Survey from Spruce Highlights Consumer Priorities in Homebuying

NEW YORK, June 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Spruce, the proptech company powering online real estate transactions, today released new survey findings highlighting the priorities of American homebuyers. Amongst record closings and heightened competition in 2020 and early 2021, homebuyers care most about affordability, transparency, and the time it takes to close. Working alongside its innovative partners, Spruce provides the scalable infrastructure and fundamental technology required to meet–and exceed–these consumer expectations.

Spruce's national survey findings show the priorities of U.S. homebuyers, increased trust in technology for financial transactions, and interest in relatively untapped opportunities for alternate real estate investments:

• Affordability, transparency, and time-savings: When ranking the most important aspects of the home buying process, respondents chose overall affordability (64% reported most important), transparency (41% voted second most important), and the time it takes to close (23% as third most important) as their top three–over customer service and the ability to sign electronically.
• Increased trust in tech: Overall, respondents trust technology about the same as they did pre COVID (59%). But about a third of respondents (31%) reported increased trust in technology to make major financial transactions.
• Real estate investment opportunities: When asked about their interest in forms of real estate investment other than traditional home buying, nearly half (49%) of respondents reported not having considered alternate forms of real estate investment. More than 30% of respondents cited interest in rental properties, with 25% being interested in rent-to-own.

The implications of these findings show the need for consumer-centric changes within the homebuying process, the eagerness in American consumers to rely on technology for such advancements, and the untapped potential for new forms of investment opportunities within the real estate sector.

"There are many aspects of the real estate and home buying process that need to be improved," said Patrick Burns, CEO and co-founder of Spruce. "But the most fundamental issues–affordability of closing costs, process transparency, and time–are perhaps unsurprisingly the pain points most felt by Americans today, and thus remain our key areas of focus as we continue to build our client-focused offerings."

Spruce's industry advancements to date include reducing transaction times by up to 25%, saving homeowners up to 20% on closing costs, and enabling transactions outside of restrictive Federal hours. Spruce is also the only title solution to offer its open API directly on its website.

ABOUT SPRUCE
Spruce is digitizing real estate transactions for forward-thinking real estate companies and mortgage lenders. By leveraging proprietary technology and best-in-class operations, Spruce provides a seamless, affordable solution. Spruce was founded by Andrew Weisgall and Patrick Burns in 2016, and is headquartered in New York with hubs across the U.S. Learn more about how Spruce can bring your business digital: www.spruce.co.

CONTACT
Hadley Stecker
Director of Communications
[email protected]
978.473.1754

SOURCE Spruce

Related Links

https://spruce.co/