After more than 3 months of writing and many more months of research the Swanepoel TRENDS Report (2009 edition 161-pages) will be arriving from the printers next week.

Out of the housing bubble of 2006, the subprime ashes of 2007 and the mortgage meltdown of 2008 we are going to see a whole new real estate industry evolve and develop and we will look back at the years 2008 - 2012 as the transition period during which the real estate industry made a major paradigm shift to reinvent the home buying and selling process.

Paradigm shifts share one thing in common - they don't happen overnight.  They are slow to develop and they change during the process. 

There has been pressure on the real estate business to change now for more than a decade. The internet started shaping the industry in the mid 1990s while the industry was undergoing significant consolidation. The 2000-05 housing boom put a hold on this but with the downturn the industry is once again facing strong pressure to fundamentally transform the real estate business.

Just as surely as the early bird that gets the worm, if you don't start adapting in 2009 the shift will pass you by.  In fact if you haven't already started it may already be too late. Recognizing that change is happening is the first step, taking action the second and monitoring its evolution the third.  Unfortunately many have not yet recognized that change is already here.

And it's true, a lot of change is happening. For example, organized real estate at the hands of NAR may be on a new track, MLS may look and function completely differently, new non-U.S. firms may already be expanding major new brands into the U.S., social media may have found its connection with real estate professionals and a new younger generation will soon assume the leadership of the real estate industry.  A generation that is more global, more socially attuned via social networks, more wirelessly adapted and in many respects better educated.

Real estate professionals will certainly survive as the primary link between Americans and the American dream, but will end up with significantly different roles and value in the process. Make sure you stay in control of your destiny.

My latest annual Trends Report is due for release next week of February. And as before, it is full of information, facts and figures, new business models, changes, shifts and recommendations. Don't be left behind, get a copy and get up to speed with what's happening to our industry.

Purchase a copy at www.RealEstateBooks.org before the Report arrives next week from the publishers and save $50 off the cover price.

I hope you all enjoy the read and benefit from its contents.