Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers: The Home Search Process

The National Association of REALTORS recently released some highlights from their 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, with a section devoted to the home search process.  Did you know:

• For 42% of recent buyers, the first step that they took in the home buying process was to look online at properties for sale, while 14 percent of buyers first contacted a real estate agent.
  
  
• 78% of recent buyers found their real estate agent to be a very useful information source. Online
  websites were seen as a very useful information source at 82%.
  
  
• Buyers typically searched for 10 weeks and looked at a median of 10 homes.
  
  
• The typical buyer who did not use the Internet during their home search spent only five weeks searching and visited five homes, compared to those who did use the Internet and searched for 10 weeks and visited 10 homes.
  
  
• Among buyers who used the Internet during their home search, 87% of buyers found photos and 84% found detailed information about properties for sale very useful.
  
  
• 59% of recent buyers were very satisfied with their recent home buying process, up from 56% a year
  ago.