If you think communicating with Gen X sellers and Gen Y buyers was tough, get ready for a whole new level of (neo)communication as the “next, next generation” and hope you don’t see CYA L8R, RLTR come across your cell phone.

According to a recent study by Nielsen Wire, Under-aged Texting: Usage and Actual Cost, the social shift from traditional communications styles is ramping up with younger generations. There was a time when REALTORS were exasperated that consumers didn’t want to leave a voice mail, and some buyers expected to hear back within a few minutes (at least the hour) when they sent an email. Just how ready they’ll be when the next wave of first-time renters and fledgling buyers comes along and prefers to text chat, even while sitting in the front seat of the car.

Don’t laugh; Nielsen notes that teenagers are sending more than 3,000 texts a month, or about 10 per hour they aren’t sleeping or in school. Children under 12 years of age are right behind, sending four message per non-school hour. Kids are texting their parents at the dinner table and from the living room sofa, while sitting right next to them.

Who’s to say that method of communication won’t become the norm for other interactions. Young people prefer to scan their own barcodes rather than wait in line for a cashier to check them out. They use text-messaging to receive information about houses directly from the sign; why should they “upgrade” to a voice call when they didn’t really want to talk in the first place?

At some point, won’t they have to talk to us? Probably, but don’t think texting won’t be present in that “conversation” either. The style, duration and depth of future conversations may be radically different than those we have today. It was a huge leap from the “Sixty Minutes” of news to “Headline News” to Tweets as news today. The message changed along with the method. Whereas Boomers once dreamed about living in a home for a decade, clutching a paper listing sheet in their hands, Gen Y previews homes on their iPad and imagines living it – until the next model is released in a year or two.

As Marshal McLuhan foretold, “the medium is the message.” For the next, next generation of consumers, it could turn out that the text message is the message. As for REALTORS, 49% of whom still don’t own a smartphone in 2010, it’s time for them to get the message.