National Association of Realtors shows that 72 percent of 3,000 recent
buyers responding to a NAR survey drove by or viewed a house for sale as
a result of an Internet search.
Forty-six percent walked through a house visited online, the data
shows.
Seventy-eight percent found photos of the houses they saw listed on
the Internet "very useful," while 46 percent said the same
thing about virtual tours.
Only 15 percent did not use virtual tours at all.
If the data is to be believed, the Internet has increased the median
amount of time buyers spend looking for houses and the number they look
at.
Internet searchers spend eight weeks looking at twelve homes.
Non-users spend five weeks looking at only seven.
Brokers acknowledge that the use of virtual tours, especially by
people 50 years and older, have far surpassed the open house in use as a
marketing tool, proving that not just young people are computer-savvy.
Real estate firms typically offer the virtual tours to all of their
clients, often for as low as $80 a listing.
There can be drawbacks to some virtual tours. A lot of interiors
don't show up that well, even though improvements are being made to the
system every day.
Look at a photo of a landscape and then the landscape itself. Of
course, everything always looks prettier in person.
Consumers are not basing purchasing decisions on what they see on
their computer screens. Rather, they are using the tours to limit what
they are willing to look at in person.
In fact, the NAR survey showed 52 percent of all Internet users
visited open houses, while only 38 percent did not.
That is a good thing and a bad thing; many real estate agents agree.
A house is more than how it looks, but how it feels. And looking at
something on a computer screen doesn't tell the entire story, so a buyer
may be ruling out a house that may be the one they should be buying.
Ruling something out before seeing it is a major reason Duffy
continues on the open-house route. When the location of a house makes it
sound as if it is on a busy street, buyers' agents won't recommend
looking at it to their clients. The open house allows these buyers to
see it for themselves, and then pass that information on to their
agents.
Who shows up at an open house?
Future sellers who are looking to see how an agent presents the
property for sale and the kinds of things that are selling these days.
This typically bears fruit a year later.
- People who are thinking about buying a house but are not ready to
commit to anything. Although they may sign in, they usually tour the
house quickly and do not say anything.
- Buyers who are sent by their agents.
Open houses also can be used to generate new interest in old
listings.
It is redundant to use open houses every week. But if a house has
been on the market for a while, and there has been a price
reduction, then an open house is in order.
Many sellers do not want open houses. There are security issues
behind much of the opposition (they also surface in the case of
virtual tours), but such sellers also fear scrutiny by their
neighbors.
Most real estate agents welcome such scrutiny. They hope that the
neighbors will come in, like what they see, and tell their friends.
But sometimes it happens that a neighbor will come in and talk down
the property in front of prospective buyers.
As far as security is concerned, the agent or broker should tell
the seller to put away things that might be broken or end up in
visitors' pockets.
Often, an agent expecting a lot of traffic at an open house will
bring another agent or his or her personal assistant along to keep
control of the situation.
Agents are always looking for ways to put new zest into older
methods.
For example, one idea is to turn an open house in a "parade
of home buyers" who meet the agent at a single location and
then travel from listing to listing in a particular area.
The technique creates a sense of urgency among the buyers on the
tour. They hear others talking about a particular house, and they
get interested.
It creates kind of an "auction" effect, because it
heightens interest in the same way bidding at an auction does.
Related Articles:
- Virtual
Tour Doubles As Search Warrant
- Do
Open Houses Sell Homes?
- Open
Up To Open Houses
Written
by Al Heavens
October 23, 2003
Lago Vista Texas Real Estate
