In my business I have found that, on average, many of my buyer clients search for between 12 and 24 months – they are searching data, market trends, growth patterns, identifying where they want to live and then focusing on the homes themselves. … But a far lesser percentage than I expected. Length of search for buyers who used an agent, first-time and repeat buyers: – I presume that the repeat buyers may be those repeat buyer buying within the region they already inhabit; they know where they want to live, so the investigative process is much shorter. Information sources used in home search, by first-time and repeat buyers, and buyers of new and previously owned homes: – Same as last year, Internet, Real Estate Agent, Yard Sign are the top three sources. … I’m not completely discounting print’s effectiveness; for branding , print is hard to beat, for selling a house , it’s not even in the conversation. A qualifier to the below chart: Good real estate agents are useful. … As I said four years ago, Zillow Cannot Adapt ; until they develop effective Artificial Intelligence , people will be the best options. No surprises here – the internet is the most frequently used information source; this is one reason that I coach my buyer clients (and any reader, really) in how to effectively search for homes in the Charlottesville area .

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