Nearly half of all seniors use the Internet as part of the home-selling process and most senior home sellers relocate less than 50 miles away from their primary residence, according to a research report released Wednesday detailing home-selling behaviors of the senior market.
The “Moving Forward: 50 and Beyond” survey, conducted in February, explored the selling trends of consumers over 50 who sold a home within the last six months. The sponsoring agency, the Senior Advantage Real Estate Council, is owned by Real Estate Business Services, a subsidiary of the California Association of Realtors.
Key differences in behaviors emerged between “younger” seniors, those seniors 50 to 64 years of age, and “older” seniors, those 65 or more years of age, according to CAR.
According to “Moving Forward: 50 and Beyond,” of those home sellers utilizing the Internet, nearly two-thirds (61 percent) did so to locate a specific real estate agent, 92 percent utilized the Internet to research comparable prices, and 20 percent went online to learn about specific neighborhoods to move to.
Younger seniors are more likely to use an online appraisal, while older seniors are more likely to use the Internet to find a real estate agent, the study said.
The survey also revealed that not only did most senior home buyers stay within their home state (82 percent), 72 percent of seniors selling their primary residence move less than 100 miles from their previous home.
Younger seniors tended to move farther away from their previous residences than did older seniors, and of those senior home buyers who did move to a new state (18 percent), the most popular choices were: Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Georgia and New Mexico, the study said.
