July 31, 2009-Extra services provided by real estate companies-such as inspections, appraisals and legal and moving company recommendations-have become increasingly important to home buyers and sellers, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Home Buyer/Seller Study.
The study, now in its second year, measures customer satisfaction of homebuyers and sellers with the largest national real estate companies. Overall satisfaction is determined by examining three factors for the home-buying experience: agent (47%); office (28%); and package of additional services (25%). Four factors are examined for the home-selling experience: agent (34%); marketing (34%); office (17%); and package of additional services (15%).
For both buyers and sellers, the agent is still the most important driver of overall satisfaction. However, the importance of agents has declined substantially from 2008, while the importance of additional services has increased considerably-by 12 percentage points among buyers and 8 percentage points among sellers. In addition, actual usage of many of these services has decreased from 2008, likely due to cutbacks made by real estate companies in response to a depressed market.