Don't let information overload harm your ability to make good decisions and be careful about where you look online!
Active Adults Realty Broker/Owner Kathy Sperl-Bell discusses the best sources of information when buying a home and how you can avoid information overload.
Help! I have information overload. Hi, this is Kathy Sperl-Bell at Active Adults Realty in Delaware, and there is so much information out there, especially online, that it is overwhelming. And what's the impact of all that information? Is it helpful? Well, what Wikipedia says is the difficulty of understanding an issue and effectively making decisions when one has too much information. So not necessarily helpful.
So what is the source of your information? Friends? Friends of friends? Family? Online research? And if it is online research, what sites are you using? What's the true source of the information, and is the person contributing that information an expert, or is it just based on personal opinion?
Obviously, I use the internet all the time. When I was preparing to do this particular article and video, of course I went online and I searched for information overload in real estate. I came across a really great website by a local REALTOR in Sanpete County, Utah. His name is David Sedlak, and he made some really good suggestions that I'm going to share with you here. And one of them, of course, use a local website. His website is homeinsanpete.com, and if you're going to be searching in Delaware, I'm going to recommend you use ActiveAdultsDelaware.com. We have no advertising and if there is a property for sale anywhere in Delaware, you will be able to find it on activeadultsdelaware.com as well as a lot of other useful information.
Another thing that David recommended was using realtor.org or realtor.com if you wanted to search just some more general information about real estate, about the process. Very helpful, realtor.org or realtor.com.
Like me, David does not recommend Zillow or Trulia. They're advertising-supported sites and you may find a lot of inaccurate or outdated information. For location research, he likes Google Maps and Google Earth, a great way to research the general area that you are considering.
On his website, he provides links to local financial companies, home inspection companies, other local businesses which we also do in our business directory. And I want you to understand that any business we list there, any recommendation we make, we gain absolutely no financial benefit. It's the result of past satisfaction on our part and past clients.
Another source I found online for some great statistics is the home buyer and seller generational trends report for 2018. Now, the National Association of Realtors does this kind of research on a regular basis, and it was interesting to see this latest report where I found just how different every market can be. They say all real estate is local. Well, Delaware's market is obviously quite different than the national average because they quoted that for folks between 53 and 71, when they're buying a new home, they're typically only buying about 15 to 30 miles away from where they currently live. Big, big difference for us, and it seems like 65 to 69% do not move from the state in which they live. So obviously with our buyer clients primarily coming from D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, we defy the national averages.
But 93 to 95% of folks in this age group are doing the research online at least initially whether they're moving locally or whether they're moving long distance. But here's another interesting statistic that said that in this age group, 53 to 71, the average length of the home search process is 10 weeks. Well, we are definitely very different there because we find that the people we're working with, they start two to three years ahead, so perhaps that difference is because so many of our buyer clients are relocating to another state.
So, that's the main reason we focus on providing what we hope is useful information to you via these blogs and these videos. If you're planning to relocate, let's say for example from New York or New Jersey and you're considering Delaware or North Carolina or South Carolina, what are some things you cannot learn online? Number one, you cannot learn what a 10-hour drive feels like when you want to go see your grandkids frequently. Number two, you can't learn that no matter how long you live there, you will never be from the south.
So, start your research online, but find a local expert to help you through this process especially if you're moving to a new area.
When searching for homes in Delaware, it's best to get in touch with a local expert. Contact Active Adults Realty today and schedule a consultation with one of our awesome agents.