Northern Virginia Real Estate--Industry Trends

General Real Estate News/Trends, Truth vs. Bullcrap about Selling a Home!

BusinessWeek.com reports a looming shift of $1.8 billion in advertisting away from newspapers towards the internet in the next few years. For the next 1-2 years papers shouldn't be hit too hard as the extra inventory gets sold off as investors got out of the market recently by throwing their homes up for sale. Also extra inventory was due to many worrying the value of their home was about to plummet so they put them on the market earlier than they would have. So why this profound change in the industry? Well the most recent poll in January by Realtor.com showed that now 77% of purchasers start their home buying process online--not by picking up the local paper to look for pictures of homes in the newspaper. The article continues, "Indeed, the Net already drives consumer behavior. The bigger, more notable jump in the NAR's data is in the percentage of buyers who pick a home they first identified online, usually before consulting an agent. That's up to 24 percent, from 15 percent in 2004 and 2 percent in 1997. Only brokers themselves point out more homes to consumers, at 36 percent. The Internet has waxed such longtime staples as yard signs, which come in at 15 percent. Newspaper ads accounted for only 5 percent of sales, according to the NAR." So this is why the $$$$ is shifting away from newspaper ads--the ads cost lots of money but do nothing except make the seller feel better that they see a picture of their home in the newspaper. Look just price the home accurately, make sure it shows quite well and let the MLS and the realtor's networking sell the home. And remember, the first offer is often the best offer you're going to get.... Click here if you'd like to know more about Northern Virginia real estate and MLS. Click here for Northern Virginia condo. And for a frank discourse on which realtors in Northern Virginia to use click the link.

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