The real estate market slowdown has benefited internet marketing of properties at the expense of print ads. According to ChicagoBusiness.com, the major newspapers are seeing a cyclical downturn in print ads due to both the housing starts slowdown and the overall real estate market situation. The question looking to be answered by the markets in the next few years is once the market picks up; will real estate advertising be firmly shifted to the internet?

Real estate agents and advertisers alike see the internet growing as the most effective advertising media due to its interactive nature. With this growing dominance, marketers do not see that the revival of the real estate market will necessarily translate as a recovery of the print advertising market.

Pointing to the research showing over 75% of people entering the real estate market go online and do property searches, Jim Townsend, of the Classified Intelligence ad consultants company, thinks the greatest threats to newspapers are real estate websites with property listings. “A lot of the Realtors we talk to tell us the only reason they keep advertising is that their clients expect to see the ad in the paper.”

Other advertisers have found the best benefit of print ads is to drive business to their real estate websites.

In the broader market of real estate websites, in the last year, even with a downturn in the market, venture capitalists have recently invested $62 million into four websites: Trulia, Redfin, Zillow and Terabits.

Why is the real estate Internet trend running counter to the market downturn? Pete Flint, Trulia’s CEO, realizes that “There’s no doubt that a lot of brokers are feeling some pain right now. They’re spending less on advertising … but they’re spending a significantly larger portion online, because it’s cheaper, and it’s where the audience is.”

Zillow’s CFO, Spencer Rascoff notes of Zillow, “Our growth actually accelerated in the back half of the year. In a down market, buyers, sellers and agents need more tools.”

From the major real estate websites to the websites generated for individual real estate agents, the Internet is turning into the most viewed and cost effective advertising tool of the current real estate market. Given internet marketing’s success with real estate advertising, print advertising will have an uphill battle to recover its lost ground.

The real estate market has the Federal government trying to pass legislation helping mortgage lenders and home owners survive the sub-prime mortgage market correction on one hand. On the other hand the Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched investigations into the real estate brokerage industry.

Last Fall, the DOJ unveiled a new area on its Anti-Trust Division website aimed to educate real estate buyers and sellers to the DOJ’s view of the real estate brokerage situation. One area the DOJ took into account in their process is the Internet’s affect on buying and selling real estate.

The DOJ notes “the Internet helps consumers to educate themselves about other areas of home buying and selling. For example, consumers can use the Internet to research brokers, mortgage and lending options, and recent home sales and home valuations in their community. Consumers also can find information about schools, crime, and other variables related to home purchase decisions through a host of online sources, including websites hosted by their municipalities.”

One real estate broker commented at the DOJ public hearing that “Today’s sellers and buyers are more educated and more knowledgeable thanks almost entirely to the growth of the Internet.” Hopefully, your real estate website is one that is educating your market.

Like many real estate buyers, the DOJ also scanned the National Association of Realtors’ research on its website to find what real estate research people are doing on the Internet. “Features ranked as most useful among home buyers searching for a home on the Internet were photos (identified as very useful by 83 percent of home buyers), detailed property information (81 percent), and virtual tours (60 percent).”

When the Federal government realizes a trend in the real estate market, it must be a well set trend. Indeed real estate agents can review the DOJ’s April 2007 Competition In The Real Estate Brokerage Industry Report’s Section II on the Internet’s Affect On Real Estate Brokerage to see if their real estate website is offering many of the tools the DOJ has found helpful to real estate buyers and sellers.

The DOJ’s conclusion is that with greater education, broker’s fees should decrease, which, for some reason is what they are interested in seeing. A real estate agent’s conclusion from the same facts would be to make sure their real estate website is getting a good share of the potential clients’ growing use of the Internet to find agents, view property and get educated on the real estate process.

Understanding the mind of the real estate buyer gives real estate agents a great advantage in knowing how to present a property (on their real estate website and in real estate advertising). Your personal experience and advice from mentors is the best insight for your local real estate market. But understanding those buying triggers that are shared by buyers across the American market can give additional insights into properly positioning properties for prospective buyers.

The National Association of REALTORS real estate website is a deep reservoir of facts and research on all aspects of real estate transactions. The NAR polls return valuable information on buying trends. Since the NAR continually updates their surveys, real estate agents can see the changes over the years, and combine the NAR real estate website research with their own experiences to better understand their own market.

Visit NAR’s real estate website and take the Buyers Favorite Features quiz and see how well you know your buying public. Or read this entry, then take the quiz and get an “A”.

