Following Connect from Afar

As much as we'd love to have everyone at Connect SF - understandably, some folks won't be able to make it.

That's why this year, we've made it even easier for you to follow the conference online so you won't miss a thing.

We've created a Connect SF Feed Blog (Bookmark it!) that pulls in all coverage of Connect from all across the Internet. You can visit daily to catch up on photos of the event, blog posts and shared links; they are even all aggregated in one monster Connect RSS feed for you to subscribe to.

Just click on the big button to get the feed.

But for the Connect SF Feed Blog to truly be the best source of Connect coverage, it depends on YOU to share with the community... Here's three ways you can contribute:

1. Bloggers - Tag all of your Connect blog posts with the "connectsf" (no quotes) tag on Technorati.
2. Attendees - Tag your photos with "connectsf" on Flickr.
3. Vendors/Companies - Making an announcement at Connect? Tag your press releases with "connectsf" on del.icio.us.

Thanks for your help! Check back often to see all the latest goings-on.

R U Ready to Sound Off?

Real Estate Connect San Francisco is just around the corner, August 1-3, 2007 and this year there is an even better opportunity to be heard.  There are 6 exciting new Roundtable sessions that are sure to be lively!  We're sure you'll have a lot to say about each one of these hot topics.  Be sure to check out these sessions while you're at Connect and use this time to sound off and be heard!

Compensation: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Moderator: Jeffrey Bastress, President, Startpoint Realty

60 Minutes: Is the Media to Blame for the Housing Blues?

Moderators: Jessica Swesey, Managing Editor, Inman News &
Ilyce Glink, President, ThinkGlink, Inc., Syndicated Columnist

How to Web 2.0 Your Company?

Moderators: Pat Kitano, Managing Principal, Domus Consulting Group & Joel Burslem, Social Media/Interactive Mktg Manager, Inman News

How to Think About Real Estate Data: Foreclosures, Listings, Protecting It and Getting It Out

Moderator: Ryan Slack, CEO, PropertyShark.com

Luxury Marketing
Moderator: Laurie Moore-Moore, Founder & CEO, The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Who Owns the Customer: Have the Online Companies Taken Over?

Moderator:  Kenneth Jenny, CEO & Managing Director, tranCen.com, Inc.

Seven brokerage companies vie for top award

Seven real estate brokerage companies will compete for the Inman Innovator award this year in the Most Innovative Brokerage or Franchise category, which recognizes excellence, innovation and success in the real estate brokerage business.

The 2007 finalists for brokerage include @Properties, Coldwell Banker, The Corcoran Group, Foxtons, Iggys House, John L. Scott Real Estate and Real Living.

More information about the finalists:

@properties

@properties is a fast-growing real estate company based in Chicago. The company was founded by agents Michael Golden and Thaddeus Wong, who teamed together during the late 1990s. During its first three years, @properties earned three consecutive Golden Eagle Awards from the Chicago Association of Realtors, honoring Chicago's top-selling agent. The company rocketed to more than 550 agents serving Chicago from four city offices.

Coldwell Banker

With more than 120,000 sales associates in 3,800 offices across the globe, Coldwell Banker is one of the most recognized brands in real estate. In the last few years, the company has maintained a focus on ColdwellBanker.com as a focal point for its agents and consumers. The company has added multimedia features, enabling consumers to view a full library of streaming videos. Consumers also can use satellite mapping, widgets and RSS feeds to locate properties at the site. Coldwell Banker in 2007 became the first national real estate company to sell homes within the 3D virtual community Second Life, which has more than 7 million users.

The Corcoran Group

The Corcoran Group was founded in 1973 as New York City began an historic transition from being a market predominately composed of rentals to one of individual ownership. Corcoran grasped the implications of this change by targeting specific neighborhoods and concentrating on higher-end properties. Since inception, the company has acquired major real estate companies in Manhattan and Brooklyn, making it among New York City's modern brokerage leaders. The Corcoran Group's Web site, Corcoran.com, serves as one of the go-to places for listings information in New York City.

Foxtons

Foxtons is a brokerage company serving New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, offering "full service for less commission." The company routinely includes virtual tours for every listing, floor plans, location maps, multiple photos and slideshows, and online exposure for sellers. Foxtons is headquartered in New Jersey and has about 500 employees in six locations.

Iggys House

Iggys House was launched in 2007 by BuySide Realty, a discount brokerage company started by brothers Joseph and Avi Fox to offer online services at lower prices. While BuySide is a buyers' service, Iggys House is a free service for sellers. Home sellers can post property information, photos and videos at the IggysHouse.com Web site, and the company will enter property information in an MLS database that can be accessed by agents from other real estate companies. Both companies were founded by the creators of pioneering online stock brokerage company Web Street, which launched in 1996, went public in 1999 and was sold to ETrade in 2001.

