The recession holds answers to the real estate industry’s troubles – if it’s willing to listen. Otherwise it might just find out who’s buried in Grant’s tomb.

With our sensors on full, we’ve scanned the real estate metaverse online to find some of the latest links to research, industry thinkers and opinion that can help you chart a course to success in 2010.

What’s the point, after the novelty wears off, that makes social networking a viable channel to create new business? Just what is the outcome to be achieved with social networking for real estate professionals?

There are two basic reasons why companies fail: unwillingness to embrace the obvious changes of their day, and a smug rejection of customer feedback. At Barnes and Noble, you can get both.

Facebook’s face lift confusion provides businesses a good lesson in how not to confuse your customers while building your brand.

Traditional housing reports lack useful data for the modern real estate consumer. What Gen X and Gen Y need to know in the future goes far beyond the traditional CMA.

According to a new survey by NAR, by a factor of 4, most buyers think open houses are far more useless than they were just a year ago.

Are social network games just for fun – or powerful sales tools. Matthew Ferrara explores the Gen X / Gen Y sales potential of Farmville and other social media fun.

Riddle me this: How is it that the industries that charge the least for their products and services seem to have more more advanced technology than those that charge the most? Some time ago, we wrote that REALTORS might want to take a look at how gas stations were using technology to market ancillary products [...]

Hindsight is always 20/20, they say. Unless, of course, you spend most of your time navel gazing. So it’s almost myopic to point out that some ideas’ time has come. And other ideas’ time has passed. On one hand, it’s time for every sale to include in-house ancillary sales. On the other hand, [...]

Download a copy of the latest survey of REALTORS by the Center for REALTOR Technology and you’re certain to be fascinated – startled, perhaps – at what’s happening on the Bat-belts of modern agents trying to make buying and selling homes a twenty-first century experience. While the report is no page-turner – in [...]

According to everyone with a microphone, now’s the best time to buy a home in decades. The recession has pushed home prices and mortgage interest rates so low that affordability has never been better. We’ll even throw in a few free Bernanke Bucks to help you cover closing and commission costs, and rebate you the [...]

It has often been said that sales is a contact sport. If so, then every opportunity to work closely with consumers is a sales moment. Real estate sales professionals know that it’s all about relationships. So it’s important to never let a good sales moment go to waste. If you’re serious about a sales career, [...]

Blogging is both art and tax. Good blogging means turning a steady flow of useful ideas into interesting content. Bloggers must be good writers. And developing a readership takes a lot of time each day and week. So it’s not unusual for busy salespeople to worry that they’ll never really leverage the medium, [...]

Why is it that some things just won’t go change? There, on my doorstep, was a reminder that some companies still don’t get it. Nearly two pounds of absurdity, neatly wrapped in a plastic bag, and personally delivered to to my front porch, was a reminder that the more things change, the more some things [...]