Survey: One-stop shopping still going strong

Survey: One-stop shopping still going strong
NEW YORK – Feb. 15, 2011 – A recent survey of more than 1,100 recent and future homebuyers by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) and Harris Interactive finds that 63 percent were extremely or somewhat familiar with one-stop shopping, and 39 percent used a real estate-affiliated service provider – up from 29 percent in 2008.According to the poll results, 78 percent of respondents expect one-stop shopping to save money, 75 percent believe it makes the home-buying process more efficient, 73 percent think it offers a more thorough process, and 73 percent believe it is more convenient.Just over half of buyers who used one-stop shopping were satisfied, while only 42 percent who used numerous sources for real estate services said the same. The survey also discovered that 56 percent used real estate agents as their primary point of contact, while only 15 percent used mortgage lenders.When asked about difficulty in obtaining mortgages, 52 percent blamed lenders for refusing to make loans; 28 percent blamed the economic downturn, and 10 percent faulted new federal laws and regulations.Source: RISMedia (02/07/11) Trepeta, Ken© Copyright 2011 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688