at home

I am a numbers girl. I can’t help it- it has always been the way that things made sense. I know I have mentioned it before, but my dad was an engineer at Raytheon and I apparently inherited the mindset.
So I loved when the National Association of Realtors sent out all of its aggregated stats in one big post. These stats are useful to consumers, and also helpful to me no matter what hat I happen to be wearing when I read them.

Some numbers I want to drag out:

• First time home buyers comprised 47% of the buying market- median age 30
• Buyers searched 12 weeks and saw 12 homes, on average
• 42% of sellers offered incentives to buyers- such as home warranties or help with closing costs
• Trustworthiness and reputation were the biggest reasons that buyers and sellers chose their agents
• Less than one percent of sellers chose an agent based on commission

But this is my favorite,  straight from the buyers’ mouths. No guessing or wondering- just the facts:

When asked where they first learned about the home purchased, 36 percent of buyers said a real estate agent; 36 percent the Internet; 12 percent from yard signs; 6 percent from a friend, neighbor or relative; 5 percent home builders; 2 percent a print or newspaper ad; 2 percent directly from the seller; and less than 1 percent a home book or magazine.

So yard signs were, on average, 12 times more effective than a home magazine, and 6 times more effective in finding a buyer than a print ad!! Something to consider when you are interviewing an agent to list your home.