Internet Marketing in Real Estate (Paperback)

by Barbara G. Cox (Author), William Koelzer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Provides all of the techniques, strategies, and tactics necessary for real estate professionals and students to begin conducting effective webmarketing. Softcover. DLC: Real estate business--Marketing.

From the Inside Flap
Preface It's Here To Stay!

The numbers are staggering. We count adult Internet users by the tens of millions now. Near the end of 1999, more than 112 million people in the U.S. and Canada had Internet access. Internet commerce quickly grew into hundreds of millions of sales dollars, and U.S. online sales are projected to exceed $1.2 trillion by 2002. E-mail messages number in the trillions each year, and in December, 1999, 270 million e-mail boxes had been set up in the U.S.roughly 2.5 e-mail boxes per user.

In an average 30-day period in the Fall of 1999, approximately 74 million U.S. adults (age 18 and older), or 37 percent of the adult U.S. population, used the Internet at home or at work. This represents an increase of nearly 70 percent, up from the 43.7 million users reported by Media Mark in the Spring of 1998.

Approximately 98 million American adults had access to the Internet by late 1999, according to the same report, up 54 percent from the previous reporting period. Media Mark also reported that 50.8 percent of these users are men, 49.2 percent women.

Reports vary, however. The Nielsen Corporation, known best for its TV-ratings reports, calculated that in November of 1999 the universe of U.S. Web surfers over the age of two reached 118 million, with 74 million active during that month. These users spent 11.1 million hours on line.

Nielsen also reported that U.S. Web users logged six sessions per week, visited six unique sites, spent just over 2 hours and 46 minutes online per week, and viewed a page for an average of 56 seconds. To keep track of statistics such as these, visit the Nua Ltd.Time magazine (March 22, 1999) reported that approximately 21 million U.S. households had more than one personal computer and predicted that by 2003 that number will jump to 31 million. Home offices will grow from 37 million to 50 million by then, and the most frequent use for all those millions of PCs is, as you no doubt have already guessed, the Internet.

America Online now has over 22.2 million users—and that's only one access provider, although it is the largest single source used for connecting people to the Internet.users will spend $56 billion for access. The Internet already penetrates one-fourth of U.S. homes, and that figure is expected to rise to one-third by the end of 1999 and to two-thirds by 2003. Yankee Group says it found that "the Internet is now the No. 1 use for home computers."

Internet usage is also growing outside the U.S. Nua Ltd. estimated that as of September 1999, 201 million users were connected to the Internet worldwide. Of these, 47.15 million were in Europe and 33.61 million in Asia and the Pacific Rim.Access for What?

How are these millions of users putting the Internet to work? What do they use it for? At one time, casual observers expected the Web to be a playground dedicated to games and entertainment. Some generously noted its potential as a general information resource. But the Internet has far surpassed such notions. Fast and inexpensive communication via e-mail has become a major use, as has the buying and selling of goods and services, or "e-commerce.This equates to 9.4 billion messages exchanged every day of the year in the U.S. alone. In 1998, 81 million Americans used email. The average American sends or receives 26.4 e-mail messages every day. This, according to eMarketer, equates to 9.4 billion messages exchanged every day of the year in America alone.

Consumers have grown to trust—and expect—online commercial resources. eMarketer estimates U.S. online sales for 1999 as high as $18.6 billion and predicts that worldwide e-commerce revenues will grow from $98.4 billion in 1999 to $1.2 trillion by 2003.In November 1999, Prodigy reported that approximately one-third of small businesses in the U.S. were online.

The December, 1999, eAdvertising Report from Advertising Age reported estimated that U.S. Web advertising spending will grow from $3.1 billion in 1999 to $4.82 billion in 2000 and to $13.3 billion by 2003. While that sounds like a lot, eMarketer says that this amount will only represent 4.7 percent of the total advertising media spending for the respective years.

