MLS most used Internet resource for homebuyers

NAR's survey of buyers and sellers reveals most find agents through referrals

BY INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012.

Inman News®

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Multiple listing service (MLS) websites were used by more homebuyers when searching for their home than any other source of online information, including third-party listing sites and mobile apps, according to the National Association of Realtors' 2012 survey of 8,501 homebuyers and sellers.

Fifty-four percent of the homebuyers who used the Internet (90 percent of respondents) to help them find a home used their local MLS site, according to the survey, conducted in June 2012 and representing the 12 months spanning July 2011 to the end of June. All respondents had purchased a home in that time period.

Big data is here to stay Analytics can help predict which website visitors will close

BY ANDREA V. BRAMBILA, MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2012 Inman News®

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Real-time data of human behavior is an increasingly valuable resource real estate professionals should take advantage of, according to panelists at the Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco.

The ability to track consumer habits both online and offline keeps advancing with technology -- a boon to marketers who want to find and engage with a target audience.

"You've got to embrace it because it's not going anywhere," said Jed Katz, managing director of Javelin Venture Partners. "The concept of putting the right ad on the right device for the right person in a way that's not creepy" is more and more important, Katz said.

Michael Chui, a principal at McKinsey Global Institute, noted that since the advent of the multiple listing service, data has continued to increase at an exponential rate.

"We're seeing a diversity of sources of data: social media, all kinds of sensors out there. (And of an) increasingly real-time nature," Chui said. Data is also being used in new ways, particularly for marketing and forecasting or "now-casting" purposes, he said.

How to solve the stimulus-austerity gridlock | Commentary: Reining in health care costs would boost economy

BY LOU BARNES, FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 Inman News®

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Markets show justifiable concern at a steady flow of soft data all over the world, but it's hard to figure disappointment that the Federal Reserve did nothing dramatic this week.

The Fed's QE (quantitative easing) operations have been designed to pull down long-term interest rates, to prevent runs on banks, and to ease credit. In the last 80 days the run from Europe has accomplished Jobs One and Two, cutting 10-year T-note yields by one-third, and all but drowned the U.S. system in cash.

Euro breakup wouldn't spell disaster | Commentary: Fed will be free to take necessary measures

BY LOU BARNES, FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2012 Inman News®

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Now we wait. Greek election results will begin trickling in Sunday afternoon and who-knows-what explosion at the opening of Asian markets Sunday night. More likely: a few more frozen days to digest the results, and any number of empty cans kicked into nearby walls. Top Real Estate in Rockford Illinois.

The biggest event next week will be the Wednesday conclusion of the Fed's meeting. The stock market this week began to trade up on bad news (a small rise in unemployment claims, a dinky drop in industrial production) on the assumption that bad news would mean QE3 from the Fed, which must be good news for stocks no matter how ugly the reality might be.

Did Penguin eat your Google ranking? | Search algorithm changes could impact real estate listing syndication

BY BERNICE ROSS,  Inman News®

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Google recently made search ranking algorithm changes that will influence how easily potential buyers and sellers can find you online. Whether you are a brokerage or an agent who markets your real estate business online, staying on top these changes may require that you adjust your Web marketing strategy.

For the last two years I have been reluctant to touch our home page content, since RealEstateCoach.com was normally coming up in the No. 1 or No. 2 position on the three major search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) for our primary search term: "real estate coaching."