Home Buyers and the Internet
There seem to be two kinds of home buyers out there using the internet these days. Those who are ready to buy right now and those who are many months out. Regardless of which kind of buyer, most people looking to buy a home these days jump on the internet before they ever contact a real estate agent. There are tremendous online resources available that can help buyers research cities, schools, neighborhoods and much more. Of course the online buyers also love to look at listings. They will visit realtor.com, austinhomesearch.com, my site and many others that have lots of listings to look at.
People who are looking a bit farther out usually want to remain anonymous. I get notifications about people emailing listings from my Austin real estate website all the time and most leave a rather generic email address and a fake phone number. I'm always curious as to who these people are, but I am not going to bother them. Once they get to the point that they are ready to actually look at homes, I hope they will contact me because I love to help people.
The people who are ready to buy now are also interesting. They seem to look at agent websites and contact the ones who provide good information that is helpful to people from outside the area in which they are looking. They also seem to look for people who look like they can be trusted.
If you are a buyer, which kind are you?