I’m participating on a panel discussion at Real Estate Connect in New York City on Leveraging the Wide Open Web to Create a Rich User Experience: Consumers are looking for more than a house; they are looking for a place to live. The panel is being moderated by Dustin Luther and the panelists are Seann Birkelund, VP of Business Development for Education.com, Ashfaq Munshi, Founder & CEO for Terabitz, and yours truly. The topic begs the question:

What do buyers care about when evaluating potential areas to live?

Here are the top 15 factors according to research Zillow.com (my employer) did several years ago when deciding what information to include on our “local” pages (I really don’t think these factors have changed):

  1. Crime statistics
  2. Type of neighborhood (urban/suburban/rural)
  3. Average home prices
  4. Types of homes (sfr vs condos)
  5. Percentage of homes owned/rented
  6. Home appreciation rates
  7. Property tax rates
  8. Price/square foot
  9. Info on nearby health facilities
  10. Age of homes
  11. Location of nearby neighborhoods
  12. Proximity to highways
  13. Quality of parks/recreational facilities
  14. Convenience to restaurants, cafes, shopping
  15. Population density

Note: The results came from 193 responses from Zillow users who had all indicated they were moving within the next 1-2 years.

Another interesting data point is that only 33% of the 193 people who responded said they had already decided which area or neighborhood they want to live in, which means 67% of respondents had yet to determine the area they wanted to live. Home buyers looking to move in the next 1-2 years are spending time online researching the areas they are interested in, and I’d argue strongly that every agent and broker website should help them do that research to maximize the possibility of converting those future buyers to clients. Since there are a number of extremely successful agents and brokers who have first hand experience and data from their own sites who read Geek Estate, I thought I’d try to get some additional perspectives on this issue by posting it here. Regarding helping future home buyers determine where to live, a few questions come to mind:

  • Are you providing information covering the factors above to help home buyers answer the question of where to live?
  • What have you seen work? What hasn’t worked?
  • What “local” information on your website do buyers tell you appeal to them?
  • What type of data converts web traffic to registrations/contacts at the highest rate?
  • What type of “lifestyle” questions do you find yourself answering over and over?
  • Are you utilizing neighborhood videos for the areas you cover?
  • What real estate data sources are you using to fulfill the consumer appetite for information?