The Internet Encyclopedia (Volume 3)

P1: JDT

WL040C-16 WL040/Bidgolio-Vol I WL040-Sample.cls June 19, 2003 17:12 Char Count= 0

198 REALESTATE

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

(^90) Marketing, Publicity,
Information Dissemination
Customer Contact and
Service
Internal Communication
Virt
Source: FCREUE survey, 2000
ual
Communities/Multilateral
Collaborative Work
Sales Related
%
Figure 1: Web use by real estate businesses.
other housing information, and pricing comparisons
(both on houses and mortgages), with follow-up contact
with brokers. A significant volume of real estate related
transactions is seen in the hospitality industry (making
reservations for hotels and vacation homes), and to some
extent in online mortgage applications (see Table 4 for
how consumers and businesses use the Web in real estate
transactions).
Surveys carried out by the Graphics Visualization and
Usability Center (GVU) at the College of Computing, Geor-
gia Institute of Technology, help us to understand the
demographic and other determinants of people who ac-
cess real estate sites. GVU has been carrying out these
online surveys on growth and trends in Internet usage
since 1994, and they cover issues of demographics, us-
age patterns, attitudes, social standing, commercial us-
age and occupation, among others. The authors have
carried out an analysis based on GVUs downloadable
raw data of the tenth survey carried out in 1998; see
http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/usersurveys/.
Of the range of variables covered in the survey, the vari-
able “Real Estate Access” is of particular relevance. These
data were used to estimate a probit equation. Responses
involving accessing of real estate sites at any frequency
were coded as 1 and not having ever accessed any site as

0. This became the dependent variable. The explanatory
   variables are education (college and above=1), gender
   (male=1), age (below 30=1), and usage pattern vari-
   ables that were coded in a similar way.
   The results of the probit estimation are shown in Table
   5 as marginal effects, or transformed probit coefficients.
   The probability of accessing real estate Web sites in-

Table 5Marginal Effects on Accessing of Real Estate Web

Sites

Independent Marginal Standard

Variables Effect Errors

College Education 0. 04 0. 017

Age 0. 075 0. 017

Male − 0. 06 0. 018

Searching for Product 0. 06 0. 025

Information

Internet Shopping 0. 10 0. 017

Income 0. 038 0. 02

Note: All coefficients, except for the one on the income variable, are

significant at the 5% confidence level. Pseudo R2=0.08;N=3206; log

likelihood=−2087.

creases with college education (4%), youth (<35 years;

7.5%), household income (>$75,000; 3.8%), and de-

creases if the Web surfer is male (6%). The probability

also increases if Web usage is with the purpose of looking

for product information (6%) and for shopping on the In-

ternet (10%). Since the sample has some selection issues,

the results can be considered only indicative. Perhaps the

coefficient on the age variable is the somewhat surprising,

but since the survey did not differentiate between access-

ing real estate Web sites for purposes of renting, research-

ing, or with a view to purchasing, it is possible that young

renters were a sizeable part of the sample. Of the total

sample of 3,206 respondents, more than a third (1,226)

had accessed real estate Web sites.

CONCLUDING REMARKS: THE

EMERGING STRUCTURE OF NEW

E-COMMERCE REAL ESTATE MARKETS

Impact on Real Estate Firms

The interaction of traditional real estate markets with e-

commerce is having an impact on both real estate firms

and on real estate markets. For existing firms, a major

adjustment is to incorporate the Internet directly in their

operations. At the same time, a new generation of firms is

entering the market, some providing traditional services

with e-commerce techniques and others providing new

services of value in the marketplace.

Table 4A Real Estate-Oriented View of the Web

Point of View of Real Point of View of Real

Estate Business Estate Consumer


 Marketing/Publicity 
 Product Information Research


 Customer Service 
 Price and Attributes Comparison


 Direct, Instantaneous Feedback Communication

& Communication 
 Ease & Convenience of Ordering,


 Customer Support Payment, Delivery and After-Sales


 Online Sales Service