Things to Look for in 2007

Source: TRANSPARENT REAL ESTATE (www.TransparentRE.com)

Here are a few random ideas for 2007:



Mapping mashups are so 2006... how about mapping mashups with picture and video? Viewr
starts to come close as a global travelogue of real estate, but I'm
interested in seeing granularity - down to the neighborhood level with
pictures and videos searchable across city maps. And while we're at it,
how about public commentary on these various neighborhoods, even at the
intersections, using Wikiified Popups within the mapping mashup. And then, add social networking - allow the visitors to neighborhoods within the maps to interact with each other via chat and other identity schemas like avatars.

Aggregation is happening all over Web 2.0... the Trillianization of IM systems and blogs (RSS feedreaders)  are the precedents, next up are all those social networking sites (here are two betas). Unfortunately... Realtors are saddled with checking their MLS, Craigslist, Zillow, GoogleBase, edgeio, etc. There are a few listing automation companies
that ease the Realtor's time consuming task, but sad to say that an
effective real estate aggregation site still seems far away as long as
the MLS systems don't uniformly cooperate... (although cracks are
appearing in Houston).
That means the Consumer and their Realtor advisors still need to hop
around various search sites. An aggregating listing engine acting as a one-stop
shop would allow comparisons across the search sites.



National sites providing localized real estate information - Active Rain's Localism
is a first manifestation focusing on providing localized content - - - 
social networking in the form of localized Realtor lists, pictures of
and descriptive copy about locales and neighborhoods.



Title insurance companies jump into the data distribution business. Fidelity National Title's Cyberhomes AVM offering
is their first consumer facing product. Expect other title insurance
companies to follow suit because a Realtor or even the Consumer will
favor the company that's providing free data and technology offerings (especially if RESPA is enforced the way it should).



Title insurance companies will learn how to market to the consumer. Fidelity's Spanish language
title insurance information site is a first attempt at outreach. The
companies are further developing market segmenting strategies that
mirror the communities they serve.



I'll touch on mobile applications (Joel at FoREM
is the expert), video and lead generation (start thinking about your
new business models) later this year (which gives me a lot of leeway)...