Survey Finds Some Prefer S&Ls;, Banks for Real Estate Dealings

Nearly one in every five U. S. households is interested in buying and selling real estate through a bank or savings & loan, according to a study presented last week at a conference in Los Angeles sponsored by the Inter-Financial Assn.

Kenneth Kehrer, an independent consultant with offices in Princeton, N. J., presented the study which estimates that 7.8 million households would be likely to use real estate services where they bank if those services become available in the near future. The long-run potential market is 14.7-million households or 18.5% of all U. S. homes, he concluded.

Responding to this finding, Richard R. Rosenthal, president-elect of the California Assn. of Realtors, said, “Based on their study, it shows that 80% of the people prefer to deal with their realtors.” He indicated that his association would like to study Kehrer’s data before drawing other conclusions.

Kehrer has stated that his research was based on a recently released national survey of consumer financial activity conducted by the Federal Reserve Board and Comptroller of the Currency. “The demand is concentrated in the middle- and lower-income market,” he elaborated. “Upscale and affluent households tend to be less likely interested in banks and S&Ls; as real estate agents.”