Marin County Real Estate

NAR has recently released the 2009 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.  The report compiles the results of 9,138 surveys returned by buyers and sellers who sold or purchased a home between July 2008 and June 2009.  The surveys were sent to buyers and sellers based on deed transfers and other public records.  The complete report is available for purchase at www.realtor.org .  Here are some highlights I found interesting:
•·         47% of all buyers were first time buyers.
•·         62% of first time buyers reported that the primary reason for buying a home was the desire to be a homeowner, 35% of all buyers reported that as the number 1 reason.
•·         The median age of all buyers was 39, same as last year.
•·         83% of all first time buyers are under the age 44.
•·         62% of all buyers are under age 44.
•·         63% of all buyers had no children under the age of 18 residing at home.
•·         90% of all buyers used the internet to search.
•·         84% of buyers reported the photos to be the most useful information.
•·         The number one action taken after viewing a home online was to drive by or visit the home.
•·         66% of buyers reported that they used a print ad to search, but only between 84% to 90% (depending on the print medium) reported that those sources were “not useful”.
•·         36% of buyers found the home they purchased through an agent, 36% found the home they purchased online, less than 3%found the home they purchased in a print ad.
•·         77% of buyers purchased their home with an agent.
•·         85% of sellers sold their home with an agent.
•·         87% of buyers viewed real estate as a good investment.So, besides making a handy list, what else does the report tell us?  It tells us specifically who the buyers and sellers are, what they want from us, where they want to go and most importantly, what their priorities are.
Valuable information?