John L. Scott Real Estate

Pacific Northwest-based John L. Scott Real Estate has 141 offices and more than 4,700 sales associates located throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The company's Web site, Johnlscott.com, receives more than 1 million user visits a month producing more than 9 million listing views. John L. Scott's site features Microsoft Virtual Earth mapping, comparable home sale information, high-definition home search and the recently added Neighborhood Wizard, which enables consumers to draw on a map the parameters of the neighborhood in which they seek home information.

Real Living

Real Living is a Midwest-based brokerage company with nearly 4,000 sales associates and employees in more than 160 offices across the country. The company launched the MyRealLiving 2.0 portal, which enables agents and consumers to work together in real time. The portal replicates an in-person experience with an agent online, enabling consumers to organize, personalize, save and share properties with their agent, family or friends. Buyers can flip saved property cards and add personal notes on the back, bookmark articles, and organize appointments and open houses, among other things. Sellers can track online views of their properties and view online marketing materials from their agent. MyRealLiving 2.0 has about 85,000 members and grows at about 2,000 users per month, according to a company tally.

Six real estate media innovators compete for award

The Inman Innovator awards will be presented Aug. 1 at Real Estate Connect in San Francisco.

Six media companies and Web networks will compete for the Inman Innovator award this year in the Most Innovative Media Site category, which recognizes excellence, innovation and success in real estate media. The 2007 finalists for media sites include the "60 Minutes" Multimedia Article Site, Active Rain Real Estate Network, BusinessWeek's Hot Property, Curbed.com's real estate network, New York Times' real estate site and Wall Street Journal's RealEstateJournal.com.

More information about the finalists:

"60 Minutes" Multimedia Article/Segment Site

In May 2007, "60 Minutes" aired arguably one of the most highly anticipated and most controversial segments produced by the mainstream media on the real estate industry. On the CBSNews.com "60 Minutes" site you can watch the segment in its entirety, get further information, reader viewer feedback to the segment and participate in a spirited discussion about the issues.

Active Rain Real Estate Network

ActiveRain is a real estate social network that exemplifies the ideas of citizen journalism. It gives all real estate professionals a platform to publish their thoughts and showcase their expertise to a global audience, network with colleagues and offer up answers to local real estate questions.

BusinessWeek's Hot Property

Hot Property is a daily real estate blog from the real estate reporters at BusinessWeek magazine. It is written by Peter Coy, Dean Foust, Chris Palmeri and Maya Roney.

Curbed.com's real estate network

Curbed is a network of local real estate blogs that focuses on capturing the conversations and gossip around the real estate markets in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

New York Times' Real Estate Site

New York Times' Real Estate Site gives readers a deep multimedia experience that includes audio, video and written stories. It also incorporates a listings search tool, tools to find an agent and mortgage data graphs.

Wall St. Journal's RealEstateJournal.com

RealEstateJournal.com is a guide to the buying and selling and owning residential property. It seeks to inform readers about all aspects of home ownership and provides a search into The Wall Street Journal's database of distinctive properties.

Innovative Web service sees lots of competition

Nine real estate Web companies will compete for the Inman Innovator award this year in the Most Innovative Web Service category, which recognizes excellence, innovation and success in online real estate service.

The 2007 finalists for Web service include Cyberhomes, the Federal Trade Commission's Competition in Real Estate Web resource, the Houston Association of Realtors' HAR.com, the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development's Neighborhood Network, Point2 Technologies' National Listing Service, Trulia Voices, vFlyer, WellcomeMat, and Zillow's Q&A features.

More information about the finalists:

Cyberhomes

Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions launched Cyberhomes.com in late 2006. The comprehensive site offers consumers access to detailed property information, heat maps and evaluation content. The site is co-brandable and designed to integrate with participating brokers' sites. Consumers can find property information from FNIS along with listings data from participating brokers.

FTC's Competition in the Real Estate Marketplace

The Federal Trade Commission has launched a Web site that aims to pull together various resources for consumers on the issues of competition in the real estate industry. The site, Competition in the Real Estate Marketplace, includes links to recent federal antitrust case filings against real estate organizations, as well as listings of workshops, consumer education materials, news, advocacy and outreach and other resources. The FTC, along with the U.S. Justice Department, has been critical of various state initiatives to implement real estate rules and regulations that the departments say stifle competition.

HAR.com (Houston Association of Realtors)

The Houston Association of Realtors is one of the few Realtor organizations in the country that operates a public multiple listing service Web site where consumers can look up listings information and connect with local agents. HAR.com recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and announced the site received 1 billion hits in a single month.

HUD's Neighborhood Watch

Neighborhood Watch is a Web site that aims to help the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Administration monitor lenders and the department's loan programs as a way of self-policing the industry against fraud. Users can identify and analyze loan default patterns by geographic area or originating lender on loans that became 90 days delinquent during their first two years.

