Are You in Touch with the Market Today?

FloorPlanOnline helps capture Gen X and Y buyers with virtual tour offering

FloorPlanOnline helps capture Gen X and Y buyers with virtual tour offering

RISMEDIA, December 18, 2006-Have you taken time to work up your business plan for 2007 yet? If not, it is not too late. As you take time to do that, or if you have already done your 2007 plan, review the important components of your plan as it pertains to the advertising and marketing expenditures you plan to make.

But first, maybe you need to take a time out and review how in touch" your marketing is with the market today. Per the most recent NAR statistics, the average age of NAR members is now 57, up from the previously reported number of 52. Does this mean that the influx of younger newcomers who helped drive the average age of NAR members down to 52 from 55 have left the business with the market adjustment we've seen in 2006? Did you know that the largest buying group of homes today is Generation X and Y whose average age is 35? And an important point to remember is these groups grew up on the computer and watching TV; they don't subscribe to newspapers and magazines. They get their news and information from the Internet or TV. They are accustomed to being entertained and to having access to the information the want, need and demand to make their purchasing decisions. Are your online listings meeting those demands?

Ask yourself, are you still spending your advertising and marketing dollars where the largest group of buyers is spending their time looking for homes today? If your budget reflects that you are spending more on print media than you are on your online presentations, then you are out of sync with where the market is today and, if you continue to follow that path, you will find that your business will become totally out of touch with the bulk of the buying community very soon.

Recent NAR and CAR data indicate that nationwide there are less than 20% of the online listings which have a virtual tour on them and that in California this number has been below 10%. Is this because the market has been too heavily slanted towards a seller's market and resulted in the just plant a sign in the yard and wait for the offers to pour in" marketing technique to prevail? Or, has it just been too good for too long allowing agents to not spend much money on marketing because of a hot market? Or, is it because there is a fear of and lack of understanding of the technology involved with virtual tours?

These are the questions that should concern you. There is a growing technology and generation gap approaching the industry whereby the buyers will become frustrated that the current real estate industry is not providing the basic information needed for the buyer to make a decision so they will seek means other than the conventional real estate model to find the properties they want to buy. When Gen X and Y can go to Amazon.com and get more information to purchase a book for $29.95 than what they can on a typical online listing of a $500,000 home, something is out of sync.

FloorPlanOnline is one company offering a virtual tour solution to bridge the technology/generation gap. For more information or to learn more, visit www.floorplanonline.com or call Marketing Services Director, Amy Hayes at 866-810-3816, x109. Get in the game of providing a virtual tour for your sellers so you can help them differentiate their property from everything else on the market. Capture Gen X and Y buyers by giving them the information they want, need and demand so they can make the decision to buy your seller's listing.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.


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