We surveyed our Realtors to find out what is the most important home feature that their buyers are seeking at this moment in time. 55% of Realtors ranked Location as Number 1.
Is anyone surprised by this?
Moreover, I have discovered that buyer preferences are getting more and more specific. For location preferences, Buyers direct their agents to look beyond general school district parameters to a particular elementary school or a particular neighborhood. Buyers may identify where in the neighborhood they want to live – on a cul de sac, on a corner, not on a corner, next to green space, not next to a golf course, etcetera, and etcetera.
Price value is ranked as the second most important criterion for buying a home. Half responded that price-value was either the most important feature or the second most important feature in the purchase decision. Again, this is no surprise to us. Purchasing a home is a major financial decision. The “Value Proposition” is top of every buyer’s mind. The home must meet or exceed the buyer’s expectations about what they should be getting for a specific price. The digital world has made information readily available for smart buyers. Buyers come equipped with their price-per-square-foot analyses and room-by-room comparisons.
The survey ranked these important criteria when selecting a home.
Copious amounts of information reside at our fingertips; buyers are more sophisticated than ever before. With one swipe of a finger, we can check our mobile website to find out the list price and the price at which valuation algorithms have calculated the property’s worth. We can stand in front of a home and see interior pictures on our phones. From miles away, we can view the “Google Earth” video of the neighborhood and lot characteristics. Buyers’ perceptions are formed by the images and information that are readily available to them at their fingertips in real time. Buyers know what’s possible and they want the best of the best.
Yet, even in this information age where just about everything is on public display through the internet, there is still one overriding real estate truth: there is no substitute for personally touring the home. Nothing is quite the same as viewing, touching, and experiencing the home firsthand, in person, in the flesh. Our agents are equipped with all the digital information – PLUS – they have been inside the home. And, that’s the difference.
Yours, in person and the flesh,
Janet Horlacher
