Thoughts on the Future Of Real Estate Brokerage

I was in Atlanta this past week for one of the largest real estate conferences of the year, RETechSouth .  This conference is hosted by some excellent folks with brokerages in Atlanta (Thanks Brad Nix and Matt Fagioli for hosting!)

Obviously with a name like RETECHSouth it's going to focus on the use of technology.  But I think there were two main takeaways for this conference that should be shared with Buyers, Sellers, and Agents alike.

1. The Usage of Social Media In Real Estate - It's no longer for just kids.  It's a standard.  If you are a buyer / seller and you are considering using an agent.  Check to see, do they use Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc?  If you can't find them anywhere online, this probably a good indication of their use of technology as an agent.  Utilizing these and other tools to help sell homes is an absolute necessity.  If you are a Buyer you can interact and get questions answered by an agent online without selling etc, you know that agent is going to work hard to help you find the best home. 
2. The Coming Change To The Real Estate Industry - Everyone in the industry is scrambling right now to figure out what to do.  It's only the nimble brokers that are profitable in these tough economic times.  And there is some very interesting changes coming.  Imagine a real estate office that looks more like a Starbuck's than a cubicle area.  Imagine agents working almost entirely from home, and the office only being a place to put paperwork together and meet with clients.  As a buyer or seller, what do you think should change in the real estate industry?  (For a multi part discussion on what's going on check the page out here: http://tribusgroup.com/future-of-real-estate-brokerage-part-1-why-change-is-coming )
   
   
   
   

River City Real Estate Sponsors New Home Data Website

At River City Real Estate, we're always looking for ways to get more information in the hands of homeowners.  Today we became a sponsor of STL Home Data at www.STLHomeData.com , a new service providing data on every home in the St. Louis area.

Users can get data on every zip code and find out what the average sale prices, days on market, and more.  They can also get local school and community data.

You can check out the site today!

River City Listings Now Featured On Trulia

River City's Trumpet system is constantly being improved to offer our Sellers the most exposure possible for their listings.  Currently every listing is syndicated to all participating IDX broker websites as well as over 35 other sites including YouTube, Zillow, Craigslist, and Trulia.

Like Realtor.com, Trulia offers an enhanced listing feature that increases the exposure of listings.  These enhanced listings offer more views and clicks from potential home purchasers.  As of March 5, 2009, all River City listings will be enhanced on Trulia.

River City Real Estate is now the only company in the St. Louis area to have every listing enhanced on both Realtor.com and Trulia providing our seller's the most exposure possible.

New Housing Data Coming

At River City Real Estate, we constantly work on upgrading our website and providing our clients with as much information as possible.  We currently have an in depth housing data page here.  We're going to be significantly enhancing our housing statistics pages.  We're adding one look stats on the entire zip code as well as additional charts and information.  We're looking to add this data soon.  Also don't forget that you can have the info emailed to you each Wednesday by filling out the form here.

For example look at this great new stat view:

Or new charts for inventory:

Or for market action, which looks at how many homes are selling