A January, 2000, ABCNEWS.com poll found that 44 percent of Americans plan to buy online during year 2000. That's three times the number who did so in 1999. Furthermore, these online shoppers fit a real estate agent's dream: They tend to be better educated and earn higher incomes. Among people who earn more than $75,000 in household income, for example, 72 percent say they'll buy online in the future. How much do they buy? Ernst & Young's Third Annual Online Retailing Report, December, 1999, predicted 1999 holiday-time shopping revenues of $12 to $15 billion, a figure representing nearly half of the online retail revenues for the entire year. This puts 1999 online spending at $24 to $30 billion—and the year 2000 projection at $72 to $90 billion.

What does Internet use have to do with real estate professionals? Plenty. These Internet users are potential homebuyers or sellers in your marketing area. Never before could you reach so many prospects so easily and inexpensively. Consumers Use the Web for Real Estate

That homebuyers and sellers are using Internet resources to aid them in their transactions has become abundantly clear.Furthermore, the study found that even potential homebuyers who do not currently use online services expect their Realtor® to be Internet-savvy and have clear opinions on what they expect from online real estate services.

A 1999 study conducted by Weston Edwards & Associates, Laguna Beach, CA, concluded, among other things, the following: "By 2000, half of all homebuyers will use the Internet to help them find a home and the money to finance it, compared to 40 percent last year: Realtors®, lenders, and title insurance companies are struggling to catch up with the demand for Internet services."

In some areas of the Northwest, according to a 1999 survey by John L.Three years previous to this report, only 6 percent of these executives used the Web for such purposes. The increase was steady: .19 percent of this group used the Web in 1997 for relocation assistance; 48 percent did so in 1998.

Why are homebuyers and sellers using the Web? How do they find the Internet useful? Users of the home-search site, Realtor.com, appear to be "performing the early stage of their home search on line. Yet, once they find a set of homes in which they are interested and/or they become more serious in their home search, users of online services contact a Realtor" to assist them in the home search."

In its May 1999 study, "A Profile of the Internet Buyer," the California Association of Realtors® (CAR) found that Internet-using homebuyers spend far less time on the home buying process. In fact, the study said that "Internet buyers spend half as much time (two and a half months) as do traditional buyers (five months) on the buying process—starting from the point of considering buying a home, to the time spent looking for the home with a Realtor(r), to the decision to purchase."

The study also indicated that online buyers spend half as much time looking with an agent for a home (a median of 4 weeks). Furthermore, an online buyer previews and visits only four homes, compared to eight homes viewed by a traditional buyer.

The same study reported that 71 percent of Internet buyers surveyed strongly agreed that the Internet gave them better understanding of the homebuying' process; 52 percent said the Internet helped them shop for the best deal; 76 percent claimed the Internet put them in better control of the home buying process; and 56 percent claimed the Internet helped them locate the best possible neighborhood.

The CAR study also concluded that "89% of Internet buyers used the Internet to locate real estate firms, 87% to find a specific real estate agent, 82% to preview homes, 77% to learn about rights and obligations and 75% to identify specific homes to view. Almost all (93%) of the buyers are `very likely' to use the Internet in the purchase of their next home. The remaining 7 % stated that they were `likely' to use the Internet in the future.

e's profile of users is correct, these are the Internet users whom you need to attract to your site and make happy when they get there. (See Preface Figure 1.) Tomorrow's Successful Agents Will Be Web-Proficient Agents

Most top-selling agents still rely on traditional, time-proven forms of promoting themselves—mailings to neighborhood "farms," print ads, cold calls, door hangers, etc. They devote little time or budget to Internet promotion, except perhaps to purchase a page on Realtor.com or to get a "template" Web site and put its address and that of their e-mail on their business cards.

In a handful of years, however, very few agents will fall into the top-producer category unless they have learned effective marketing on the World Wide Web. Web marketing will soon be an absolu

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (April 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130115479
• ISBN-13: 978-0130115478
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,422,947 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Notch Book, June 29, 2000

By	Kristina Morrison (Anaheim, CA United States) - See all my reviews

"Internet Marketing in Real Estate" is extremely easy to read, and easy to follow. This book's take on marketing is a must for every Realtor and Broker out there. What makes the difference between a successful Realtor and a someone who wants to be is the ability to market themselves online and off. Barbara Cox and Bill Koelzer walk you through the process completely, and with real-world examples and helpful tips that actually work.

