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Sell Your Home Fast
Understanding the soul of a home is important. But to a real estate agent’s mind, the foundation of all negotiations is market data.
Looking at statistics and demographics isn’t sexy. It isn’t heartfelt work. But understanding what kinds of buyers are out there is crucial to helping you sell your home quickly. At EXP, we look at regional and national data from a variety of sources to build a profile of potential buyers.
The result: We sell your home fast.
There is, of course, as much nuance to home buyer characteristics as there are home buyers in our community. However, understanding how your potential buyers fit in each of these four categories will help guide your direction and expectations of the process:
Home Buyer Characteristics
Home Purchase Characteristics
The Home Search Process
Home Buying and Real Estate Professionals
For this post, data was gleaned from the National Association of REALTORSⓇ “Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report 2021”.
Home Buyer Characteristics
Of all U.S. home buyers last year, 31% were first-time buyers. This is a relatively stable percentage, the same as the year before, although lower than the historical average.
At 24%, NAR reports buyers 41–50 made up the largest generational group of buyers, followed by buyers 31–40 at 23 percent.
As can be expected from these age demographics, most buyers are shopping as a married couple (62%). In addition, NAR says 33% of all buyers had children under the age of 18 living at home. An additional 12% of home buyers purchased a multi-generational home to take care of aging parents, because children over the age of 18 were moving back, or for cost savings.
The most common reasons for recently purchasing a home differed between the generations. For buyers under the age of 66, the main reason for purchasing was the desire to own a home of their own. Among the 66 and older age groups, the top reason to purchase was the desire to be closer to friends and family, followed by the desire for a smaller home.
Home Purchase Characteristics
Traditionally, the most common type of home purchase has been the detached single-family home. That’s still strongly the case, as it made up 81% of all homes bought. However, buyers 22–30 purchased townhomes at higher shares than other age groups.
Top considerations for their neighborhood choice include quality of the neighborhood (62%), convenience to job (45%), overall affordability (43%), and convenience to friends and family (41%).
NAR reports that home buyers only moved a median of 15 miles to their new home. The median distance moved was highest among buyers 66–95 at 35 miles, while the lowest was among those 22–55 at 10 miles.
The typical home purchased in 2020 was 1,900 square feet, had three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and was built in 1993. This is a little larger than the 1,725 sf home size reported by Zillow as the average among all homeowners. We suspect that people buying during the pandemic sought larger spaces where they could spread out.
The median home price across the U.S. in 2017 was $272,500.
The Home Search Process
The average home buyer searched for 8 weeks and viewed a median of 9 homes.
Across all age groups, the first step taken in the home search process was to look online for properties (43%), even before finding an agent (18%). Photos were the most important website feature for more than 90% buyers under the age of 55. Detailed information about properties for sale was also very important to all age groups. Buyers are also becoming more social with their home search, utilizing online video 41% of the time.
Overall, 97% of home buyers used the internet to search for homes. Following an internet home search, buyers most often walked through the home that they viewed online, followed by viewing the exterior of homes.
Home Buying and Real Estate Professionals
88% of all buyers purchased their home through an agent or broker last year. That number was even higher among younger buyers (91% of buyers under 30 and 89% of buyers 31–40).
However, despite the obvious importance of working with a real estate professional, few reviewed much selection of local agents. A full 34% of buyers interviewed only one real estate agent during their home search. Instead, younger buyers were likely to meet their agent through a referral, while older buyers preferred to work with an agent they had used previously.
More than anything, buyers want an agent’s help with the real estate process (62%). Just over half of buyers most wanted an agent that would help them find the right home. Buyers are also looking for help to negotiate the terms of sale (13%) and to help with price negotiations (11%).
Learn More about Local Home Buyers
The trends listed above are averages held at the national level. However, all real estate is local. In order to make confident real estate decisions, it’s important to have timely and neighborhood-specific information.
Contact your EXP Agent today for more information about how to attract home buyers to your home for sale in North Carolina.
All real estate is local. In order to make confident real estate decisions, we believe it is important for you to have timely and neighborhood-specific information. If you would like more information about buying a home in NC, our experts at EXP Realty are here to help. Contact us today to speak with a EXP agent about buying homes or land in North Carolina.