An analysis of how the home purchase process has changed for buyers and realtors since 1995. Utilizes the Resrouce/Ammirati Customer Journey Map within Duarte SlideDocs format.

1. Digital Home Search…
A Better Experience for
Buyers and Realtors
​Dana Halicki and Ian Schambach
​Digital Marketing ML7208
​Fisher College of Business

2. Pre-Digital era left little time for
value adding activities03
table of contents
Technology enables efficiency in
early stages of the consumer
decision journey
04
Search & Discover phases
revamped05
Innovations in "Assess”
06
How “buy” has evolved
07
Meaningful enhancements to the
Consume and Influence phases08
A look at the different elements of the
customer journey and how they have
changed with digital tools and experiences.

3. 3
Prior state of the home buying process
left buyers and real estate
professionals frustrated.
​Majority of realtor’s time spent sifting through home
listings rather than adding value for their clients.
​In the pre-digital era, listing books published exclusively to realtors on a weekly basis
gave them access to the housing market. This exclusivity meant potential buyers
were required to work with realtors to see what was for sale or spend hours
physically driving through an area of interest in search of “for sale” signs.
​Real estate agents spent the majority of their time on the search process. It was a
challenge to identify which buyers were the most serious and most likely to complete
a home purchase. Given agents are compensated based on commission from home
sales and purchases, this imbalance created the risk for realtors to waste time with
clients who were not serious about purchasing a home.
Pre-digital era left little time for value adding activities.
​AZCentra.com; The Digital H
​Home buyers who did not have direct
access to home listings were
dependent on the responsiveness of
their agent during the search process.
​In addition, home buyers were
required to be physically present for
much of the home buying process
including steps such as home
inspections and signing legal papers.
​Lack of control and the constraints in
the process made home buying
stressful for buyers and realtors.

4. 4
From 1995 to 2005, technology use by
realtors increased from 2% to 97%.
​Realtors shift from providing
information to providing the context
and interpreting the information that
is freely available.
​Digitization and consolidation of many
regional Multi-Listing Services opened the
doors for simplified access to information
once only available to real estate agents.
​Many other sources are now digitized
 Many more property photos, inside & out
 Satellite images, Birds-eye-view, street-view
 County Auditor property records
 School ratings, crime statistics, recent
sales and estimated value trends
Technology enables efficiency in early stages of the consumer decision journey.
​NAR 2012 survey; Realtor Magazine, Zillow.com
1993 Digital kiosks in California drug stores show realtor bios and simple listings in the area
1999 Realtor.com launches as online searchable home listing advertisements
2004 Map based listings at Redfin.com (pre-Google Maps)
2005 Trulia.com launches with Google Maps & 5 filters
2006 Zillow.com launches with Satellite & ‘Birds Eye View’
2008 Sites add mortgage and financing tools
2009 iPhone apps and addition of rental listings
2007 Trulia has ability to save properties & email alerts

5. 5
​Pre Digital
​In the pre digital world there were several ways to search and discover homes: drive
by search, engage with a real estate agent, listen to a friend or search newspaper
ads. Buyers relied heavily on personal recommendations throughout the process for
key decisions such as identifying an agent who was likely to be a good fit.
 Realtor led searches were based on criteria captured from the potential buyer. For
a number of reasons, the homes selected were not always a match and caused
friction between the buyer and realtor.
 Buyer frustration resulting from limited information contained in news paper ads
and an unpredictable volume of home listings in neighborhoods of interest made
buyer led searches time consuming and often unproductive.
​Ultimately, the search and discover part of the process was time consuming and
frustrating for both parties.
​Digital World
​Sophisticated search capability allows
potential buyers to refine their home
search based on criteria most
important to them such as:
 Home characteristics
 School district statistics
 Neighborhood desirability
​Resources such as Zillow, Trulia and
Redfin create a window of easy
discovery that did not exist in the past.
Consumers utilize the tools even when
they are not actively searching for
their next home.
Search & Discover phases revamped.
​2013 Digital House Hunt joint study from NAR and Google
9 in 10 home buyers turn to the
internet as a primary research source.

