Here are some extremely interesting stats about how buyers are now using the internet to search for real estate.  The information comes from the following sources.

http://www.realtor.org/library/library/fg2006

 

http://www.ontheavenues.com/real-estate-websites-seo.html

 

http://www.emarketer.com/article.aspx?id=1004147

Percentage of buyers that use the internet to find a home:

2001 -  28%

2004 – 41%

2006 – 70%

Currently – 84%

 

Internet buyers – 4.8 weeks of research            2.2 weeks looking for a home with an agent

Traditional buyers – 1.7 weeks of research       7.1 weeks looking for a home with an agent

 

Over 24 million buyers out there are using the web to search for properties first and only 61% of the 1.5 million realtors have websites. So that means that these 24 million internet buyers are looking to only 915,000 realtors.

 

Web Leads – 68% of buyers said response time is extremely important, 83% of those buyers chose email as their favored communication method

 

97% of internet buyers said they would use the same agent again, only 50% of traditional buyers said they would. 

 

70% of people 65 and older read a daily news paper but only 35% of 20 somethings do.

 

95% of all real estate keyword searchers will buy or list their home with a realtor they encountered within the first three listings in search results.