By: Carmen Hirciag, Research Analyst

With more than four out of every 10 (41 percent) homes being short sales, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® 2011 Survey of California Home Sellers, sellers have been facing their fair share of challenges in the real estate market. More than one third (34 percent) left state and the remainder moved primarily to Southern California (36 percent). The difficulties of the market have permeated sellers’ outlook about the future of home prices, only 13 percent believe that prices will rise in the coming year.

The difficulties have also affected their interaction with agents. Sellers claimed that agents met or exceeded their expectations in responding to communications only 24 percent of the time. There is an opportunity for agents to meet these expectations, particularly with respect to social media. More than three quarters (77 percent) of sellers used social media in their transactions in 2011, compared to 24 percent in 2010. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were the most widely used social media sources.