I happened across an interesting article today from Realty Times that talks about the recent Buyer / Seller survey released, put together by the National Association of Realtors for the year 2007. Now, I know some of you out there hate NAR and think they are the anti-Christ, and while I may not agree with everything they do, NAR does do some pretty good things. I happen to like reading their surveys and finding out what the numbers say.
Of course, some of you out there will scream that NAR is padding the numbers or creating biased results when it comes to their surveys. But as much as a conspiracy theory makes great headlines, I think people read too much into it sometimes. Take for instance this recent survey. It asks 2007 buyers and sellers questions on what they consider important when choosing a real estate agent, and also, whether they would use or recommend that agent again.
A whopping 68% of buyers said they would use their agent again and recommend them, while the number for sellers came in at 62%. Honesty and Integrity were the two top traits ranked as important to buyers and sellers, as well. For all the negative media given to agents and how awful they are, these numbers seem like a suprise to some people. After all, to read some anti-realtor blogs, you would think no one on this earth has had a good experience with a Realtor.
The question raised by the article was a good one. Why do all the Harris and Gallup polls continually show Realtors at the bottom of the barrel when they survey people on what they feel are ethical professions, but a poll completed by NAR gives different results?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that those polled by Harris or Gallup are randomly selected, and may never have used a real estate agent in their lives. Taking into consideration the number of homes sold each year and the number of adults in the nation, the number comes out that only 1 in 10 of the people polled by Gallup might have sold or bought a home in the last year. So what you are left with are answers to a poll that might be here-say, or come from a friend of a friend, and not actually be views experienced by the respondent.
NAR on the other hand, only polls people who have actually bought or sold a home in the year prior. More accurate, or true to life, results….if you ask me.
I for one HATE polls because they don’t call enough people in my opinion. Take for instance the Presidential race. You can’t trust any of those polls because there are too many Independents out there that haven’t made up their minds yet, among other things. But I digress….anyway, I like the point made that you have to look at the people polled and their experience with the questions, to actually put any merit on the poll itself. I had never really thought of it until today in those terms, but it makes perfect sense. What do you think?
