The Role of Real Estate Professionals

Consumers still rely heavily on the expertise of real estate agents to navigate the market. More than 80 percent of home buyers purchased their property through a real estate professional. This result should not be surprising, as a home purchase is the biggest transaction most households are ever involved in. One in ten buyers purchased their homes directly through a builder or builder's agent. Even though the Internet is a popular source of information in the home search process, 83 percent of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home still relied on real estate professionals to manage the transaction.

Home buyers are consistent in their expectations of real estate agents. Buyers thought the most important agent services are helping find the right house, and negotiating sales terms and price. Because agents often are chosen based on a referral, or were used in a previous transaction, two-thirds of buyers contacted only one real estate agent in the search process. Nearly three out of ten buyers cited honesty and trustworthiness as the most important factor in choosing an agent. More than two out of ten said that the reputation of an agent was an important factor. One or the other of these two factors was considered most important for half of home buyers.

Satisfaction with real estate agents is very high among buyers. Nearly nine out of ten buyers would definitely or probably either use their agent again or recommend that agent to others. That is good news for real estate professionals. Much of their business relies on repeat clients: today's first-time home buyer is tomorrow's first-time home seller and repeat buyer.

*In August 2008, the National Association of REALTORS® mailed an eight-page questionnaire to 133,000 consumers who purchased a home between July 2007 and June 2008.