Local Real Estate Industry Challenged to Meet Client Needs Through Consultative Selling
The real estate industry is undergoing rapid and significant change as a result of the consumer oriented internet. Real estate brokers and agents have been challenged to examine their traditional selling roles in light of better informed buyers who bring specific questions and needs to the home purchase experience and who choose agents who are willing to work on their behalf as information providers and advisors.
The move to internet real estate information web-sites fundamentally puts the buyer in charge of the long process involved in selecting and buying a property. Buyers experience a sense of empowerment as they gain information from the net concerning properties and communities of interest. Buyers may even have "interviewed" a number of agents through local area web-pages, describing an agent's credentials, experience and business philosophy. In the new market reality, the buyers are in charge of the transaction process and may have already made important decisions before contacting an agent. Many real estate companies have moved in response to this important trend by providing as much information as possible to enable potential buyers to become better qualified before they seek the services of a real estate agent.
National real estate franchises such as Coldwell Banker have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to create national web-sites that are interlocked with regional sites for a full networked real estate presence. Coldwell Banker, Forrest Aldrich's site (cbolympic.com) links its property inventory to other national sites such as the Coldwell Banker's, Coldwell Banker.com, as well as Microsoft's, Homeadvisor.msn.com and the National Association of Realtors, Realtor.com.
In addition to using web-sites to obtain property information, buyers are choosing to qualify themselves financially through on-line mortgage services such as Coldwell Banker Mortgage (CBM). CBM, promotes its on-line service with money backed guarantees: 1) That they will beat any lender's price or pay the applicant $250. 2) That they will give the applicant "a same day decision, seven days a week" or pay the applicant $250 and 3) that they will close the applicants loan by the requested closing date, or reduce the loan interest rate by 1/8 of one percent for the life of the loan.
Buyers who financially pre-qualified themselves are at a substantial advantage in a competitive real estate market because they have confidence in their buying power and are able to move quickly when qualified properties come on the market. More and more buyers are coming into the market place, well-informed and well-qualified.
The same buyers, however, continue to seek out the services of qualified local real estate agents that cannot be duplicated on the net. Agents who have the ability to listen and to respond to buyers at the buyer's "point of need" continue to attract even the most avid internet oriented buyer. Agents will be asked to give information, offer advice, share market insights, and to take responsibility for the successful completion of the transaction.
Buyers will increasingly use real estate internet services to increase their effectiveness as homebuyers. Agents who respond to this evolutionary market trend by quickly discerning the buyers actual needs, and by forming a partnership with the buyer to meet those needs will continue to be in demand.
