Consumers are Looking for More than Listings, they are Looking for a Place to Live. Does Your Website Help them Accomplish that Goal?

December 31, 2009
By: Drew Meyers
Author's Website: http://youreachmedia.com

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):

Crime statistics
Type of neighborhood (urban/suburban/rural)
Average home prices
Types of homes (sfr vs condos)
Percentage of homes owned/rented
Home appreciation rates
Property tax rates
Price/square foot
Info on nearby health facilities
Age of homes
Location of nearby neighborhoods
Proximity to highways
Quality of parks/recreational facilities
Convenience to restaurants, cafes, shopping
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?

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Categories: Lead Acquisition, Websites

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Lécithine on December 31, 2009 10:15 pm

Hi,
potential home buyers should consider, to name just a few things, their income and job stability, the covariance -if any- between the home price and their income, the covariance between their house value and their existing investments, whether or not the home could be rented in the event of an income shock, the expected path of future prices based on their private knowledge and/or knowledge of their realtor, the expected future rental opportunity costs.
Gainesville Real Estate on December 31, 2009 11:18 pm

Drew, fair housing laws and NAR ethics prevent Realtors from posting crime statistics and other neighborhood information on our websites and discussing these issues with clients.

Although I support Zillow and freedom of publicly available information, we are not able to play on the same field.

-Mike
Jim Duncan on January 1, 2010 2:25 pm

Mike -

Would you mind citing the part of the fair housing law and NAR CoE that specifically address our inability to post/discuss crime statistics? I'd like to be able to point that to my clients.

Thanks!
Matt Dollinger on January 1, 2010 3:12 pm

Mike, Jim and Drew,

Where I totally understand (although I think they're a little over the top with some elements) the fair housing laws and how they pertain to brokerage vs. Zillow (or other non licensed search platforms) I think that the huge workaround is the following:

“Do you provide them with the resources to search for this on their own?”

It's funny when I see that this is a topic at Inman NYC because it is exactly what we designed (and had Terabitz Implement) for our website http://www.atproperties.com. We used outside.in, education.com, yelp.com and others and had Tbitz put them into their existing platform.

But showing the consumers WHERE to get the crime stats, etc. for neighborhoods is NOT against fair housing. I would only suggest that if you have them search for stats on where they are GOING to live, that you have them search THEIR CURRENT area as well (as they will oftentimes be shocked).
revealrealestate on January 2, 2010 9:06 am

Great list Drew – In our work in the second home market in Central America we add a little twist to the lifestyle/travel information and collect the following: 1) driving time from the international airport 2) whether the roads are paved / unpaved 3) distance from golf course, dive spot or surf break.
SacramentoBill on January 2, 2010 11:29 am

Hi Drew,

Big topic. I imagine this would be a good product offering for a company like Zillow for Realtors. Some form of business “incubator” for satisfying a long term home buyer's need for discovery, while allowing agents to make a living in the here and now.
kathytorline on January 4, 2010 6:23 am

Interesting question about what buyer's are looking for when purchasing a home. One thing I didn't see on the list from Zillow was the schools — which is the question I get asked over and over again.

I give all types of resouces to people looking for info on schools, crime stats, etc. I don't direct them to a neighborhood; but I can certainly give them resources so they can do their own research.
wine club on January 4, 2010 9:54 am

My understanding is that Realtors can present the information to clients, but should not be suggesting an area based on neighborhood demographics.

I know a few companies that have the crime stats as a link on the site and I think that covers everyone's bases so to speak.

It's tough because crime rates are a legit reason to live somewhere, or not live somewhere.
kathytorline on January 4, 2010 2:23 pm

Interesting question about what buyer's are looking for when purchasing a home. One thing I didn't see on the list from Zillow was the schools — which is the question I get asked over and over again.

I give all types of resouces to people looking for info on schools, crime stats, etc. I don't direct them to a neighborhood; but I can certainly give them resources so they can do their own research.
wine club on January 4, 2010 5:54 pm

My understanding is that Realtors can present the information to clients, but should not be suggesting an area based on neighborhood demographics.

I know a few companies that have the crime stats as a link on the site and I think that covers everyone's bases so to speak.

It's tough because crime rates are a legit reason to live somewhere, or not live somewhere.
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