The Surprising Importance of Floor Plans in the Home Search Process

RECOMMENDED READING: June 2022

In the "2022 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report" published by the National Association of REALTORS® Research Group, we identified a surprising insight regarding homebuyers.

In the section on the Home Search Process, NAR researchers report that 55% of all buyers found Floor Plans to be a "very useful" feature of real estate websites. It was even higher for "Older Millennials", 58% of whom said that Floor Plans are very useful. These consumers (aged 32 to 41) were also the biggest cohort of buyers representing 25% of all home purchases.

Photos took the top spot at 84% (no surprise there!), but Floor Plans were found to be more useful to buyers than Virtual Tours (43%), neighborhood information (37%), interactive maps (34%), videos (28%) and information about upcoming open houses (20%). To access the full report, click here.

Why are Floor Plans considered to be so useful to buyers? The most obvious reason is that Floor Plans form the perfect pairing with Photos because each complements the other so beautifully. By seeing how the photos relate to the layout of the home, buyers are able to paint a more complete picture of the property in their mind.

Floor Plans also help to make sense of the traffic flow and circulation within the home with the exact placement of its various rooms, amenities and fixtures. With multi-level homes increasing in popularity as builders focus on more density in housing, a Floor Plan can help buyers visualize how the different levels fit together.

A Floor Plan is also a great tool to help buyers figure out how to furnish and decorate their prospective new home. It can even help buyers determine whether any remodeling might be needed to better accommodate their needs now or down the line.

The good news is that providing an item that is so useful to your target audience is one of the most affordable options in your marketing toolkit. And by adding a Floor Plan to your property website, you're also demonstrating to potential sellers that you go the extra mile for your listings.

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