Here's looking at you

The typical Massachusetts home buyer searches for 12 weeks and visits 12 homes. This is among the nuggets from the 2007 annual survey by the National Association of Realtors. The trade group interviewed about 10,000 people who recently bought homes, including about 284 in Massachusetts. The very interested can find all 180 pages here. The mildly interested can find a few more nuggets after the jump.

- Forty-five percent of the Massachusetts buyers were first-time buyers. Median age was 32. Their median income was $73,500.

- How large is a typical home? 1,570 square feet was the midpoint for homes bought in 2007. Half the buyers got larger homes, half got smaller ones.

- Forty-seven percent of all buyers first saw their new home on the Internet. Ninety percent used the Internet at some point. Those who didn't had a median age of 60.

- People still think of their homes as excellent investments. 52 percent of buyers think their home is a better investment than the stock market. 27 percent says it's at least as good.

- Most sellers dropped their asking price at least once. Thirty-eight percent of sellers settled for at least 5 percent below the final asking price. On the flip side, a lucky 6 percent of sellers cashed out for more than the asking price.