Point2 Technologies' NLS

Point2 Technologies in early 2007 launched a free international service to assist real estate professionals with marketing properties online, establishing agreements with other professionals and tracking Web statistics. Point2 NLS, or National Listing Service, enables participants to select whom they will and will not share listings information with, and they can also list specific reasons why they won't share with particular participants. The system calculates a performance index score for agents based on a variety of factors such as speed in replying to prospects and number of virtual tours and total Web site pages.

Trulia Voices

Property-search site Trulia.com in May launched "Trulia Voices" -- an online community that aims to spark neighborhood dialog among users, including home buyers, sellers and real estate practitioners. Trulia Voices allows users to generate profiles and ranks users based on their activities within the online community.

vFlyer

VFlyer allows home sellers, agents and brokers to customize online ads, print or e-mail property fliers, send out these ads to a variety of property-search portals, and view detailed metrics on traffic to those ads. The site is among a handful of companies that seek to simplify the process of sending property information for display on several search sites. VFlyer is constantly releasing new marketing tools for agents, including widgets that display their listings and most recently, a tool that can quickly enhance property photos.

WellcomeMat

WellcomeMat is an online video destination that enables people to upload and attach a video to a property or place, such as homes, condos, coffee shops, art galleries, restaurants, hotels, and more. Users can upload their own videos, send video tapes for upload, or hire a videographer through WellcomeMat.

Zillow's Q&A/ User-generated tools

Zillow in April took a user-generated approach to obtaining real estate listings information. The home valuation and marketing site launched tools that enable anybody to post information, photos, questions and answers about any property, including any for-sale property. Listing agents and property owners can take control of this for-sale property information and enter more detailed property information once they register as the owner or listing representative for a particular property.

Bloggers chase top blog innovator title

The Inman Innovator awards will be presented Aug. 1 at Real Estate Connect in San Francisco.

Nine real estate blogs will compete for the Inman Innovator award this year in the Most Innovative Blog category, which recognizes excellence, innovation and success in real estate Weblogging.

The 2007 finalists for blogs include 3 Oceans Real Estate, Bloodhound Blog, Calculated Risk, Mortgage Fraud Blog, Patrick.net, Real Estate Competition and the Law, Real Estate Tomato, Redfin's Sweet Digs, and Transparent Real Estate.

More information about the finalists:

3 Oceans Real Estate

3 Oceans Real Estate blog was started in August, 2006 by Realtor Kevin Boer and covers the San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley real estate markets, as well as national industry issues. Contributors include Ana Hays, Chris Iverson, Christine Kani, Bart Marchioni, Ann O'Connell, and David Roberson.          

Bloodhound Blog

Bloodhound Blog was started in June, 2006 by Greg Swann and Cathleen Collins. Based in Phoenix, Ariz., Bloodhound Blog comments on national industry issues and features contributions from Jeff Kempe, Michael Cook, Allen Butler, Morgan Brown, Lani Anglin, Kris Berg, Brian Brady, Teri Lussier, Russell Shaw, James Hsu, Dan Green, Jeff Brown and Doug Quance.

Calculated Risk

Written by a retired senior executive and a former bank officer, Calculated Risk focuses on the mortgage industry as well as real estate investing, finance and economics.

Mortgage Fraud Blog

Mortgage Fraud Blog is written by Rachel Dollar, an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles fraud recovery litigation for lenders and secondary market investors nationwide. She is a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of mortgage fraud.

Patrick.net

Patrick.net is one of the foremost “bubble blogs” – a blog that is forecasting and chronicling an impending housing crash.  Patrick.net often offers spirited discussion on housing market topics.

Real Estate, Real Competition and the Law

Real Estate, Real Competition and the Law blog is written by Michael H. Erdman, a partner at a Chicago law firm and General Counsel of the American Real Estate Broker Alliance (AREBA). The blog chronicles the ongoing challenges and anticompetitive practices taking place in the real estate industry.

Real Estate Tomato

The Real Estate Tomato was created by Jim Cronin, a real estate marketing consultant as a destination emarketing tips, internet insight, and reviews of marketing services and products.

Redfin's Sweet Digs blogs

Sweet Digs is a daily real estate rundown produced by online brokerage Redfin. The goal is to give readers the inside scoop on past sales, good deals, open houses and what's on the market in your neighborhood. Sweet Digs currently operates in Seattle and San Francisco.

Transparent Real Estate

Transparent Real Estate is written by Pat Kitano, co-founder and managing principal of Domus Consulting Group. It focuses on business strategy, new business models, technology and real estate marketing for the real estate community. Transparent Real Estate blog was started in August 2006.

