Live from Inman Real Estate Connect 2007: Part 6

The Inman Innovator Awards were announced just minutes ago, and BHI Insights was there. Here is a list of the winners. Be sure to check out the winner's web sites to get up-to-date on the latest products and services in the Real Estate Technology Industry:

Most Innovative Brokerage: Coldwell Banker

Most Innovative Web Service: vFlyer

Most Innovative Technology: Altos Research

Most Innovative Blog: Mortgage Fraud Blog

Most Innovative Media Site: Active Rain

Innovator of the Year: The Craigslist Community and Craig Newmark

Live from Inman Real Estate Connect 2007: Part 5

Sellsius Real Estate took the long way to Inman Connect 2007. They toured the country in an RV, visiting 30 cities along the way. In each city, they hooked up with local real estate bloggers and documented their travels, culminating on stage at the last day of the conference. Check out their blog and video below for the whole crazy story.

Real Estate Video by - Real Estate Blogger

Live from Inman Real Estate Connect 2007: Part 4

This afternoon, the conference broke out into smaller, intensive workshops on various topics including lead management, video, blogging, and mapping. BHI Insights attended the blogging and video sessions.

Video: So, why is video gaining so much traction, and becoming so common on the Internet? And why should we care about video when marketing real estate? Video has become ubiquitous on the Web for a number of reasons: The proliferation of broadband access, more efficient compression and streaming technologies, and a new breed of embeddable video players. What can video do for real estate marketing? Well-made video content creates an emotional response, regardless of the subject matter. The video can be about a builder, a community, or a specific floor plan. The goal is to create an emotional response from the consumer. Be on the lookout for some innovative video products from BHI in the near future.

Live from Inman Real Estate Connect 2007: Part 3

The Keynote Address just finished up. The speaker was Hugh MacLeod, a person that defies categorization in my opinion. Hugh is a cartoonist (those are his on the right), ad industry veteran, viral marketing specialist, blogger, motivator (the list goes on). He is most famous for his blog, gapingvoid.com and also for putting a small South African wine maker, Stormhoek on the map through an amazing viral marketing campaign that utilized blogging and the power of the Internet. Hugh MacLeod made some excellent points in his hilarious 25 mintue address. The key takeaway was the importance of Social Objects on the Web. Social Objects are anything that encourage social interactions and sharing. This is at the heart of the Web 2.0 movement. Humans love to share themselves and their experiences. The most successful Web 2.0 products empower users to interact and share. The video tells the story of Hugh's most famous cartoon: The Blue Monster. Be sure to watch it.

Live from Inman Real Estate Connect 2007: Part 2

Brad Inman (far left) kicked off the Conference by relating the key themes to be explored over the next 3 days. The first is the interplay between the current state of the real estate market and the current explosion of new technology providers in the space. The market is slow with few buyers but, the industry is finally ready to totally embrace the wide array of technologies becoming available. At the same time, we are experiencing a "Web 2.0" explosion of Internet innovation. These new innovations center around Community, User-Generated Content, and Social Media. We are also in the age of 24/7 connectivity with Blogs, video and social networking keeping us connected to the Internet and each other around the clock, instantly.

The first round table discussion was a very lively one with Brad Inman (left) Dale Stinton, CEO of The National Association of Realtors (center) and Rich Barton, CEO of Zillow. Dale Stinton had some very interesting insights and news about the industry:

First, he's predicting the Fed will drop interest rates in the coming months to counteract the effects of the slow market and the sub-prime financing "debacle". He also announced that NAR is investing heavily in the technology business. They plan to create and incubate new technologies to directly help their constituency. Third, the NAR will begin marketing directly to consumers. They want to be a trusted adviser on a national level, and are striving to be the first resource consumers use when they research and search for homes. Over $100 Million will be put towards this effort. Realtor.com will also get a major overhaul that will feature new and innovative features.

Everyone on the panel agreed that Mobile Content will be the next huge thing to hit the industry. The iPhone is expected to be a real game changer. Once the kinks are worked out of the first 2 generations of the iPhone, expect consumer real estate to radically change. Consumers will be able to search and connect with homes and Realtors in real time, on the fly, from anywhere.

Live from Inman Real Estate Connect 2007: Part 1

BHI Insights has safely landed in the "City By The Bay" for Real Estate Connect 2007. Greeting us with open arms was Trulia with their loving mascot. The show kicks off in about 1 hour with a welcome address by Brad Inman, followed by the first round of discussions featuring Dale Stinton CEO, National Association of Realtors, Peter Flint Founder & CEO, Trulia and Russ Capper, President, Prudential Real Estate Services. It's shaping up to be a great show. Stay tuned to BHI Insights for recaps on all the events here at Real Estate Connect 2007!