38 | WISH YOU WERE THERE? WORDS | John Howell
Technology triumphs W
hat will the housing market look like in 2013 and beyond? What will the US
election mean for the economy and the real estate industry? What are the latest technologies? How will they impact real estate businesses?
Inman® Connect® tries to give us the answers. “Connect is about the future: the opportunities, the threats and what to expect down the road and around the corner,” said Inman News publisher Brad Inman. “Connect NYC will be inspired, controversial and fun.” Produced by Inman News®, Real Estate Connect® is the preeminent and long running US event for everyone who cares about the real estate industry and where it is going. In particular, it is for everyone who cares about the use of technology in the industry. Each year, well over a thousand
infl uential real estate leaders, mainly from the US and Canada, gather at Real Estate Connect to network, make deals, explore current trends and technology, and to learn how to embrace and leverage the change that surrounds the industry. In 2013, Real Estate Connect
celebrates its 17th year.
Brad Inman explained: “Through the dot-com boom and bust and one of the most tumultuous real estate roller-coaster rides in the history of housing cycles, the Real Estate Connect conference has persevered as the place where industry professionals and techies converge to network, share ideas, and dream.”
So what was it like… and should you book your place for the next conference?
The keynote speech was from Brad Inman, long term guru and commentator on the US property scene. His ‘latte’ vision: “We need a big vision for the overly complicated real estate process. Here is mine: Make the mechanics of buying a home as easy as buying a latte, so homebuyers can focus on the right things,” set the tone for much of the event.
If taken at face value, this idea is pretty clearly nonsense. Buying a $1 million dollar home, partly with borrowed money, cannot and should not be as simple as buying an automobile,
let alone a cup of coffee. Some commentators in the fl urry of twitter activity that surrounds the conference seemed to agree: “Any fi rst-time buyer could tell Brad that there’s a reason buying a home is more complicated than buying a latte: there’s a hell of a lot more to it. A hell of a lot more upside if you make the right decisions, a hell of a lot more downside if you don’t. Which means a hell of a lot more lawyers and regulators circling the real estate industry than the coffee beverage industry, at least since McDonald’s learned not to serve piping hot coffee.” says John Fyten on Twitter (straying slightly away from the concise ideal of 140 characters). However, I suspect that Brad Inman, with all his experience, did not expect this call to action to be taken literally. Perhaps it was rather more a catchy complaint about an industry where the
“Every year, well over 1,000 real estate leaders gather to make deals and explore technology”
whole process of buying and selling a house does seem excessively complex and paper intensive. Whatever his intention, Brad certainly inspired passion and debate throughout the conference with his speech. In fact, passion would be one of the key words that you could use to describe the conference. Others might be “commitment”, “professionalism” and “youth” – the average age of the delegates seemed about 35. Compared to many of the rather stodgy and pedestrian events I attend, being at this conference was a joy.
Many of the delegates seemed to be regulars. Most described the conference as “an inspiration” and “a not to be missed event”. Several of the delegates and the speakers said that what they had learned at previous conferences had completely transformed their businesses.
Vibrant | The young, enthusiastic crowd generated a great atmosphere
I can well believe this. The conference programme was spread over three days and held sometimes as a plenary session and at others as three separate threads, one focusing on
EVENTS
www.opp-connect.com | FEBRUARY 2013
Inman connect, the leading US conference combining real estate and technology, offers an inspiring combination of passion and highly useful ideas. Is it worth a visit? OPP editor John Howell went along and couldn’t help but be impressed by the plethora of property professionals and their innovative ideas...
the needs of brokers, another on the needs of agents and the third on pure technology. It comprised sessions such as “How to Turn Data Into Dollars”; What is the Next Big Thing?”; “The Father and Son Conversation — Technology and Real Estate”; “Getting Startups to the Finish Line” and “The World at Your Fingertips”. They not only had catchy titles but they were well presented, thought provoking and stuffed full of good and useful ideas about how to develop and improve your business.
It was little surprise that delegates had come from as far away as Hawaii – often for the second, third or fourth time.
Apart from the seminars there were small displays by 25 new startup companies, many of which had highly innovative products to display and promote.
How about an app that allows you to produce quality fl oor plans from your iphone (see
www.sensopia.com); a programme that tracks all of your contacts in all of your applications and social media, sorts out those that are important and then reminds you when you have not been in touch with them (see
www.contactually.com) or a programme that can convert rough video clips or photos and a voice fi le into a perfectly adequate video – for example, showing a house – in seconds (see
www.videolicious.com)? Although the main focus is on the American realtor, much of the content should have been of interest and an inspiration to anyone selling property anywhere in the world.
Most people would have learned enough to cover the cost of attending several times over.
Add to all this the opportunity to do a bit of shopping in New York, take in a show and enjoy a US steak and the offer becomes pretty irresistible. My only complaint: the chairs in the very up-market conference venue were incredibly uncomfortable. Ho hum. So... see you there next year? Drop me an email at john.howell@opp-
connect.com if you attended the event and have anything to say about it, or if you intend to go along to the next one. Visit Inman connect at www.
realestateconnect.com
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