The one home feature that 75% of American buyers thought was very important was central air conditioning. The other 25% were probably from the Montana, North Dakota and Alaska real estate markets and favored radiant heat and southern exposures. The next runner-up at almost 60% was a garage for 2 or more cars. Just slightly less important than the large garage is the master bedroom walk-in closet.

As you probably found out, repeat home buyers are a lot pickier than first time home buyers. First time buyers are looking at proximity to work and size of backyard. Then, maybe after the sounds of a backyard full of children sink in, repeat buyers are more inclined to the large garage and walk-in closet. It will be interesting to see if the rise in fuel prices changes the importance of distance to work.

Repeat buyers also were more interested in energy efficient homes, except in the real estate market niche buying homes over 51 years old. The architectural style is most likely the favored feature on the older homes. Or for the price they bought the house for, one could run the heat, contribute to global warming through the air leaks and still come out ahead.

Ironically, kitchens are one area people fix up to increase the value of their home and yet almost half of all home buyers remodel or make improvements to the kitchen within the first three months of their purchase. Other home improvements made to make the house feel more like a home (to the tune of slightly over $4000) were bathrooms, bedrooms, and new appliances and lighting.

The buying of one story and two story homes was very close at 47% and 44% respectively. Predictably, the older home buyers favored the single story home. This leaves us to deduce that the time honored tradition of sending the kids to the basement is still strong.

Finally, what most buyers wish they had a greater quantity of? Storage. Anywhere it could be added, in closets, garages, and a larger kitchen. Have you ever noticed at parties, that people have these great dens and family rooms for social events, but everyone always gravitates back to the kitchen? America seems to be figuring that one out. Can’t fight the race memory of gathering around the fire, I guess.

Checking survey findings with your own experience is a good way to help triangulate where your local real estate market is heading and where the best real estate opportunities may be.

The National Association of REALTORS has consistently surveyed America’s real estate buying public. By comparing the NAR’s 2004 and 2007 home buyers surveys, several interesting trends are emerging that should be taken into account.

Technology has had an effect on home buyers’ want lists. With the drop in prices of large screen TVs and the ease of storing DVDs, media rooms were the most significant change since the 2004 survey. In 2004, 41% of the buyers looked for media rooms versus 57% in 2007. A cable ready house also moved up on the want list.

Possibly as a sign of the success of the advertising by home improvement stores, hardwood floors and granite counter tops are also becoming more of a desired feature. Granite counter tops were once the domain of high end homes, but with the Chinese manufacturing getting a larger piece of the American pie, granite counters are becoming more affordable.

Another slight change over the three years was the average home size and age. Homes tended to be 100 square feet larger and three years younger. In 2004, the average home was built in 1989. In 2007, the average home was built in 1995. It would be interesting to correlate those dates with the age of neighborhoods and subdivisions in your local area.

The desire for larger garages also increased 16% over the three years of the study. At the same time, investment in storage units has stayed strong. Hmmm, do we buy things just to store them?

Interestingly, the NAR findings correlate with findings about the changing social trends in the US. The trend of more people are seeking entertainment at home and shopping via websites with their keyboards may match the media rooms and less of a concern for how far one lives from shopping centers.

Another trend, called Egonomics by trend tracker Faith Popcorn, is reflected in the NAR survey. People are moving to customize their world, from the color of the walls, flooring in the family room, pictures on their cell phones, to getting their news through real estate web sites and RSS feeds and not newspapers.

With a few changes in trends, the real estate market still appears to be operating under the “please the customer” principle - 90% of the home buyers in the 2007 survey were satisfied with their home purchase. Good job real estate agents of America!

An effective website can sell mortgages and real estate in this economy, but real estate agents and mortgage lenders can also improve their market standing by using their websites to educate home buyers in several areas to help the buyers’ positioning in the mortgage process:

• Get credit scores above 720 - give tips on how to clean up credit and position credit card debt to look the best,
• Stay with their current job until the mortgage closes on the house - length of work and steadiness is now a larger part of the lending equation, and
• Build a financial war chest in some way (”Mom I know I haven’t asked for money since I left college…”) - be prepared to put 5 - 10% down on the house.

Some experts are predicting that the current real estate market will not turn around until 2009. If the dollar continues its downward slide, it may be that new niche markets are created as the US economy gets boosted by petro dollars, Fire Ring currencies, euros and rubles invested in the real estate market, most likely luxury homes and commercial real estate. Real estate websites have a tremendous advantage over traditional advertising in that their market is international. Google searches in Tokyo for “[your town] real estate” may come right to your website.

