What do consumers want? I believe this question has been asked ten times to Sunday as it relates to real estate.
I recently read Marc Davison’s recent blog post at 1000Watt Blog summarizing the results of that exact question, What do Consumers Want?. The report, commissioned by Keller Williams, was developed and written by an impressive list of MBAs and PhDs. With that amount of intellectual firepower, it is often difficult to question its credibility.
In addition to the report commissioned by Keller Williams, MBA and PhD’s et al, I read a synopsis of NAR’s buyer and seller’s survey, essentially providing the statistics behind today’s buyers and sellers as well as their needs. I honed in a three key points in NAR’s report:
1. “Home buyers are consistent in their expectations of real estate agents. Buyers thought the most important agent services are helping find the right house, and negotiating sales terms and price. Because agents often are chosen based on a referral, or were used in a previous transaction, two-thirds of buyers contacted only one real estate agent in the search process.”
2. “Primarily, sellers want agents to price their home competitively, market the property, find a buyer and sell within a specific timeframe.”
3. “The most difficult tasks reported by unrepresented sellers are selling within the planned length of time, getting the right price, preparing the home for sale, and understanding and performing paperwork.”
What I found interesting about the Keller William’s report was its premise – How do you go about the process of selecting an agent? What I found interesting about the NAR report was that the premise was more consumer centric, not agent centric.
The question I pose is how many of the current RE Web 2.0 solutions have truly “blue sky” functionality? What if the premise assumed that there was no real estate agent? What if a solution existed that allowed the consumer to buy and sell real estate at will without the use of a professional?
Ok – now don’t excommunicate me. I think from a technology perspective, I believe it is a very valid question. All too often, solutions are Read more