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Real Estate Online

California Association of Realtors released "2005 Internet Versus Traditional Buyer Study".

Results say:

• 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% 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. They can more home.
• 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 spend 4.7 weeks investigating homes, and neighborhoods, before contacting an agent, while traditional buyers spent 1.6 weeks.
• Internet buyers 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.
• Nine out of ten Internet buyers found their agents through an online real estate listing site; 60% found their agent through Internet search engines such as Yahoo! or Google. (note I am not sure that google is a real estate searchengine) 12% used agents they had worked with previously. (I would take this to mean that the online exposure buys you loyalty)
• 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.
• 22 percent of Internet buyers and 21 percent of traditional buyers choosing agents they felt would be the most aggressive on their behalf.
• Internet buyers are more likely to be first-time buyers, they are younger, wealthier, better educated and more likely married.
• 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.
  

Real estate Publicity and the Superbowl

What does the Superbowl have to do with URL's, Strippers, real estate, and publicity?

Hell has to freeze over for me to do a theme park. Or, we have to go there when it is empty. So I had promised the family I would take them to Disney on Superbowl Sunday. As it is a guaranteed no line experience. In fact,I was willing to miss the pinnacle of God's greatest game, only because I convinced myself that the game is usually a snore fest.

I awoke Sunday morning to a house full of sick people! Oh sweet destiny! A full day of football hype.

If we would have gone that day, I would have not only missed the game, but the birth of this years best publicity campaign.

Half way through the first half, an advertisement poking fun at last years Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" aired. A very full figured gal stood in a tight fitting malfunctioning strap, whilst defending herself and her company -GoDaddy.com . The judges were a very stodgy and stiff judicial committee. Again mocking last years inquiries into lewd behavior. In fact if you blinked, you may have missed that it took place in Salem. (referencing the witch trials)

The ad passed the judgment of Fox, but the NFL showed its displeasure such that the second running of the ad was pulled form its slotted run in the second half.

Behaving as if this all was planned, GoDaddy.com's founder immediately posted the ads on its website and blogged about the incident.

Since the game, the voluptuous actress has been running from show to show on the morning talk show circuit selling her employer.

This is how you use publicity to get your name out there. If you never heard of the company before you do now.

I remember in the high flying 80's Mike Glickman, now of Mike Glickman Realty, proved to be an expert at the real estate publicity game as he created a persona that made him the spokesman for "Southern California real estate".