The following statistics are provided by the National Association of Realtors (NAR):

• 90% of consumers did online research before they bought their last home.
• 36% of buyers found the home they ended up purchasing on the internet, while only 2% of buyers found their home in the newspaper.
• 63% of Agents marketing budget still goes to offline advertising (newspaper, flyers, etc).
• Consumers’ looked at an average of 12 homes over a period of 12 weeks before purchasing.

Are you staying in touch long enough to capture a relationship with an online lead?

• 89% of consumers said that response time was very important when choosing their agent.
• 56% of consumers expect a response from their agent within 30 minutes.

Online Consumers understand that the internet is an immediate medium. Are you succeeding with your online leads? Do you have a hole in your business model? What is your average response time?

• 88% of Buyers said they would use their agent again or recommend their agent to others (66% said definitely, 22% said probably).
• Only 10% of Buyers used an agent they had used previously.
• 81% of Sellers said they would use their agent again or recommend their agent to others (59% said definitely, 22% said probably).
• Only 24% of Sellers used an agent they had used previously.

The vast majority of consumers — 66% of buyers and 59% of sellers — say they would “definitely” use their real estate agent again or recommend that person to others. Yet only 10 percent of buyers and 24 percent of sellers say they used the same real estate professional that they worked with for their previous transaction. Why is there a disconnect? One reason, undoubtedly, is a lack of consistent communication.

Your day is busy and your time is important.  Make sure that you aren’t letting your clients fall through the cracks.  If you don’t have the time to maintain these high levels of contact, let a drip email system lend a helping hand.  Consumers need constant reminders of who you are, what you do and what does that mean for them.

Make sure you provide the right level of contact.

Share your videos on Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, or other networks
12second is a cool app that makes it super easy to share your videos on Twitter and Facebook. Plus they have widgets and embed codes to share on your blog or Myspace, Tumblr, or anywhere else.

Why only 12 seconds?
Because anything longer is boring. The scientists at the 12seconds dodecaplex have conducted countless hours of research to determine the precise amount of time it takes for boredom or apathy to set in during typical Internet video viewing. Their patent pending Electro-Tear-Duct Prongers have determined that exactly 12 seconds of video is the ideal amount of time to keep anything interesting. Are you buying this? I am

Applications for Real Estate Agents
How about a 12 second video of each room – immediately uploaded to Twitter? How about a 12 second market report? Any other ideas out there?

I just downloaded the new app from walkscore.com and must say, it is pretty cool.  Some of my favorite features include:

• It’s Free!
• Will find nearby Starbucks in a hurry
• Directions to the amenity of your choice
• GPS will map your location
• Includes restaurant reviews

For all you iphone junkies out there, this is one to get!

Have you seen the mobile app from SmarterAgent.com? This looks like a really cool app. I recommended that my mom “The Broker” get it for her office so we can see how well it works. Anyone have a success story about this product? I can really see how useful it can be for buyers.