NeighborWorks America survey: Friends and family beat out
housing professionals as first stop for information when
buying a home or trying to avoid foreclosure. More than 4
out of 5 adults under 30 say home buying is complicated.
Washington – The average home buyer looks to friends and family first
when gathering information on the home-buying process, ahead of
realtors by more than two to one and mortgage lenders by more than
four to one in the latest homeownership survey from NeighborWorks
America, one of the country’s leading housing and community
development nonprofit corporations.
The NeighborWorks America survey, conducted of 1,000 adults by
Widmeyer Communications, a Finn Partners Company, found that 39
percent of people thinking of buying a home first seek advice from
friends and family who own their home, while Realtors and mortgage
lenders are approached just 16 and 9 percent of the time, respectively.
Interestingly, the Internet is the second-most-used source of
homeownership information at 17 percent.
“Professionals involved in the home-buying process lag far behind
when it comes to where consumers go first for information about what
they overwhelmingly admit is a complicated undertaking,” said
NeighborWorks America CEO Eileen M. Fitzgerald.
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