How Homes are Sold Across the Country – 2022 Report
Selling a home can seem like a daunting task, whether you’ve done it many times or are doing it for the first time. There also seems to be more ways to sell a home than every before, so some research is in order.
One must know how home buyers are finding, selecting, and purchasing homes for sale in order to know the best way to sell a home. What is the best way to market a home for sale in 2022 to get the biggest audience and best possible price?
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) compiles an annual report that shares this and more, all based on careful, comprehensive nationwide research. Having this valuable information removes guesswork and will tell us the best way to sell a home in 2022.
Where do Buyers go to Find Homes for Sale?
According to the 2021 NAR Report, 95% used the internet at some point in their home buying process (a marked increase from 37% in 2010).
For 41%, searching online was the first step in their home search process, and for 19%, it was contacting a licensed real estate agent.
Other first steps included contacting a lender (9%), driving by homes (5%), attending open houses (2%), and contacting the home seller directly (1%).
Like it or not, the whole world relies on technology now for just about everything. Preparing for this and knowing how to utilize this technology is key.
Sites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin, to name a few, are good sources for finding homes for sale. The thing to remember, though, is that they get all or nearly all their listings from the local MLS. Here in Oregon, ours is the RMLS. The vast majority of RMLS members are licensed real estate agents. Most MLS systems, RMLS included, send the home for sale out to tens of thousands of different websites and apps.
Whether the home buyer is searching on a major portal like Zillow, or on a Realtor’s local site like our dynamic, patent-pending, PortlandHomesForSale.com, listings primarily or exclusively come from the local MLS, which is turn is primarily fed data by Realtors with signed listing contracts to sell homes.
One way to summarize this would be to say that most Realtors use their local MLS to search for homes for their clients, and most real estate website data home buyers are searching for comes directly from MLS systems.
How Long do Potential Homebuyers Search for Homes?
The NAR found that buyers generally spent eight weeks searching and viewed at least three homes before making an offer. After conducting online searches, 55% of buyers did a walk through of the homes they were interested in, and 38% drove through neighborhoods to view homes’ exteriors.
What Did Homebuyers Find Most Useful when Searching for a Home Online?
When thinking about what to include in any online postings about the sale of your home, it’s good to know what features past buyers have found most useful in their searches. A significant number of buyers (84%) found photos to be the most useful. Next came detailed information about properties (80%), floor plans (55%), real estate agent contact information (43%), and virtual tours (43%). See our research post on exactly how much faster and for more homes sell with professional photography and 3D home tours.
What Causes a Home to Sell Across the Country?
What actually causes the home to sell to a buyer across the country?
- Less than 1% of the time = Print Ads, Radio, TV, Video – All Misc. Adverting Combined
- 3% = Already knew the seller, direct sale
- 4% = Yard Signs and all Open Houses Types Combined
- 92% of the time = Internet Home Search (includes friends and family searching for them) + Realtor Search Combined
(The above is for all resale homes, we took out sales done by new construction companies.)
How do You Find the Right Agent to Sell Your Home?
Whatever your reason for wanting to work with an agent to sell your help, we recommend taking some time to find the right one. Check our our Top 5 Sites to Help you Choose a Real Estate Agent in 2021 and What Interview Questions to Ask a Realtor Before you Sell a Home to get yourself headed in the right direction.
How We Sell Homes Faster and for More
Eighty nine percent of sellers listed their homes on their local Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the top originating resource for home listings to get their home visible on tens of thousands of real estate websites.
This is only the beginning of making your home visible to as many people as possible. To improve our clients’ chances, we also:
- Pay extra to feature our homes on the top real estate portals, like Zillow, so they get more active home buyer views, which leads to more showings and results in more and better offers.
- Pay extra to put list every home we sell on multiple MLS systems in Oregon or Washington, wherever the home is located, to reach the essential, influential real estate agent audience.
- Include 3D home tours, full sets of professional photography, drone photos, virtual staging, and floor plans as needed, to give home buyers all the information they need online to make the right decision.
- Put up yard signs and hold open houses (because this still has some small effect).
- Don’t waste time and money on home selling techniques that don’t work per comprehensive research.
We do this and more for a highly competitive commission rate.
Should You Work with a Real Estate Agent to Buy a Home?
Searching for homes online is helpful, without a doubt, and a step in the right direction. What comes after can get complicated and confusing, even for repeat buyers, because each real estate deal is as unique as the individuals involved.
When it comes to narrowing your focus to find the right home with your top needs and wants, not to mention the steps involved in buying the home and all the potential pitfalls, it helps to have a seasoned real estate agent by your side. According to the NAR report, 72% of those polled deemed real estate agents the most useful information resource during the home buying process and 88% used an agent to help with the purchase of a home.
Looking to Buy or Sell in Oregon or Washington?
Our experienced, top ranked team has completed over 2,000 local home sales and is ready to put your needs first. We’d love to start a conversation with you today. Chat with our bot or give our main line a call to get things started.
