Internet “Open Houses” First Choice Among Buyers

What Expert Realty has known for along time, Paul Owers of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel revealed Monday in the paper; internet helps sell homes.

A greater number of realtors have ramped up their marketing on the Web to offset a real estate market lull.

While sitting at their computer keyboards, potential homebuyers check out virtual home tours or home photo galleries. Even when not in the market.

Last year, the report announced, 80 percent of buyers, all over the world, used the internet to look for homes, "up from 18 percent a decade ago, according to the National Association of Realtors."

And with other reports that state another 80,000 people are relocating to South Florida from other states or other countries every year, clearly the internet will narrow their choices so they can physically view only the very favorite options from a selection that could include hundreds of thousands on the web.

Expert Realty’s video slideshows that display photos from almost every corner of every room reveal details down to the size and texture of bathroom flooring as seen in this Miramar property in Bristol Bay.

Owers’s article should also add that offering information on shopping, dining, schools, parks, and other points of interest in the area are important to buyers as well.

Buyers may not have the ability to drive through the neighborhood themselves, or know anyone in the area and are completely dependent upon realtors and their websites to get them acclimated. Not to toot our own horn, but almost too often I hear how “thorough” our website is, or how “much information is on the pages.”

Expert Realty’s website really gives a detailed introduction to the area, even a brief history in some cases on towns, communities and schools, like in the Miramar example.