This is the last in a short series of posts inspired by my trip to Manhattan for the Inman REConnect Conference….

What did I take away from it all? Ill format my answers in the form of some 2007 predictions (in no particular order):

• Active Rain and other community based ‘Blogsites’ are going to be Big. Localized real estate content using the blogging platform will create new top producers and entrench the current crop.  *That was a tough one*
  

• Web 2.0 technologies, specifically the Mash-up, will accelerate the paradigm shift influencing the way real estate is bought sold and financed. Open minded Realtors/ Real Estate Agents and Mortgage Professionals have unprecedented opportunity to reposition themselves for success.

• Transparency in the mortgage industry will cause a substantial financial shift in how (much) service providers make money. Once the consumer can confidently verify what Wholesale Par Interest Rates are being sold for, there is going to be a huge correction in the industry.

• Open source Listings will supplant the ‘proprietary nature’ in which they are traditionally held. Someone will create a National Listing Service that is accepted by those inside and heavily utilized by those outside of the industry.

• Buyers Agents who refuse to negotiate their Fee will find themselves relegated to the ‘laggard’ 50+ consumer niche.

• Video Listings will quickly become the next standard for effectively marketing a property, especially the high-end inventory.

• Incidences of foreclosures, predatory lending, fraud, and other negative factors will sharply increase as $1,000,000,000,000 in Adjustable Rate Mortgages are due for adjustment.

• The NAR will spend a record amount of money 1) Continuing to trash alternative models as evil 2) Fighting their anti-trust suit against the DOJ 3) Increasing the potency of their Kool-Aid…

• My Link Roll will contain some of 2007’s biggest success stories in real estate and mortgage.