Is your Realtor using the Internet to his or her advantage? Or is your real estate agent old school, preferring to rely on traditional methods for showing or selling a home? As the housing market slowly starts to rebound, consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet to find the best deals on homes or to sell their homes for the best prices. Market analysts simply warn, realtors who are not taking advantage of this will struggle to survive in the real estate market.
So does your real estate agent have an Internet strategy? Below are a few tips for finding out:
1) Does Your Realtor Have A Website?
Whether you’re buying or selling a house, that’s the first question you should ask your prospective real estate agent. The reasons are obvious: Seven out of ten homebuyers found their house online before hiring a Realtor, and nearly nine out of ten use the Internet for real estate information, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). By some estimates, about two thirds of all Realtors have a Web site.
2) Is Your Realtor Using Social Networking Sites?
According to the NAR, more than ninety percent of all realtors use social media. Sites like
Facebook can draw more traffic to a Realtor’s Web site. Social media sites can also be used to test out marketing strategies and measure the impact of those strategies.
3) How Much Does Your Agent Spend On Technology?
Studies show that the more a real estate agent spends on his or her home-finding website, the more sales he or she generates from it. According to the NAR, just three percent of sales were generated through an agent’s website in 2010. However, realtors who spent between $500 to $999 on their site saw seven percent of their sales directed from their respective Web site. That increased to ten percent for those who spent $1,000 or more on their sites. Overall, over fifty percent of brokers and forty percent of agents spend between $101 to $1,000 annually on their Web sites, according to the NAR.
4) Ask For Details On Their Internet Strategies:
A Realtor who simply puts your home on a couple of real estate Web sites isn’t taking full advantage of the Web – even if the listing includes dozens of photos and a virtual tour of your home. But if your Realtor supplements that with sites like Craigslist and Facebook and makes good use of key search phrases and SEO marketing, your agent can drive more traffic to your listing.
Ultimately, the more your real estate agent uses the Internet to his or her advantage, the more likely you are to find your dream home or sell your existing home at a reasonable price. Be smart and be an informed home buyer or seller.
Written By Kevin Hughes: BuyIdahoRealEstate.com
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