It wasn’t long ago when the internet was billed as the new reality for business. Back in the day, anything and everything was going to be replaced with online interaction.  In the eyes of the futurists, daily human interaction was to be replaced by an efficient, fast and simple online one.  While much of this prediction has fallen far short of expectation, there have been some industry sectors that have made the transition to online models quite effectively.  Real estate is, of course, one of those industries. Apart from the statistics mentioned in the pervious section, one only needs to look at modern property signage to see that URL’s have become the most prominent feature.  The reason for this is that now, more than ever, people are using the internet to shop for homes.

For real estate professionals, real estate websites have become a touchstone that prospective buyers use to educate themselves and start aligning their property needs.  The more effective and complete a real estate website is, the more frequently it will benefit from repeat visitors.  In a very real sense, real estate websites have become an integral part of the industry as a whole.

Real estate websites have become entrenched in the industry. There are several key reasons for this. Purchasing or renting real estate is one of the most important decisions people make. Rent or mortgage payments, more often then not, constitute the lion share of their monthly expenses. This drives a need for education and overall market awareness.  While traditional, offline methods exist for fulfilling this need, the internet provides a wealth of instantly available information.  Further, the information is stable. In other words, it can be accessed by visitors time and time again. The salient point being that if a visitor finds what they are looking for and deems the information creditable, they will keep coming back.   For a real estate professional having a website that can provide quality information to prospective clients looking to educate themselves engenders a working relationship. In turn, it is precisely this relationship that converts site visitors from leads into sales. 

Part of the traditional role of an agent is to assess a clients needs and present them with options that fit their criteria. Every client is different, each having unique needs, including, budget, aesthetic appeal, proximity to schools, parking concerns, color preferences, size preferences, material preferences and so on.  Therefore, a secondary function of real estate websites is to allow the customer to narrow their own field of search.  A real estate website allows clients to begin sorting listed properties by their own needs/wants.   They can then come to the table with a better understanding of what is available. 

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