January, 2009 Change?  Well, that depends.  For years indicators and buyer surveys reported that the effectiveness of print newspaper advertising in the buyer's home search process was minimal.  So no change there!  What happened?  Welcome to the information age and the advent of the World Wide Web.  Although this medium showed promise, its rise in use among all buyer segments came on fast and strong.  The "2008 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers Pennsylvania Report" prepared by the National Association of Realtors reports 39% of home buyers found the home they purchased on the internet.  Now that's change!  It is said, "Insanity is to continue doing the same activities and expect a different outcome."   Have Realtors finally stopped the insanity of spending a high percentage of their advertising and sales promotion budget on a medium that only 3 to 7% of the buyers report using to find the home they purchased?   How did the internet, a new arrival in the last decade, jump to the front of the line as the source in which the buyer found the home they purchased in such a short time?  There are many reasons including instant access to the market any time day or night and the depth of information available to them with no requirement to disclose their identity.  Buyers always did shop by comparison but now they do it without leaving their home.  This phenomenon didn't happen overnight, so why did it take so long to stop the insanity?  Fortunately for the newspapers, the real estate industry let the good times roll, by allowing the cost of their advertising and sales promotions to roll up.  Jumping on the internet band wagon and keeping ahead of the buyer's demand for more information free of charge didn't and doesn't come cheap.  But times were good.  Ah, but then in 2006 rumors of other winds of change - a real estate market correction.  In 2007 the industry began paying more attention to budgets and analyzing what medium was most effective in generating sales.  No surprise, print newspaper advertising was not one of them.  It appears Realtors are coming to terms with their insanity.  Print newspaper advertising is finally finding its correct place in their budget.  The "2008 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers Pennsylvania Report" shows that print newspaper advertising only helped 3% of buyers find the home they purchased.  But we knew this years ago!                                                                         Thoughts by L. Eugene Hoover                                                                       Broker of Record/Sales Manager                                                                       Gateway Realty, Inc.