Real Estate Connect - Day 1

Day 1 at Real Estate Connect in San Francisco is in the books! Here are some of the highlights:

Opening Speakers:

• Brad Inman, Founder of Inman News (also the conference hosts), kicked off by speaking about transparency in the real estate industry. More information is being posted online by more people — the industry must accept and adapt to this trend. Brad mentioned that web sites are the TV channels of the future and I tend to agree — it was great to watch World Cup Soccer live online at ESPN.
• Second to the mic were our CEO, Rich Barton, and President, Lloyd Frink. They spoke about the 10 things they’ve learned about the real estate industry since starting Zillow.com. Rich and Lloyd also announced both Zillow’s Series B funding and our plan to open up our API. We are fanatical about getting Zestimates to as many consumers as possible and the API is a huge step toward accomplishing that goal. Conference attendees also caught wind of ZMobile — check the Zillow Blog tomorrow for further details about this cool new Zillow Labs project.
• David Liniger, the 30-year industry veteran and Co-Founder/Chairman of RE/MAX International, spoke about how the real estate industry has evolved since the early 1970’s when RE/MAX was founded. One of the main points noted was that consumers want unlimited access to information, which has been the root cause of IDX in the industry. On the "housing bubble" topic, David simply stated that it "is now a buyers market." The other provocative subject of whether Realtors are overpaid also came up — on that, Liniger suggests: "Let’s start investigating attorneys."

Citizen Journalism:

• Brad Inman moderated a intriguing panel discussion between Craig Newmark from Craigslist, Paul Grabowicz from UC Berkeley, Lockhart Steele from Curbed.com, and Andy Sack from Judy’s Book.
• According to Paul, citizen journalism is basically two things. 1) people telling their own stories and 2) communities writing about community affairs.
• Lockhart said the web has unlocked previously hidden information. People are better informed than ever before. Journalists need to be aware that this is a different audience — and to quote Steele, writers should "Assume that people are bringing their brains to the table!"
• Craig Newmark received many thanks for creating such a useful web site. He was characteristically humble about Craigslist’s accomplishments.  Andy Sack apparently deemed Craig too humble and so was overheard exclaiming about Craigslist that: "It’s a big f***ing deal!"

Highlights of the Inman Innovator Awards:

• RE/MAX International received the Most Innovative Brokerage award. Other nominees were: Alain Pinel Realtors, Weichert Realtors, Intero Real Estate, Chase International, Intero, and Michael Saunders & Co.
• Urban Digs beat out Rain City Guide, Matrix, SocketSite, The Walk-Through, and Center for Realtor Technology for the Most Innovative Real Estate Blog.
• MyNewPlace picked up the award in the Most Innovative Rental/New Homes Online Service category and
• CellSigns won the award for the Most Innovative Technology in a competitive group including Blogging Systems, Stewart Title’s Sureclose, and RealPING.

Congratulations to the award winners and thanks to the presenters and panelists. We’ll see some of you at breakfast — the rest of you will find more news & views from Real Estate Connect here tomorrow.

Update: It has been brought to my attention that we inadvertently left our neighbor across the lake off of our awards section… congratulations to Redfin on their award for Most Innovative Business Model!