Working with Realtors everyday, I am always asked questions about how to drive more traffic to their web site, how to market their site more efficiently, and how to maximize the effects of that traffic. After seeing all the helpful hints this book has to give, I know what to tell them... Read this book! This book can double your income and make you a successful Realtor in no time. It points out the obvious marketing tips and gently guides you in the direction of success.

I highly recommend "Internet Marketing in Real Estate". Read it today!

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Attention Realtors, Buy This Book:, August 18, 2000

By	Bob Hunt, a director of the California Associ... (San Clemente, CA) - See all my reviews

Attention Realtors, Buy This Book: "Internet Marketing in Real Estate," by Barbara Cox and William Koelzer. Don't just buy it, read it. It could help your business immensely. It also could help you overcome your apprehension about all that World Wide Web mumbo-jumbo.

Finally, it could help to free you from the intimidation of all those salespersons clad in guru's clothing who conduct seminars and office meetings, touting the latest product or service that is claimed to be "essential" for your survival in the wild-and-wooly world of real estate in cyberspace.

It has been my good fortune to have an early look at this book published by Prentice-Hall. The authors, not real estate practitioners themselves, are both spouses of web-enhanced Realtors in South Orange County.

They know whereof they speak, as both are active providers of Internet related services to Realtors, and they have both had the combat photographer's up-close view of real estate in the trenches. Their target audience will find the book both practical and appropriately written.

"Internet Marketing in Real Estate" consists of five parts:

"Creating and Building Your Internet Presence: Your Web Site"

"Getting Found" (the all-important section)

"Effective E-mail"

"Time to Get Started" (developing tasks, time-lines, and a budget)

Appendices

No technical expertise is presumed on the part of the reader. Each part that deals with Internet and marketing related concepts begins with a friendly "learning the language" section. A great deal of effort is made to explain to the reader, in plain language aided with illustrations, how things work in the initially mysterious world of Web sites, search engines, keywords, and meta-tags.

Textbook-like, "Internet Marketing in Real Estate" starts its sections with "the basics" and then develops the concepts that have been introduced. Sections end with exercises that encourage the reader to put his/her new knowledge to work.

The book also integrates related topics that are not Internet specific. Chapter 1 of Part 1 could be titled "Real Estate Marketing 101." It is important toward understanding Internet marketing concepts but that is because it is basic to marketing per se. Parts of the effective e-mail" section are straight out of basic composition. They are highly relevant.

"Internet Marketing in Real Estate" doesn't deal with all the issues that bear discussing. No book does. For example, the authors do not engage the serious questions that can be asked vis-à-vis the relative effectiveness of dollars and time spent on Internet marketing as opposed to other kinds of marketing. That is not their purpose.

When confronted with a new marketing medium, a businessperson (real estate or otherwise) must always ask the question, "If I adopt this, what will I stop doing that I am doing now?" (If the task - or the dollars - represents an addition to present efforts, rather than a replacement, then presumably it replaces something we were doing or spending in our non-business lives.)

To the credit of Cox and Koelzer, they present with great clarity the tasks and range of costs associated with various levels of involvement in Internet marketing. They provide the real estate businessperson with the information that will enable him or her to make an informed decision about this medium.

For those who have already decided that they want to make an effort at Internet marketing, the Cox and Koelzer book will provide an invaluable tool. Even the sales-focused agent who leaves the details to his marketing people and technical assistants will want this book - to give to them to read.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have!!!, July 8, 2000

By	Angie Cummings (Laguna Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This book is a necessity for any Real Estate agent who wishes to keep up with the new millennium of home buying. As a recent buyer, the first place I went to was not the paper, a flyer, or the road - it was the Internet. This book will take the reader step by step through the ins and outs of Internet marketing. It not only provides the necessary information to establish a web presence, it gives detailed instructions on how to maintain that presence and make it flourish. I found the book extremely easy to understand and felt educated enough after reading it to take action. I would highly recommend this to every Realtor! This book will help you to get a technological edge above the rest!