Special offer

10 Things That Will Likely Disappear in 2009

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine NH and Maine Broker


Shadows and Silhouettes Around Portsmouth NH - Ann Cummings 2008

A friend of mine sent me a link to an article by InfoWorld.com written by Mike Elgan that talked about 10 things the author felt wouldn't make it through the recession we're in. 


These things are all around now, the last day of 2008, but will they still be here at the end of 2009?

 

 



Here's the list of the 10 Things That Won't Survive the Recession:

  • Free Tech Support - humans answering the phone and helping with tech problems will fall by the wayside, and many companies will resort to message boards for consumers to seek help from.

  • Wi-Fi We Pay For - public and/or free wi-fi is popping up all over the place, including many towns setting up their own wi-fi for their residents.  With this happening, there won't be any need to keep paying for it.

  • Landline Phones - with so many dropping their landlines to go totally cellular, it's predicted landline phones will become archaic very soon.

  • Movie Rental Stores - downloading movies will force this to happen.

  • Web 2.0 Companies With No Business Plans - investors have dried up, and those with money want to see solid business plans before letting go of any money.

  • Silicon Valley Companies - failures and mergers of tech companies have caused this to happen, and a prediction of them to boom again during the next boom.

  • Palm, Inc. - iPhone, Blackberry and Google causing the demise of Palm and its investor partner, Elevation Partner.

  • Yahoo - not being able to compete with Google, will it go the way of Netscape, Commodore, and others?

  • Half of All Retail Stores - online shopping has taken over a huge chunk of shopping, and the prediction is that malls will become ghost towns, many stores will just disappear, and Amazon.com will become a monster shopping site.

  • Satellite Radio - the losses are too big and financial obligations can't be met.  New car sales are way off, and that's where most of the satellite radios are sold.  Ah, goodbye Howard Stern??

What will disappear next??  Ann Cummings NH REALTOR

I'm inclined to agree with this list, and I'm sure we'll see more than just this list of 10 disappear.  What are your thoughts on these things disappearing?  What others would you include that you don't think will make it through the coming year, or that won't make it through this recession?


Change is afoot, and has been, and I think we'll see some very interesting changes during the coming year.  Any predictions on what those might be?  Feel free to leave your predictions in the comments.


Here's to a great and interesting 2009 for all of us!
Happy New Year,
Ann

                Search New Hampshire and Maine Homes Condos For Sale   Portsmouth NH Homes - Portsmouth NH Area Real Estate Market Reports
Contact Ann Cummings New Hampshire REALTORNH and Maine Real Estate - Featured ListingsRead My Newsletter

                                              Ann Cummings New Hampshire REALTOR


Servicing the New Hampshire towns of Portsmouth, Newcastle, Rye, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Exeter, Greenland, Newington, Dover, Durham and surrounding areas, and the Maine towns of Kittery, Kittery Point, Eliot, South Berwick, York, and surrounding areas.

Posted by

Ann CummingsREALTOR, e-PRO, GRI, CBR

Ann Cummings and Jim Lee formed a team in July of 2010.
Each bring over 30 years of successful real estate experience to the table so with Ann and Jim you truly do get two Realtors for the price of one. We’re dedicated to delivering exceptional service to you our clients and customers; past, present, and future.

Jim LeeCRS, ABR, GRI, e-PRO

Don Rogers
Keller Williams Realty Chesterfield - O'Fallon, MO
Realtor, Broker, CDPE, GRI, OnullFallon MO & St Charles County MO homes

Ann,

We discontinued our landline.  What with two cell phones in the house why would we need one!  It will also be interesting to see what happens with all of the items you have listed.

Jan 01, 2009 01:53 PM
Mary Strang
Viroqua, WI

I was thinking there just may be a lot of retail space for rent in 2009 and also I agree video stores will be disappearing too. Like the rest, I will be keeping land lines for awhile.

Jan 01, 2009 11:50 PM
ASHEVILLE REALTY REFERRAL RESOURCE 828-776-0779
REAL ESTATE REFERRAL NETWORK - Asheville, NC
CONTACT janeAnne365@gmail.com

Ann~

Just so long as friends and pets and the LAND stay around, we will be OK..right?  It would also be nice to have more "green" clients...and organic gardens...this sounds like my wish list for 2009...and I wish this for YOU =)  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Jan 02, 2009 01:06 AM
Jeanette Hemmer
Coldwell Banker - Clarksville, AR

Interesting list.  Down here in Arkansas, Sellers get so excited when they see their listing in the local newspaper.  The calls are not coming in on the listings, but it makes the Sellers happy.

We have got to get more Internet Savvy.

Jeanette Hemmer, Re/Max Plus Realty, Clarksville,Ar

Jan 02, 2009 02:15 AM
Diane Daley
Caron's Gateway Real Estate - Northumberland, NH

My area will be stuck with landlines because of no cell towers... some of our areas are still on dial-up networks...  Our teens don't text message....  It's like a step back in time for visitors from other areas....

Jan 02, 2009 02:24 AM
Sandra Paulow
Aspen Properties, Inc. - Pinetop Lakeside, AZ
REALTOR, Associate Broker, GRI, SFR

I may be old fashioned but I still like my land line telephone.  I find cell phones are too unpredictable and not that easy to use.  Bluetooth is wonderful if you can hear what the person on the other end is saying!!!  I don't like garbled talk, maybe I am getting old but half the time I can't hear what the person on the other end is saying if they are using an ear piece. 

Jan 02, 2009 07:14 AM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Don - I'm a long way from doing away with my landline at this point.  Our cell towers went down a few times during a recent ice storm, and my landline was the only way I could communicate with people at times.  I'm keeping mine for awhile.

