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 The team at BHI Insights will be blogging live from the Inman Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco August 1 - August 3. This is a great conference that brings together the entire Real Estate Technology industry for 3 days of featured speakers, seminars, networking and a large trade show. Can't make it to San Francisco? BHI Insights will be there to bring you the all the highlights from this years' event. Featured Speakers this year include Pete Flint, Founder & CEO Trulia, Craig Newmark, Founder of craigslist, and Doug Lebda, President, COO of IAC, to name just a few. Expect numerous posts this week live from the Conference including summaries of workshops, commentary on the latest trends, and photos from the trade show floor.
There is some excellent information in this video interview from Inman News. John L. Scott is a large brokerage in the Northwest. They are very web-focused and are always among the first in the industry to utilize new technologies such as interactive mapping. In this interview, they talk about the importance of building a long-lasting relationship with the consumer, and why technology is so important during real estate slumps. They also mention that video, blogging, and social networking are some of the themes they will be addressing in future product releases.
 The exciting news was officially announed today: Yahoo! Real Estate, one of the Web's leading online real estate resources, has collaborated with NewHomeSource.com, the most complete new home marketplace, to provide consumers the ability to search new construction homes listings from across the country. By joining forces with BHI, Yahoo! Real Estate provides users access to one of the most accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive new homes data available online.
Michael Yang, vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Real Estate says: " New homes continue to be an attractive option for many home buyers. In teaming with BHI, one of the strongest players in the new home market, we can ensure our users have access to the largest selection of new homes being constructed across the country."
This is great news for all of our Builders. Early indications are that lead generation is seeing a dramatic improvement as a result of this partnership. It's a win-win situation for NewHomeSouce.com and Yahoo! Real Estate. Go to Yahoo Real Estate to try out the New Homes Search.
 Inman News has just launched their new video site called InmanTV. The site is interesting in a number of ways:
- It is a Blog dedicated to video content. This is referred to as a vBlog. Online video has proliferated rapidly, and vBlogs are becoming more and more common.
- Users are encouraged to submit video content. Anything real estate related can be submitted for review. The best videos will be posted on the vBlog.
- Users can subscribe to an RSS feed of the vBlog. This is common functionality for blogs, and a big advantage over traditional websites. Users are notified whenever content is updated.
The video content, coupled with the high level on interactivity that a Blog allows, equals a highly engaging site that encourages user interaction. The blog format also enables content syndication via RSS, giving the potential for mass distribution of the video content.
In summary, we expect video content to rapidily become the norm, both in Blogs and on websites in general. Stay tuned for some cutting edge video-related products to be launched by BHI.
No suprises here, but The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported today that home construction in June '07 continued to trail activity from '06, as building permits, housing starts and completions were down an average of 24 percent. In the single-family sector, building permit authorizations in June dropped to a rate of 1.02 million, down 4.1 percent month to month For buildings with five units or more, authorizations were at a rate of 335,000 last month.
According to the latest ComScore/MediaMetrix report, nearly 75 percent of U.S.
Internet users watched an average of 158 minutes of online video per user
during May 2007. Notable findings from May 2007 include:
-- Online viewers watched an average of 158 minutes of streaming video per streamer.
-- The average video stream duration was 2.5 minutes.
-- Nearly three out of four (74.3 percent) U.S. Internet users streamed video online.
-- More than one out of three (35 percent) U.S. Internet users streamed video on YouTube.com.
-- The average online video viewer consumed 63 video streams, or more than two per day.
With online video consuption becoming the norm, I would expect to see rapid proliferation of video advertising across verticals, particularly in Real Estate.
 The latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today shows that builder confidence has continued to fall. They attribute the drop in confidence to many factors including the surplus of unsold homes on the market, ongoing concerns in the subprime mortgage arena and affordability issues associated with higher interest rates and tightening lending standards. The confidence index is based on a survey of builders that asks about current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months, and rate traffic of prospective buyers. NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders stated that “Builders are actively trimming prices and offering buyer incentives to work down their inventories, but meanwhile there is a large supply of vacant existing homes on the market, and affordability problems persist despite efforts to attract buyers."
