Tsunami heading for the Real Estate industry

[ChicagoDrew]

Can the Real Estate industry and its related industries (mortgage, insurance and title) keep business as usual? Especially when you are walking along the beach and notice that the water is resending a clear signal that a Tsunami is on the way. I know many websites that allow free listings are just incubating till they get a foot hold then bam they will start asking for referral fees. But with customers i.e. potential clients now have more access to information through the internet. Also more customers are more and more comfortable with the internet or use it as their main stay for getting info. So with Trulia, Zillow and many others that seem to pop up have more and more of the tools that customers want.

So do we agents that see the real end result of theses companies fight the good fight with the probability of losing business now and in the future? Also let’s add the fact that Realtor.com says it is for us REALTORS but I have never got one hit of traffic to my website hence one lick of business from them. They have a redirect or your link on your listings to your personal website is more like a pop up window and is blocked by most every web surfer.

With the supposed deterioration of the MLS and the new web 2.0 becoming more and more of a realty, I think the next 3- 5 years are going to be monumental or more like evolutional to our industry and those involved in the purchase and selling of real estate. What do you think? Have you tried any of the for-mentioned websites or any other that weren’t mentioned? I know I have one listing on Trulia which was taken from my site and I don’t think I have seen any traffic of business from it…yet. Do we fight, flee, bury our heads in the sand or get ahead of the curve?