Shopping, just like education, is a big factor for home buyers
“We’re doing it for the children.”
That phrase has almost become a cliche. And it’s a cliche you can’t argue against. Come on, who doesn’t care about kids?
And as a real estate professional, when it comes to kids, it’s all about schools.
Where they are located. How they rank. The student/teacher ratios.
But, here’s a hint, don’t put all your eggs in the school basket.
Because in a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors, there was one concern uncovered about home buyers that beat out schools (by a slim 1%) .
And, there’s a real-estate map based search tool, SpatialMatch, that can help you address this concern like a tech rock star.
In a survey titled, “Factors Influencing Neighborhood Choice,” the item that ranked higher than “Quality of Schools” (25%) was “Convenient to Shopping.” (26%).
Those weren’t the number one concerns. The highest concern was an obvious one – “Quality of the Neighborhood.” (61%)
Then, you are not buying anything without a job, so “Convenient to Job” was next with a rank of 43%.
“Affordability of the Homes” was the next concern at 39%. You’re not going to live there if you can’t afford and if you do choose to live there, you want to make sure you are not too far away from “Family and Friends” (35%).
But location of stores and shopping was next. As we mentioned, slightly above schools.
This is where you can shine as agent or broker with SpatialMatch embedded in your site.
First, you can pick out all the obvious shopping destinations – supermarkets, drugs stores, convenient stores.
So when you pull up a property on SpatialMatch, you can point out the Publix or Trader Joe’s, the Walgreens or CVS and the 7-11 or Chevron.
But if you did deeper with your clients, perhaps there are other types of stores they are interested in.
Back to the subject of kids (they never do go away, do they?) What about clothes for school? Mom’s going to be running to the Targets and JC Penney’s for those, all the time.
Point out on SpatialMatch where she can run to the store to buy that last minute dress or socks or jacket.
What about the lady who is just into fashion for the sake of fashion? Where are the specialty boutiques located? The high-end stores, the hip stores, or the Marshalls?
Again, you can point out all those locations on SpatialMatch.
The point is, shopping needs come in all shapes and sizes. But as you can see by the NAR survey, it’s a major concern for homebuyers.
You might not be able to influence the “Quality of a Neighborhood” but when it comes to shopping, you can certainly use your SpatialMatch neighborhood search tool to paint a picture for the “Convenience of a Neighborhood.”
That is going to register, sorry for the pun, with quite a few people.
