 Ever wonder if the tactic you’re taking to purchase or sell a home is the best one? Or whether anyone else has done it? What about why your neighbor’s house — the one with almost the same floor plan as yours — sold in a few weeks instead of a few months?
In 2002, the Texas Association of REALTORS® partnered with the National Association of REALTORS® in conducting its twice-yearly survey of homebuyers and sellers. The goal was to better understand the homebuying and selling experience in Texas, as well as how real estate professionals fit in those transactions.
The survey results, compiled from Texas real estate transactions in 2001, also help real estate professionals determine who their clients are, what those clients want from real estate agents, and the ways that real estate professionals can improve products and services for homebuying and selling consumers like us. Here’s what they discovered about Texans…
Texas homebuyers in 2001
Did you know that 37% of Texas homebuyers purchased a home for the first time in 2001? Or that the typical homebuyer household was a married couple, age 40 years old, with a household income of $74,200?
The most important reason for purchasing a home was the "desire to own a home." And, the typical home purchased was an existing single-family detached house located in the suburbs. In other findings:
- The typical home search took seven weeks.
- Sixty-nine percent of homebuyers in Texas used a real estate agent and/or broker to complete the home purchase transaction.
- Seventy-three percent of homebuyers said they would definitely use the same agent again in a future transaction.
Texas homesellers in 2001
On the selling side, repeat homebuyers in 2001 had been in their previous home for a median of five years. Other discoveries included that:
- Eighty-five percent of homeowners sold their previous home with the assistance of a real estate agent; 7% of homes were sold directly by the owner ("for sale by owner" or FSBO).
- Five percent of repeat homebuyers held on to their previous home for investment purposes.
- Twenty-five percent of sellers most wanted their real estate professional to "help sell the house within the seller’s time frame."
- More than two out of five FSBOs were not sure whether they would go through the FSBO experience again; 39% said they would use an agent next time.
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A note about FSBOs
Since FSBO results were a good part of the Texas survey, here’s a word about that. There are two houses for sale down the street from each other in a nice neighborhood with good schools. One was listed with a REALTOR® — a sign out front and fliers in a box for prospective buyers. The other listed by the owner himself — with a basic "for sale" sign in the front yard. Which one sold first?
Besides the Texas figures on FSBO sales, NAR also had interesting numbers on a national scale. For example, homes sold by a real estate agent captured a higher price. The median selling price of a home sold directly by an owner was $137,400, while the median selling price of a home sold by an agent was $175,000, a differential of a whopping 27%.
And, 48% of homebuyers first learned about the home they bought from a real estate agent. The next biggest sources were yard signs, at 15%; friend/neighbor/relative, 8%; the Internet, 8%; and newspapers, 7%.
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader recently made the strong statement that real estate and housing is one of the least consumer-protected areas in our country, citing figures compiled by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) that consumers overpay as much as $10 billion a year due to inadequate representation in real estate transactions.
The fact is that selling your home on your own requires a lot of time and effort — time and effort that most working professionals and busy parents just don’t have to do the job right. Consider the increasingly complex nature of real estate transactions, the time required to market a home, and security concerns that accompany inviting unscreened strangers into your home — and hiring a professional makes a lot of sense.
Whatever you decide to do in your corner of Texas, there’s a professional there to assist you in buying, selling or just testing the market. Contact friends or co-workers for recommendations, or your local REALTORS® association for information. Or visit www.TexasRealEstate.com — the consumer site of the Texas Association of REALTORS® — to search online for Texas REALTORS®. |
