The Internet’s Effect Marketing Your Home

Beginning in the late 90’s national real estate service providers – like Realtor.com, owned by the National Association of Realtors – began the display of MLS listing information along with home photos. Less than a decade later “we’re on the front end of a virtual explosion of useful tools for consumers…” according to Real Trends magazine. From the comfort of their own home, home buyers are now capable of viewing property data, multiple photo showcases, virtual tours, accessing neighborhood and county data, and with the evolution and development of satellite maps, sponsored by internet juggernauts like Google, capable of swooping down to street level with only a few clicks to see aerial images of not only the home of interest but the surroundings of the neighborhood. Due to the recent trend potential home buyers are experiencing a greater control over the purchasing process than ever before in the industry. Buyers are spending more time conducting their own research before enlisting the assistance of a real estate agent, but are moving more quickly to close once they do begin working with an agent. With such information readily available to the home buyer market it is becoming easier for homeowners to directly market their homes to buyers through the use of a flat-fee MLS broker willing to enter their home onto the MLS on a fee for service basis. These homes are appearing on public websites providing a platform for For Sale By Owners to market competitively with the listings of any traditional real estate agent.