Historically, Americans prove to be smart shoppers in the long term. As the saying goes, “Bad money chases out good money”, wealth flees from the falling greenback to financial solid ground, such as real estate. With the help of the Fed, second homes or vacation cabins are being viewed as a better long term investment than savings accounts.

All the turbulence in the market is a strong argument for a well designed real estate website or mortgage website that positions itself in the minds of the active local real estate market. Use all the available website tools to educate and make known your expertise and availability. As your 24/7 calling card, your website can make it easy to do business with you!

The national real estate economy, as regularly reported in the news, is a fiction. Several real estate economy fallacies continue to exist that main stream media regularly report and treat as facts. Being aware of these misleading “facts” can help you deal with unrealistic fears or hopes that your clients may bring to a real estate transaction. What are these smoke screens?

First: There is no “national” real estate market. Real estate agents have long known that there are only local or niche real estate markets based on location. In the national real estate economic picture, the sum does not reflect a good portion of the parts.

Word on the street is that the Miami condominium market is caput in 2007 and 2008 due to speculation buying and overbuilding. True to a certain extant. However, the Miami condominium market is actually three markets based on location, the size of the condominium, and the income/wealth of the prospective buyers. The top end condominium market for large square footage and a large balcony is hot property in this down market. The buyers are not speculators, but overseas buyers who want the warm climate and relative low prices (due to central bank downward manipulation of the dollar).

Staying aware of the real trends in the market and not allowing the press to blind you to selling opportunities allows you to tailor your website and advertising to the active markets. But then, even the down markets have their buyers in investors looking for undervalued properties.

Second nonsensical fact: The real estate market has boom and bust cycles like the stock market. Stocks can be bought and sold in seconds, even programmed to have computers automatically react to stock price changes. So the stock market can have wild swings even within its long term trends. However, the real estate market moves to a much slower drummer.

The real estate market trends never boom or bust. They move slowly up or down, but in the end, usually trend upward. Even with in the overall trend the commercial and residential markets move in different directions. Unlike stocks, properties take days and months to change hands. Taking a bare plot of land and developing a house or subdivision takes months to years. Also, as long as central banks and governments play with fiat currency to keep the slow boil under the frog, real estate and commodities will always be a safe and sage harbor for wealth.

Also, with a longer buy/sell cycle, the demographic changes in the market cause the local markets to continually move counter to the general trend. In today’s market, most baby boomers are moving out of the colder climes affecting the slump in the California, Nevada and Florida real estate markets and heating up the small house and condominium markets. People are getting married later in life leading to more demand in rentals, small houses and condominiums for singles. Another big question in the market is the rate of immigration. Given the fickleness of Congress, another “amnesty” is most likely in the works, allowing millions to legally buy property.

Third misleading idea: There are times when it is bad to enter the real estate market. There is always a time to ignorantly enter any market. But to an educated real estate investor, any market has its buying and selling opportunities.

As an experienced real estate agent, always trust your knowledge and instincts on the real estate economy instead of the statistics quoted in the news. So when you read the news on the economy remember Evan Esar’s observation that statistics is “The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures”. That remains as true as ever in regarding today’s real estate economy.

As a Realtor, how do you position your real estate website to stay relevant in a sea of constant changes? The nature of the real estate market is that it is constantly moving. Houses go up for sale, houses get sold. Match your website marketing to your real estate market.

According to the US Census Bureau, in 2005 - 2006, 61% of the people who moved in the United States, moved to another home within the same county. Since someone you helped move three years ago may be ready to move again, position part of your website marketing to the target market of past clients. Does your website have something to attract former clients or their referrals?

Remember, your real estate website’s key asset is its ability to target specific markets through the use of keywords and key phrases. A keyword is simply a word internet users type in to a search engine to find your website. Make a list of all the possible markets and check to see if your site has a page that addresses that market. A sample list might read:

• retiree market looking to buy a smaller home closer to grocery stores and safe evening activities;
• growing families looking for larger home in area with good schools;
• counter culture herbologists looking for large basements; (OK, take a pass on that)
• aging families looking to move to neighborhood with better high school or closer to the university;
• successful businesses ready for bigger quarters or a new store near a growing market; or
• job change related moves - closer to mass transit.

Each of these markets can be addressed with a content-rich web page, out-bound links to local community and school information websites, or in-bound links from sites that are highly ranked by the search engines, such as a chamber of commerce.

Discipline your marketing to only address one real estate market per page. If you target several real estate markets on one page, the search engines do not discern one clear keyword to rank on which to rank the page.

