Ask and You Shall Receive
One of the ongoing questions in our little real estate quest is how much the Internet is impacting the industry, and how? Well, we received an emphatic answer this weekend with the announcement that online e-commerce have surpassed the $100 billion mark in 2006 for the first time ever. This is an incredible 24% jump from online sales in 2005.
So the million-dollar (or should I say 100 billion-dollar) question is, why? The explosion of available information may shed some light. With big name players and small-guys-turned-moguls flooding the web with profitable information, the floodgates are beginning to open. More buyers and sellers are doing their research online, rather than through professionals, than ever before. Recent polls show that 77% of homebuyers first view and search for home listings online before even contacting an agent. Would it be safe to say that at least half of those actually stay online the whole process through, finding it easier to research, buy, and close online without have to shell out big cuts to agents? I would say that’s a good possibility.
The possibility of saving money, time, and effort is quite a tempting idea.
Of course, the skeptics will point to other figures. To put numbers in perspective, the real estate industry was an $18 trillion dollar market last year? That mind-boggling number makes $100 billion look like a drop in a bucket, that is just for ecommerce for now. Many of those old-timers will say the iMLS is nothing but a niche market, a fleeting fad that will go the way of the eight-track or beeper.
Smart businessmen see it another way. I, for one, foresee the possibility of HUGE increases in the share of the industry that will be driven through the Internet. This rise in Internet transactions over the past year may be just the beginning of an avalanche. Another number that points this direction: last year agents, brokers, and seller bought $3.2 billion worth of real estate technology, software, and Internet services. This bodes well for us at MyTypes, but also shows that a new breed of agent is becoming more and more dedicated to the evolving face of real estate industry in the digital world. First and foremost, we are here to help consumers, while helping real estate agents, well the ethcial ones any ways, with real estate idx solutions, real estate websites, and real estate marketing. A little self promotion never hurts anyone, and our success is only to make others envy:-)
Learn more about our real estate website idx, real estate marketing tools, and real estate idx website at our Seattle Washington Real Estate website and XoomPad.com.
VS
So the million-dollar (or should I say 100 billion-dollar) question is, why? The explosion of available information may shed some light. With big name players and small-guys-turned-moguls flooding the web with profitable information, the floodgates are beginning to open. More buyers and sellers are doing their research online, rather than through professionals, than ever before. Recent polls show that 77% of homebuyers first view and search for home listings online before even contacting an agent. Would it be safe to say that at least half of those actually stay online the whole process through, finding it easier to research, buy, and close online without have to shell out big cuts to agents? I would say that’s a good possibility.
The possibility of saving money, time, and effort is quite a tempting idea.
Of course, the skeptics will point to other figures. To put numbers in perspective, the real estate industry was an $18 trillion dollar market last year? That mind-boggling number makes $100 billion look like a drop in a bucket, that is just for ecommerce for now. Many of those old-timers will say the iMLS is nothing but a niche market, a fleeting fad that will go the way of the eight-track or beeper.
Smart businessmen see it another way. I, for one, foresee the possibility of HUGE increases in the share of the industry that will be driven through the Internet. This rise in Internet transactions over the past year may be just the beginning of an avalanche. Another number that points this direction: last year agents, brokers, and seller bought $3.2 billion worth of real estate technology, software, and Internet services. This bodes well for us at MyTypes, but also shows that a new breed of agent is becoming more and more dedicated to the evolving face of real estate industry in the digital world. First and foremost, we are here to help consumers, while helping real estate agents, well the ethcial ones any ways, with real estate idx solutions, real estate websites, and real estate marketing. A little self promotion never hurts anyone, and our success is only to make others envy:-)
Learn more about our real estate website idx, real estate marketing tools, and real estate idx website at our Seattle Washington Real Estate website and XoomPad.com.
VS
posted by myTypes at 2:18 PM
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