Gen X: A different type of home buyer

Kate Jackson, a correspondent for the Boston Globe, wrote an interesting story earlier this week about the differing ways in which members of the so-called Generation X buy homes. You can read the stoy here.

It seems Gen Xers rely on the Internet to handle most of the tasks involved in the house-hunting and -buying process.

The story includes an example of one Gen X buyer who found his new home online, used the Internet to research what the home’s previous owners had paid for it and further researched the ideal asking price for the residence by using spreadsheets. He further investigated his potential new home by using images from Google Earth and made his offer through the Web-based brokerage Redfin.

None of this should surprise anyone who follows the real estate industry. According to the 2007 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, more than eight out of 10 home buyers used the Internet in their home search last year. That’s a big, big increase from 1995, when only 2 percent of buyers used the Internet in their search for housing.

Home buyers are changing. That means the real estate business is, too. Today, most every real estate agent has some Web presence. Some, of course, do a much better job than others of using the Web as a sales and information tool. In  the future, though — and I’m talking the not too distant future here — expect even more agents to understand how important the Web truly is.