For the first time, a national marketing research firm is taking a look at the buying and selling of homes. Previously, J.D. Power and Associates has surveyed customers about new-home builders, cars and cell phones.

Keller Williams ranks highest among real estate companies in satisfying home buyers, while Prudential ranks highest in satisfying home sellers, according to the firm's new study.

The inaugural study measures customer satisfaction of home buyers and sellers with the largest national real estate firms. Overall satisfaction is determined by examining three factors for the home-buying experience: agent (65 percent); office (21 percent) and services (13 percent).

Four factors were examined for the home-selling experience: agent (43 percent); marketing (38 percent); office (12 percent), and services (7 percent).

In the home-buyer segment, Keller Williams achieves a score of 831 on a 1,000-point scale. Prudential (820) and Coldwell Banker (816) follow in the rankings.

Among home sellers, Prudential ranks highest with a score of 793, followed by Coldwell Banker and Remax.

"When buying a home, customers particularly appreciate agent professionalism, responsiveness to calls and e-mails and the agent's skill in locating and showing properties in the appropriate price range," said Jim Howland, senior director of the real estate and construction practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "For selling a home, marketing of the home is particularly critical, although professionalism and responsiveness of the agent are still important."

The study finds that despite the popularity of home-buying and home-selling resources on the Internet, real estate agents are key to customer satisfaction. A large proportion of both home buyers and sellers rely on the Internet to facilitate the buying or selling process, with 68 percent of buyers saying that they used Internet tools to help them in the purchase process and 61 percent of sellers reporting that they used a Web site listing to market their home.

In addition, among home sellers, online methods are the most important aspect of marketing. However, the agent factor carries the greatest importance among the entities that comprise overall satisfaction among both home buyers and sellers.

"Although the Internet provides home buyers and sellers with the ability to perform some essential tasks -- such as listing a home for sale or researching a neighborhood in which to purchase a home -- it still does not replace the importance of a good real estate agent, particularly in an uncertain real estate market" Howland said.

The study also finds that the average time a home for sale remained on the market was slightly more than six months, although home sellers represented by the top-ranking real estate companies report that their homes were on the market for slightly less time -- about 5˝ months on average.

"Satisfaction averages 794 among those customers whose homes sold within five months or less, but declines considerably to an average of 730 among customers whose homes took seven months or longer to sell," Howland said.

The study also noted:

••Nearly one-half of respondents (46 percent) report using recommendations from family or friends to find their real estate agent. About 28 percent used the Internet, while 23 percent used an agent they had used previously. Eleven percent used a printed real estate guide.

••On average, home buyers were shown approximately 13 homes before making a purchase.

••Home sellers report that, on average, their home was shown approximately 11 times. About five open houses were conducted before the sale occurred.

The 2008 Home Buyer/Seller Study included 3,205 respondents who bought or sold a home between April 2007 and June 2008.

Realtor Josh Flagg has been known to send chauffeured cars to his clients' homes. And he will send them up in helicopters to view properties. He once wrapped an entire house in a big red bow before delivering the keys to the new owners.

Despite a soft market, real estate agents try to close seven-figure deals on the second season of "Million Dollar Listing," premiering at 10 p.m. Tuesday on Bravo (following the finale of "Flipping Out"). The series will move to its regular time period of 9 p.m. on Aug. 12.

The program follows Flagg, Madison Hildebrand and Chad Rogers as they try to make a fortune selling multi-million dollar properties in the most exclusive neighborhoods around Los Angeles, Hollywood, Malibu and Beverly Hills.

Over the past three years, Hildebrand has sold over $80 million dollars in celebrity real estate.

Rogers received his real estate license at the age of 18. Some of his celebrity clients include Paris Hilton, Nick Lachey, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Minnie Driver and Coach Larry Brown.