Shares of Hovnanian, New Jersey's largest builder, rose $1.98, or 12 percent on speculation that Berkshire Hathaway would purchase a major stake in the company. Neither party would comment on the rumor, but home builder stocks were up across the board, out of hope that a Buffett purchase of a major builder would mark the bottom of home builder stock valuations. Stay tuned...
Imprev CEO Renwick Congdon gives a good overview of Real Estate Marketing trends,and talks about the importance of a balanced and integrated marketing mix including print and online.
I found this article a fascinating look at the growing influence of women online.
We know the importance that women have in the home-buying process (and in any big-ticket purchase for that matter), but I had no idea this growth was so pronounced.
Key points:
Women have dibs on home computer use:
Two-thirds of women (66.3%) say they are first in line to use the home’s computer.
For products they might purchase, 54.5% of online women say the internet is their primary source of information.
Among women 65+, three of 10 (31.8%) say the internet is their primary product-information resource.
http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/women-internet-is-indispensable-894/?camp=newsletter&src=mc&type=textlink
Enjoy.
Dan
 Forgive me for being on such a big online video kick recently but... I just read this interesting Executive Summary from The Kelsey Group. If you're not familiar with Kelsey, they're a provider of strategic research and analysis, data and competitive metrics on Yellow Pages, electronic directories and local media. Their conferences are among the best in the business for attracting decision makers in the online advertising industry. Anyways, their point is that the awareness and popularity of YouTube has brought video online to the mainstream. Companies like TurnHere and Spot Runner are now offering video production at price points targeted toward SMEs. Video assets will likely become an integral part of cross-platform advertising packages sold to SMEs. Compared to pay-per-click, video is very easy for advertisers and sales reps to understand, making it an easier sell. Read the whole summary here to learn more about the challenges of making video a viable advertising medium at the local level. http://www.kelseygroup.com/visitorsearch/view-ILM-Summary.asp?DocID=1655&SFlag=No
Wellcomemat.com was nominated for an Inman Innovators award this year. Their goal is to become a portal for real estate professionals to search for videographers. They are also building a directory of real estate video advertising. This is a good example of a video home listing. Check it out...
Google Maps has once again launched a new feature that makes creating customized driving directions easy AND fun. You can now click and drag on a driving route on the map to re-route around highways, along a coastal route, or to a intermediate destination. You no longer have to build a multi-step route by typing each step individually. Check it out...
Move Inc. announced a broad reaching plan to integrate user-generated content and social networking functionality across its sites. Move Inc.'s new President, Lorna Borenstein, will focus on drawing a larger base of consumers to Move Inc. site. They have traditionally concentrated on consumers that are actively buying, selling or renting real estate. They will now also focus on consumers that are passively seeking, researching, or otherwise not considering a purchase. Some interesting new features were announced:
A video destination featured home and garden video content
A social networking portal where users can discuss neighborhood issues, asking and answering questions
Neighborhood Search with detailed demographic information, heat maps, photos and video
Looks like Move is really branching out, in a direct response to functionality already live on Trulia and Zillow. They see those newer sites as a threat, and rightfully so.
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The team at BHI Insights will be blogging live from the Inman Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco August 1 - August 3. This is a great conference that brings together the entire Real Estate Technology industry for 3 days of featured speakers, seminars, networking and a large trade show. Can't make it to San Francisco? BHI Insights will be there to bring you the all the highlights from this years' event. Featured Speakers this year include Pete Flint, Founder & CEO Trulia, Craig Newmark, Founder of craigslist, and Doug Lebda, President, COO of IAC, to name just a few. Expect numerous posts this week live from the Conference including summaries of workshops, commentary on the latest trends, and photos from the trade show floor.
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