The home search for many households with school-aged children is still going strong into the fall, as many buyers are faced with low inventory and rising prices. In fact, a new survey from NAR revealed that finding the right property was the hardest task for 53 percent of buyers with children.
“In a fast moving market with fewer homes for sale and rising prices, more buyers find themselves in need of a real estate professional to help them find the right home and guide them through each step of the process,” says NAR President Tom Salomone. “Despite recent industry reports to the contrary, busy families require hands on attention and unparalleled transaction and local market knowledge and regularly turn to full-service agents, who provide a broad range of services and manage most aspects of a home purchase and sale.”With increased competition and the clock ticking for families to find the right property, it's important for agents to know how to assist this demographic of buyers.
A major factor influencing this type of buyer, not surprisingly, is the the location and quality of nearby schools. Fifty percent listed school quality as the most important neighborhood factor when buying, and 46 percent said that convenience to good schools was the most important thing when choosing a neighborhood.
So what do buyers with children want from an agent? First and foremost they want easy access to mobile-friendly real estate information. They also shared these communication preferences:
- Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they want agents to update them with property information via text.
- 56 percent want to communicate with their real estate agent via email.
- Thirty percent of buyers say its important that agents have a mobile-friendly site where they can look at properties.
- Since many buyers are aware of the lack of inventory, they also expect agents to be proactive with property information. 77 percent of respondents said these activity updates were very important to them and wanted to be kept in the loop as much as possible.
For agents working with sellers with children, the top thing to keep in mind is the sense of urgency. A whopping 69 percent said they needed to sell their home somewhat or very urgently. These clients say they needed to sell within a specific timeframe (22 percent) and need help pricing their home competitively (19 percent). When finding their agent, 46 percent of sellers with children preferred to get a recommendation from someone they knew.
Source: NAR
