More buyers start online, survey says
From Times wire reports
More than half of all consumers use the Internet when buying a home, according to a survey released Tuesday by the California Assn. of Realtors.
Internet shoppers differ from traditional buyers, according to the survey, in that they spend more than twice as much time gathering information before contacting a real estate agent.
However, Internet users moved much more quickly once they began to work with a real estate professional, spending significantly less time with the agent and previewing far fewer homes than traditional buyers.
The share of buyers using the Internet reached 56% in 2004, rising steadily from 28% in 2000, the first year of the trade group’s survey.