The most innovative real estate and technology companies will be honored at Real Estate Connect, Aug. 1-3, in San Francisco. Real Estate Connect brings together the top leaders from the real estate industry, including mortgage lenders, technology firms, industry analysts and news media.

Inman Innovator Award Finalists Announced

The Inman Innovator Awards recognize companies that use technology and innovation to enhance the real estate transaction and experience for consumers and real estate professionals. In addition, one individual who embodies the spirit of innovation in real estate is honored each year.

The 2007 Inman Innovator Award finalists in five categories are (in alphabetical order):

Most Innovative Brokerage or Franchise

@Properties
Coldwell Banker
The Corcoran Group
Foxtons
Iggys House
John L. Scott Real Estate
Real Living

Most Innovative Web Service

Cyberhomes
FTC's Competition in Real Estate Web resource
HAR.com (Houston Association of Realtors)
HUD Neighborhood Watch Center
Point2 Technologies' National Listing Service
Trulia Voices
vFlyer
Wellcomemat
Zillow Q&A

Most Innovative Technology

Altos Research's Market Widget
Google Street View
Jott
Meebo
MyBlogLog
RealTech
Talkshoe
Xpressdocs
 

Most Innovative Blog

3 Oceans Real Estate
Bloodhound Blog
Calculated Risk
Mortgage Fraud Blog
Patrick.net
Real Estate Competition and the Law
Real Estate Tomato
Redfin's Sweet Digs blogs
Transparent Real Estate

Most Innovative Media Site

"60 Minutes" Multimedia Article/Segment Site
Active Rain Real Estate Network
Business Week's Hot Properties
Curbed.com's real estate network
New York Times' Real Estate Site
Wall St. Journal's RealEstateJournal.com

Past winners of the Inman Innovator Awards include: Redfin, RE/MAX International, ZipRealty, Cendant, Google Earth, PropertyShark and LendingTree.

Winners will be announced at the annual Real Estate Connect SF technology conference.

Has real estate crossed the chasm?

I'm new to this industry. Real estate, that is. Though I've been in the Internet and technology sector for more than a decade.

I met with two executives recently from a company that provides technology and marketing solutions to realtors, and I offered my newcomer's perspective that (A) there is a much stronger sense of community within real estate than in other sectors of technology, and (B) these are exciting times for the real estate industry.

The two executives backed me up on my first point without a moment's thought. Most companies do seem to play together nicely in the sandbox, they supported, and are careful not to resort to many of the less-than-honorable tactics that are nearly commonplace in other areas of the technology world.

On my second point, that these seem to be exciting times for real estate and technology, the executives wanted to know more about what I meant. I explained that (and again this is all from my newcomer's perspective) it seems like there is finally a critical mass of consumers who have adopted new online tools and technologies, and that marketing to them is fundamentally different than it was maybe just a year or two ago. In this sense real estate is maybe a little behind the curve that other sectors like insurance or financial services were on as early as the late 90s, but it is on that same curve nonetheless.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me like real estate has just recently crossed the chasm, as Geoffrey Moore would put it, or gotten through the dip, as Seth Godin would say, and now we're playing a whole new ballgame, to borrow from Casey Stengel. It's the reason why Zillow gets written about every day, and why Redfin gets exposure on 60 minutes.

After some reflection, the executives agreed that, even though the industry has been exciting to them since they first entered it years ago, the momentum is indeed picking up these days.

The Internet  has a history of disrupting and rearranging entire industries -- usually for the betterment of the consumers and to the detriment of those service providers who refuse or are unwilling to adopt. InsWeb.com altered the insurance industry. Expedia.com revolutionized travel.  craigslist.org did it to classifieds.

It seems to me like now it's real estate's turn. Am I wrong?

We'll try to answer that question at Real Estate Connect SF. Hopefully you can make it. The feeling around here is that this year's event will be one of the most important ever.
 

Essential reading before you come to Connect

Susan RoAne's "How to Work a Room".

For more, read the post Schmoozing on the Inman News Blog.

Sponsor Update: Some are Silver and some are Gold

"Make new sponsors, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold," if I may update a song that I loved when I just a pony-tailed kid in Brownies.

It has been a busy month in the sales department at Inman. We have a new salesperson, Peter Hottenstein (welcome Peter!), and we've got 8 more sponsors on board, 3 of which are first timers at Real Estate Connect.

Those of you who were at Connect SF last year will remember the Trulia marker men. Rumor has it they'll be making a comeback. We're also happy to welcome LuxuryProperty.com, 3DConnexion, Move, Inc, and Clareity Security as new sponsors. Returning sponsors include: Hitwise, Sharper Agent and TargusInfo.

Disclaimer: New sponsors may be Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum, not necessarily Silver as the song suggests. No matter the level, we love them all.

Thank you sponsors for your support!