A Few Statistics for 2008

Even though our focus at Lakehomes.com is mainly lakefront, riverfront, and other recreational properties, I think it is always helpful for waterfront buyers and sellers to have a good understanding of what is happening in the real estate industry as a whole. Each year the National Association of Realtors performs many surveys to try and find out how various areas of the industry are trending, and I wanted to give you some of the statistics that came about from their Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers for 2008.

You can read the entire survey at the link above, but some of the most important items that I noticed were the fact that 87% of buyers now use the Internet to search for homes - up again from 84% in 2007 and 80% in 2006. However, 85% still use real estate professionals to help them in this process. So although the information for nearly all listings is available at the buyers fingertips, there is still a need to have agents give guidance during the process.

When buyers were asked about how they found the home that they purchased, 34% said it was through a Realtor, while 32% found it on the Internet. Only 3% of buyers found their new home in some type of print ad.

As a seller, these are the types of statistics should be of the utmost importance when you decide who to list your property with. And if your property is on water, remember that it is even more likely that a buyer will be doing their searching online...because they are more likely coming from a distance than buyers of off-water properties.

Many agents and brokers have been reluctant to minimize their presence in print publications because that is what sellers have been used to seeing throughout the years. By making sellers "feel good" about seeing their home in the newspaper or a magazine, the agent can prevent some of the potential criticism if there is no activity in the way of showings. But if all statistics are pointing to the importance of new forms of online marketing - such as videos and other creative measures - to give the potential buyers more information by way of their keyboards, then it seems that that is where the marketing focus should be!

2009 may or may not be a good year in real estate. I am optimistic that it will be better than last year, but there is still a lot of inventory - which means a lot of competition if you are going to be selling your lake property.

In your search for the best method to expose your lake home, cabin or land to the most possible prospects, evaluate your options in the way of local agents and their websites. A strong Internet presence may not be the only reason your place sells...but obviously, in this day and age it can't hurt!