While ad spending is on the rise, newspapers are suffering from a decrease
in ad dollars. Today, 54% of people choose the Internet over the newspaper to
look for a home. For that reason alone, if you are not dividing your
advertising dollars with at least a nod to this reality, you are throwing good
money away.

I was recently at an industry trade gathering in San Francisco listening in as brokers and
agents explained to the audience how their marketing dollars are shifting. Ken
Baris, President of Jordan Baris, Inc. Realtors, spoke about the Internet and
how it affected his company. “We receive
10 percent of our business from the web. We are now budgeting upward of 25
percent of our advertising dollars online.” The Internet is enabling a whole new behavior. It allows home buyers and
sellers to begin their research months in advanced and prior to even contacting
a real estate agent. If an agent is positioned correctly, they can begin to
harness the power of these consumers and get in front of them months before
they make a decision on whom to work with.