listing site; 60 percent found their agent through Internet search engines such as Yahoo! or Google. 12 percent used agents they had worked with previously.

• Traditional buyers found their agents through for-sale signs (47 percent). Half (47 percent) found their agents through agent advertising. One quarter (26 percent) of agents were referred by friends and family, and 19 percent had a previous transaction with their agent.

• Internet buyers typically interviewed only one agent (71 percent) -- the first one who responded to them. Traditional buyers interviewed a median of three agents, and 37 percent interviewed four or more agents.

• A whopping 47 percent of Internet buyers said they selected their agent because of responsiveness, while only 42 percent of traditional buyers chose their agent for that reason.

• Both Internet and traditional buyers heavily selected agents because of response. One in four Internet buyers chose their agent because the agent was the first to respond, while 30 percent of traditional buyers chose their agent by the same means.

• Agent qualifications and skills also mattered heavily, with 43 percent of Internet buyers and 42 percent of traditional buyers selecting their agents because of those reasons.

• Aggressiveness also counted, with 22 percent of Internet buyers and 21 percent of traditional buyers choosing agents they felt would be the most aggressive on their behalf.

Deputy Chief Economist Robert Kleinhenz for C.A.R., says, "There is something to be learned there. Agents realize you don't want slow response times to get in the way of client awareness of the services you provide as a real state professional."