Report Offers Suggestions for Homebuilders Seeking Online Traffic

Following the Super Bowl, many builders begin analyzing the traffic in their sales offices, seeking signs of future market growth, according to ""John Burns Real Estate Consulting."":http://www.realestateconsulting.com/ However, the consulting firm asserts homebuyers primarily search for homes online, and homebuilders must adjust their strategies to attract clientele.

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""The most essential ingredient to promoting any product is understanding your buyers, what they're looking for, and where they're looking for it,"" stated a recent newsletter from John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

According to the results of two recent studies John Burns conducted--one in collaboration with ""Zillow"":http://www.zillow.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=zillow.&utm_content=4239843a-6019-03a9-ebb3-000005c2652d&utm_campaign=Branded%20-%20National%20-%20mi --prospective homebuyers are looking to the internet as their No. 1 source in their home search. This remained true regardless of age, stage of life, or region.

Real estate websites such as ""Zillow"":http://www.zillow.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=zillow.&utm_content=4239843a-6019-03a9-ebb3-000005c2652d&utm_campaign=Branded%20-%20National%20-%20mi or ""Trulia"":http://www.trulia.com/ are the first resource to which prospective homebuyers turn. They rely on real estate agents secondly, followed by search engines and referrals from friends and family.

Homebuilder websites ranked fifth, beating out only newspapers as a source for homebuyers, according to the studies.

For homebuilders this means ""driving traffic back to your website needs to be done through outside channels,"" according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

Additionally, the firm recommends homebuilders make their websites accessible on mobile devices as 72 percent of survey respondents indicated they were either ""likely"" or ""very likely"" to rely on their mobile devices during their home search.

However, unique applications created by home builders are not gaining as much traction as applications from Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com, and other more general real estate applications.

In addition to finding out how and where prospective homebuyers are looking for information, the studies surveyed homebuyers on what they seek in a new home.

Regardless of price point, life stage, and region, homebuyers rank location, design, and price as their top priorities. Homebuyers did not prioritize new construction in their searches.