A new study reveals online home buyer and seller insights, showing that one in four leads received through RealEstate.com’s lead generation system closes a transaction within a year, though not all of those leads closed with a RealEstate.com agent.
The study was conducted by Real IQ on behalf of RealEstate.com and examined more than 100,000 Internet leads generated by the company for its agent network between April 2004 and September 2004.
“The evidence is mounting: the online channel is proving its worth and real estate agents who tap into Internet leads can realize tremendous success,” said Andrew Taylor, general manager, RealEstate.com Agent Network.
Among the study’s findings:
- Sixty-five percent of the evaluated closings occurred within six months of customers completing their online request; 31 percent closed in months three and four.
- Many online customers begin their research prematurely, but will still remain motivated enough to close within one year of completing a request online: 34 percent of the evaluated transactions closed between months seven through 12.
- Leads that passed the RealEstate.com’s filtering system were 63 percent more likely to close than those that weren’t accepted. The proprietary four-point contact system focuses on contacting, connecting and confirming the information for each customer before it is passed on to the agent.
The study focused only on leads with correct addresses, contact info and areas where RealEstate.com agents practice. Real IQ compared the name and address provided by each customer to the information listed in available county public records data. Qualifying leads matched one or more residential property transactions recorded during the 12 months following the date of lead submission.
RealEstate.com is owned and operated by LendingTree. The company offers lead generation programs to real estate brokers and agents.
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