Once you have your list of markets, develop a list of keywords for each market. Use a search engine, like Google or Yahoo, to test and refine your keywords. Type in the keywords and see how many pages come up. You can also research with Google Adwords or WordTracker. An example of keyword refining is to see if more people in your area search for a home under “California real estate” or “California homes for sale”. It may seem that the keywords would rank the same, but we have found that the East Coast and the Rocky Mountain states tend to have very decided preferences on their keyword searches.

Your real estate website is the rock in the stream of property changing hands. Cast as many fishing lines into that stream as you can think up. Make sure the stream doesn’t pass you by.

The best real estate agent websites are designed to reach many real estate markets, as diverse as the residential and commercial real estate markets, but not necessarily all at once. An effective real estate website design is constructed so each unique market is addressed with different landing pages. With a separation of markets, the sales leads captured are easily segregated and can be appropriately responded to by a real estate agent.

Are you targeting commercial real estate markets, residential markets, condominiums, or mixed neighborhoods such as in planned unit developments? The larger the city, the more niche markets there are to target. For instance, in the Florida real estate market there is the Miami market, within that is the condominium market, which has at least three areas: the lower income, middle income/working retiree market and then the high price market.

The nature of real estate Internet marketing is that the more you can tailor your landing pages to a market, the number of leads goes down, but the quality of the leads goes way up. So in the above example a keyword usage of “Miami condominiums” would draw more leads than “Miami luxury condominiums”. If the luxury condominium market is your target, there would be a higher percentage of qualified sales leads visiting your page targeted to this market. Since real estate markets are rather fractured, it pays to target as close a market as you can per landing page. In the post-2007 condominium market in Miami, the lower and middle pricing market went soft, but the luxury market remained hot with an influx of buyers using European currencies. As a wise real estate agent with a newer website, you want your website investment to boost you on the profitable “Miami luxury condominiums” keyword and not necessarily spend money trying to capture a high rating on broader “condominium” or “real estate” market searches.

In a similar manner, real estate agents in niche California real estate markets are taking advantage of targeting the markets heated up by an influx of currencies from around the Fire Ring. The Asian Dragon has an appetite for California real estate! Certain markets in Vancouver, British Columbia are enjoying an upsurge created by both the Asian currencies and the Olympics.

The commercial real estate market is similarly divided into sub-markets. Make sure your keywords and content are targeting particular markets as well as the broad commercial markets. Buyers of commercial real estate may be investors or REITs looking for income property or an entrepreneur whose growing company needs a larger building or a better location. Each of these buyers has a different interest. Use landing pages with keywords that address all different areas to attract your leads.

Experimenting with keyword population of your website’s content, including blogs or neighborhood news pages, and monitoring of your website’s traffic and lead generation are key to making sure your real estate website investment is bringing you the highest financial reward possible.

The real estate economy is one of the most fragmented markets in world. The use of an experienced real estate agent is the greatest aid to understanding the real estate trends in the local economy. While headlines report the up or down movement of the broad real estate market trends, neighborhoods and niche markets can be moving against the major trends. Make sure the home for sale you are interested in is on an upward trend.

Though the real estate economy can suffer downturns or “corrections”, real estate is a durable investment - well-constructed buildings can last for decades and the land itself has a proven track record of staying power. For this reason, real estate tends to be a long-term investment. The two main areas of an area’s real estate economy are the residential and the commercial real estate market. These markets usually have different boom and bust cycles.

Commercial real estate has a longer economic cycle. The added feature of commercial property, besides its equity accruing property is that during the life of the building its commercial use also brings a financial return.

Residential real estate markets often lag the surrounding commercial building cycle. The influx or loss of area businesses acts as a market driver or brake for the local economy, affecting real estate transactions and new construction.

An unofficial way to check on an areas real estate economy is to check on Google Adwords to see how often people search for real estate or homes for sale in a certain area. A lot of keyword searches for a particular suburb may mean that the pricing is higher, but that the properties in that area are more desirable.

Three additional drivers of a an area’s market trend is the type of economic returns that investors are looking for when acquiring property:

• Its equity appreciation;
• Its positive cashflow (buying an industrial or multi-family rental property), or
• Its tax advantages.

A downturn in the property prices has long term repercussions since a home buyer or property investor may owe more on a property’s mortgage than the property is worth. This slow-down in property buying causes a further decrease in value of area properties. On the other hand, governments have long realized the value of a successful urban renewal and giving tax advantages to neighborhood developers. The amount of investment into an area causes positive effect on the area property values, leading to more healty market-driven investments.