Consumers research homes for an average of 40 hours

Time spent researching

In a report commissioned by Zillow.com and researched by Harris Interactive, of 2,729 consumers, 56% said they wished mortgage terms were easier to understand and 50% would like to get more than one home loan quote without giving personal information. Perhaps this perception is why the average consumer spends only five hours researching mortgages as compared to 40 hours researching homes as pictures of houses are easier to understand than lists of mortgage jargon?

The report reveals that of all home-related investments, consumers spend by far the most time researching their homes and the least amount of time researching their televisions. When broken down according to the report, mortgages are more than six times more expensive per hour spent researching.

All investment types:

Despite the struggling economy and disagreements ad to whether or not a recovery is on the way, consumers spend a LOT of time studying and researching their home compared to other investments, reinforcing the belief that consumers see the value in real estate and also reinforcing the belief that real estate practitioners are co-brokering with Google (and the internet as a whole) more than ever.