How the Real Estate Market has Changed over the Past Twenty Years

The real estate market and people’s access to information has undergone a huge change over the past twenty years. The answer to this question? The Internet.

Before, a home buyer would need to go to a realtor’s office to see what kinds of listings were available in the books they set out for their clients.

There were also books published twice a month will listings of houses for sale with usually just one black and white photo for each house. There also were short ads for homes for sale in local newspapers. However, you couldn’t really get too many details on them through the short, black and white advertisements.

Finding decent realtors was also more difficult than it is today. Instead of reading reviews, people would usually go by what their friends said or just go to the nearest one. The problem could have gotten better service with the Internet at their fingertips.

The Internet has revolutionized buying a home in the real estate market. Today, people can go on websites that provide listings for people looking to buy a home that have full color photos of home interiors and exteriors.

They also give the seller’s contact information, price and other pertinent information. Besides listings, there are also places that give reviews on Realtors so you can find the best one closest to you. No need for bad service anymore!

Selling a home has also become much easier and they can be bought much faster than before. A realtor would usually represent the seller in these cases but the seller would still have a difficult time getting their home listed for sale, particularly on MLS services. These services only served specific areas and did not cater to different neighborhoods.

This, however, has changed with the advent of the Internet. A seller would usually depend on local newspapers, word of mouth or for sale signs put up in front of their properties. Now, websites contain multiple listings for a city from all different neighborhoods.

For instance, someone from Queens looking to relocate to Brooklyn could easily find listings from Brooklyn instead of having to travel all the way over there to find properties for sale.