6. 6
97% of all buyers are satisfied with
their home purchase.
​Pre Digital
​Assessment based on in-person tour
of the house and gut feeling about the
town and neighborhood.
 First view of the house were a
limited number of printed, low
resolution copies of photographs.
 Travel between homes to see them
in person.
 Drive the neighborhood to get an
idea for what is nearby.
 Ask neighbors to determine quality
of schools, walkability, crime, etc.
 Skip hard-to-get information
sources
Innovations in "Assess”.
​2013 survey by the National Association of REALTORS
​Digital World
​Assessment still based primarily on in-person tour and gut feelings, but now
supported by a multitude of secondary information sources and with less wasted
time on properties that fail the assessment earlier in the process.
 30+ high resolution digital images of the interior and exterior. Some homes
provide ‘virtual tours’. These extensive views of the property allow for better
expectations before visiting and sometimes remove a property from consideration
with limited wasted time from all parties.
 Satellite, Birds Eye and street-view images of the property from multiple angles
 County Auditor’s online history of the property including: prior home sales history,
known upgrades, changes in assessed value, school district, tax history,
 School ratings, crime statistics, walkability score, recently sold nearby homes,
Comparable home listings, number of viewers of that house, neighborhood home
value predictions, estimated cost and links to utilities providers
 Past 10 years of estimated home values (and others) for this house, this zip code.

7. 7
Opportunities still exist in the
buy phase of the process.
​Pre Digital
​Purchase offers made during the
buying process were drafted by the
realtor and presented to the seller via
phone call or in person.
​If the buyer was not preapproved for a
mortgage, home buyers used a limited
search to find a local bank and
applied in person for a mortgage.
Paperwork and closing transactions
were completed in person and
required both buyers and sellers to be
present.
​Digital
​With the advancements made in the
search and assess process, realtors
have become an even more valuable
part of the buying process.
​Digital capabilities of banks have
allowed buyers to be better
consumers of home mortgages as
they are able to more easily compare
mortgage offers online.
In addition, digital signatures help to
ensure authenticity when a client is
out of town or unavailable to meet for
key signing events such as closings.
​Additional Opportunities
​Home loans, mortgage calculator and
home buying assistance are leading
search phrases related to the home
buying process. Better connection
between banks, income information
and tax filings would create an even
more seamless mortgage process for
buyers.
“We have become more of an
advocate for our clients,
helping to get them through
the home buying process with
ease and knowledge,”
Reiland, AZ Associate Broker
How “buy” has evolved.

8. 8
Technology in other industries
has had a positive impact on
home buying!
​The final phases of the
home buying journey have
changed with new digital
tools and resources.
​Home buyers have the
opportunity to post reviews of
real estate and home builder
referrals for other future home
buyers to access easily on the
web.
​Additional tools such as
Pinterest and HGTV online
have changed the way home
buyers consume and
influence other home buyers.
These forums give new home
owners the opportunity to
easily connect with other
home owners and designers
to influence the consume and
influence parts of the home
buying journey.
​
​
Meaningful enhancements to the Consume and Influence phases.

9. ​Go buckeyes.
​Beat Minnesota.
thank you

10. 10
Resource Ammirati’s Customer Journey
​http://www.resourceammirati.com/2012/07/updating-the-outdated-consumer-journey/
Appendix

11. 11
Sources
Appendix
• Google & Compete Home Shopper Study, 2011; Google &
Compete New Home Shopper Study, 2012
• 2012 National Association of REALTORS® survey
• http://realtormag.realtor.org/technology/feature/article/200
6/03/computers-changed-real-estate-unforeseen-ways
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Move_(company)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realtor.com
• https://www.realtown.com/saul/blog/realtorcom/early-
history-of-realtorcom-a-chronology-of-events
• http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&si
d=aJtiDRRWLJcc
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redfin
• http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/real-
estate/2014/04/14/technology-real-estate-west-
valley/7698743/
• http://www.realtor.org/sites/default/files/Study-Digital-House-
Hunt-2013-01_1.pdf
Timeline Data:
1993 - Drug store based kiosks in California with digital 1 page displays of
Realtors and homes they had for sale viewable in exchange for your name &
phone number.
1999 - Realtor.com launches an online, searchable home listings from 900+
independent MLS listings from across the country.
2004 - Redfin.com launches map-based realestate listings (before invention
of Google Maps or similar) and a salary rather than commission based selling
structure that allows 25% of the commission fee to be refunded to seller.
2005 - Trulia launch.
2005 - Google Maps launch
2006 - Zillow.com, supported by 180 newspapers, launches and includes
satellite and ‘birds eye view’ imagery for ‘entertainment purposes’ on famous
homes.
2007 - Google adds ‘street view’
2008 - Zillow adds mortgage and home financing tools
2009 - Zillow adds rental market listings.
2009 - Zillow launches their iphone app
2013 - Realtor.com starts listing non-realtor provided properties to keep up
with competitors like Zillow.com and Trulia.com
Currently:
Zillow.com has data on over 110 million homes across the US