It's an interesting notion - the idea that within the Web 2.0 movement are many smaller movements that each have their own attributes. I don't know who created the actual term (Real Estate 2.0) but I guess it's one of those things that just emerged.

This post is really a comment to Kristen's post where she made the assertion that Real Estate 2.0 was something that all real estate people should be aware of. And actually, it's a comment to some comments; it became so long that I felt it should be a post itself. Besides, I didn't have enough time to shorten it. ;-)

In separate comments to Kristen's post, Matt and Rory challenged the importance of recognizing Real Estate 2.0 by saying (paraphrased):

"... the industry can't catch up with what is already there."

The fact that an industry can't seem to get in gear concerning change (technological or otherwise) doesn't mitigate the reality that change is indeed afoot. Failing to embrace fundamental changes in any business segment is likely to get you a first-class seat on the disruption express.

Technological advancement didn't hit the pause button so that travel agencies could get web connections. Web 1.0 didn't stand still while some companies took their sweet time to perform ROI calculations on the benefits of a web site. Instead, many companies went bankrupt - they waited too long to realize that disruption of their business model was hiding in plain sight.

"The focus needs to be on making existing technologies easier to use, making the benefit clear to the real estate community, and driving adoption."

I agree with the benefit and driving adoption part, but those are reactions to things that happen naturally and organcally; typically following early adoption by risk-takers. The focus shall be (and always will be) what markets determine they should be. In a free-market system, the natural course of successes and failures will be the determing factors that shape the technical landscape.

Some risk-takers are spending alot of time plowing real estate properties into Google Base. Some real estate "experts" don't even know what Google Base is. Do you think Google has its eye on the real estate prize? While the bulk of the real estate industry is focusing on Web 1.0, Google will create a new "blue ocean" of opportunity that has the capacity to make MLS irrelevant; Google is (in my humble opinion) busy creating a new uncontested market space based on the fundamental shift towards attributes of Web 2.0 - i.e., a machine-based, human-tagged web.

Forward-thinking real estate entreprenuers that embrace the idea that Web 2.0 includes industry-specific subsets (i.e., Real Estate 2.0), will have a distinct competitive advantage when the shit hits the fan; just as Travelocity and PriceLine did when the travel industry was disrupted in 1999.

Early adopters are not going to wait while their competitors try to figure out what the latest buzzwords mean; they're going to forge ahead. Some will make mistakes, a few will achieve tremendous benefits by being first movers. Ironically, you can see this process by observing the early members of ActiveRain. These are early adopters that will always be ahead of their competitors because they invested in Web 2.0 behaviors and were versed enough in these concepts to understand how powerful social [digital] networks and blogs can be.

You can argue all day that Real Estate 2.0 does not exist, or should not occupy our thoughts (so soon), but I have news for ya - ActiveRain *is* part of Real Estate 2.0. ;-)