Hi Mary - I think you're right about the retail space and video stores.  We've seen several of our video stores close up, 2 are still around but not sure how well they're doing.

Hey janeAnne - friends and pets and land will stay for sure, and we will definitely be okay.  ;-)

Hi Jeanette - the ad sections in our local papers have been very lean for quite some time now, and our local homes magazines have been on the thin side, too, and getting thinner all the time.

Caron's Gateway RE - wow, that is a step back in time, BUT there's nothing wrong with that since your whole area is like that.  You probably have a nice slow pace of life, too, right?

Hi Sandra - I like my landline phone, too, and many of my friends are still hanging on to theirs, too.  I don't see any compelling reasons to get rid of mine, so it's staying put for now.


Thanks for all your comments - Happy New Year!
Ann

Jan 02, 2009 10:26 PM
Chad Baird
Re/Max Spirit - Dayton, OH

I agree with the list except for movie rentals.  The store fronts may go away, but there are other delivery potentials without the internet.  I had not rented a movie in years until that Red Box popped up at McDonalds.  .99/day and you do not have to get out of your car, very convient.  I've used netflix and other sites, but if I want a movie, I want it now. 

Jan 03, 2009 04:47 AM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Chad - I don't know anything about the "Red Box" at McDonald's.  What is that?  Sounds pretty convenient.  There's a grocery store somewhere around me that prints some kind of coupon or something on the back of their receipts that lets you redeem them for videos in their store.  Is the McDonald's thing like that?

Ann

Jan 03, 2009 11:00 AM
Gena Riede
Riede Real Estate, Lic. 01310792 - Sacramento, CA
Real Estate Broker - Sacramento CA Real Estate (916) 417-2699

Ann, good predictions!  I think more newspapers will continue to go out of business and become a thing of the past.

And I hope that customer service becomes a thing of the future...they say that everything old becomes new again!

Happy New Year...may it be a good one for all of us!

Jan 04, 2009 01:00 AM
Chad Baird
Re/Max Spirit - Dayton, OH

Red Box-  Its an actual vending machine at the McDonalds around here.  You drive up, swipe your card and select your movie and it pops out.  When you are done, you take it back to the box and it returns it.  It bills you .99/day.  We've been using it for about a year now, never had any problems with it. 

Jan 04, 2009 01:11 AM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hey Gena - I looked at our newspaper's 'real estate section' this morning, and it didn't even take a full page for the few ads that were there.  We used to have several pages' worth - not any more.  And I agree with you about hoping REAL customer service comes back in.

Hi Chad - thanks for coming back on the Red Box thing at McDonald's.  I'm guessing they don't have that here in my area as I've not seen any promo on it and no mention of it when you go through their drive-through.  It sounds interesting though....I'll keep an eye out for it here.


Ann

Jan 04, 2009 04:12 AM
John Novak
Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace - Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, Las Vegas and Summerlin Real Estate

Hi Ann - I think we can add a lot of newspapers, magazines, and newsstands to that list as more people get their info digitally. It seems that every week there's an announcement from a major newspaper about scaling back their size, distribution or publishing dates.

Jan 04, 2009 04:21 AM
Mike Saunders
Retired - Athens, GA

An interesting list, however, many of them will still survive the recession.

Paid for WiFi - most towns that started free WiFi have folded those operations. There will probably be a very low subscription fee for WiFi in downtown areas as opposed to free

Landline phones - there are still rabbit ear TV's out there, there is still terrible cellular service away from major thoroughfares and population areas.

Yahoo will survive, just as netscape has (it is now Mozilla/Firefox)

Downloading movies will not take over until we get really good high speed internet at reasonable prices. Not enough bandwidth yet to meet the demand of HD movies downloaded.

Jan 04, 2009 04:28 AM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi John - I think you're right about that, and the news does seem to keep bringing news of more closures or scaling-back going on.

Hi Mike - the towns that I know of have been expanding their free wi-fi areas, including my own town.  And there are also a lot of businesses that offer free wi-fi - restaurants, bookstores, libraries, etc.  Many of my friends got rid of their landlines some time ago, but not me, and I don't think I will for some time to come.  I guess it depends on the carriers in your area and how their coverage and services are.  Coverage here in my areas allows for any who choose to do so, to get rid of their landlines with no problems.


Thanks for the comments,
Ann

Jan 04, 2009 04:34 AM
James Graner
Residential Services: http://appraisalmo.com - Saint Charles, MO

Well I will not miss paying for WIFI or Howard Stearn. I think I am going to miss many of favorite retailers.

Jan 04, 2009 05:26 AM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi James - I'm with you on both of those, paying for wi-fi and Mr. Stearns!

Ann

Jan 05, 2009 01:30 PM
Gena Riede
Riede Real Estate, Lic. 01310792 - Sacramento, CA
Real Estate Broker - Sacramento CA Real Estate (916) 417-2699

Ann, I think another thing we will see is the commercial end of real estate in the tubes. We have witnessed the fall of real estate with the single family homes and the foreclosures but the commercial sector I think will suffer greatly.  Hope I'm wrong.

Jan 07, 2009 03:26 PM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Gena - the commercial market here in my area seems to have fared better than in other areas.  At least so far, that's what we've been seeing,  And I think commercial real estate is just as local as residential - some areas do far better than others, and it also depends on whether an area was over-built or over-developed or not.

Ann

Jan 09, 2009 11:45 PM
Ryan Hartman
ReTechulous, LLC - York, PA

Hey! Don't kill Howard :)

Instead promote the show with this new "Real Estate Stern Fan" website widget: http://houseyourmom.com/real-estate-stern-fan

 

 

Aug 09, 2009 04:59 AM