-- Housing market instability - Inflationary pressures coupled with financial system instabilities have hampered any short-term recovery hopes for the housing market. In the current state, would-be buyers can't get loans, a fact that's exacerbated by uncertain legislative outcomes. -- MLS - MLS stakeholders struggle with their roles today. Debates over public-facing MLS sites and syndication of property listings data make MLS participants question where to put property listings online and how to retrieve and share data in an efficient way. -- Marketing trends - Large companies have shifted to life-cycle marketing, engaging consumers throughout the entire homeownership process instead of stopping at the point of sale. For small companies, the focus is on better targeting, and how to find high-quality leads using tight marketing budgets. -- International real estate - Fueled by a rapid growth in technology, real estate professionals are now able to attract overseas clients to location-specific housing investments. Because of the weak dollar and falling home prices, international investment will expand in the United States. -- Social media - Real estate agents have embraced blogging and social sites as a way to disseminate local market information and win the trust of new clients, especially in niche markets. Widespread adoption, however, has lead to an inundated space where it's easier to be anonymous than effective.The next Inman Connect event will be held Jan. 7-9 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York City. More details can be found at: http://www.inman.com/events/real-estate-connect-nyc-2009. About Inman News Inman News is the leading source of independent real estate news, information, advice, research, opinion and commentary for industry professionals and consumers alike. Each month more than half a million readers visit Inman.com to keep up to date on changes in the real estate market. The site features breaking news and analysis, video interviews with leading industry personalities, a network of the Web's top real estate blogs, a powerful online community and social networking platform and much more. The company's content is syndicated on more than 150,000 web sites and in more than 200 newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Yahoo!, The Wall Street Journal Online, and many more.
Contact Information: For More Information Lindsey Zouein or William O'Neal LaunchSquad (415) 625-8555 inman (at) launchsquad.com