Some trends to look for in 2004

December’s issue of Real Estate News listed a couple of trends to look for in 2004. Some interesting stats and comments include:

Attracting the growing numbers of first-time home buyers will mean differentiating your approach for this different consumer base. According to recent NAR research, there are significant differences between first-time home buyers and repeat buyers. For example: 59% of first-time buyers received multiple rate quotes for home owners insurance more frequently than repeat buyers (41%); about 2/3 (65%) of first-timers used mortgage insurance services, compared to about half (52%) of repeat buyers.

Affluent households (those with annual earnings of at least $100,000) currently number 15 million and represent 14% of all homes in the U.S., according to a recent survey by The Conference Board. This is up from 9 million households in 1990. The growth in this sector is expected to continue over the next seven years, with affluent families accounting for 20 million households by 2010. Their spending power will top $3.5 trillion by the end of this decade. “The housing market and luxury goods market stand to benefit from rising affluence,” says Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center, “both in the purchase of second homes, vacation homes, and home furnishings and other similar industries.”

As demographics shift toward a younger, more informed, more tech-savvy home buyer, Realtors’ marketing efforts will need to evolve from purely personal promotions - i.e., a picture with their pooch - to information-based marketing. “We used to prospect for consumers,” says Realtor.com president Allan Dalton. “Now they’re prospecting for us.” Realtor.com’s upcoming educational series, “List More Save More,” will help Realtors transition toward real-world marketing. Based upon the best practices of top producers who maximize Realtor.com, Dalton says that the seminars will start with “an intense analysis of what marketing is.”

The NAR is predicting its membership will reach the 1 million mark next year, believed to be the highest number of members of any non-profit or trade association. That means more clout in Washington, D.C. In fact, every member of Congress will have on average 2,312 NAR members in his or her district. The question is, however, will the market support this many Realtors, or will survival of the fittest ensue in years to come?

Be sure to download our Realtor’s Guide to Personal Marketing to learn what marketing is and how you can use information-based marketing to attract more leads! Make sure you are one of the survivors in this overly crowded market.

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