The 2008 Report from National Association of REALTORS provides some interesting perspectives and lessons in real estate marketing.

If you click the table to the right then you will see a larger version.

Drive-by Buyers Remain Consistent

Whilst other aspects of the industry move up and down, the proportion of buyers who seem to jump in their car and essentially drive around the neighborhood to find a house they like is remaining constant at around 15%.. Of all the methods that were measured this is the only one that remains constant.

Found via a Realtor - down 29%

Whilst this may seem cause for alarm, I don’t think it is. This is really just a result of the explosion in use of the internet and buyers searching for their own homes. I have always said that a REALTOR’s value is aiding the transaction and offering advice, not necessarily performing home searches for their clients. This, of course, is why IDX websites that allow consumers to do their own searches are now the norm.

Print, newspaper advertisement - down 50%

This was always a very small proportion of the market. However,  its probably not wise to write-off these approaches completely, especially for Brokers who need a broad marketing strategy for branding their services.  Also, I feel certain that the concept of ‘print advertising’ is pretty much the same - its just that its now done on craigslist.

Conclusions

Consumers will continue to demand access to information and services via the Internet.
Using Single Property Sites for your Real Estate Marketing will help you to take advantage of the changes in the market as SPS will automate much of your Internet marketing.
Always make sure you have a SIGN RIDER on every property to capture the interest of drive by buyers - they are not going away!