Awesome, love the technological advancements! The most comprehensive report I have found of the mess in the MLS arena, technology and real estate is in the new 2007 Swanepoel Trends Report. Do yourself a favor and get a copy of the Report – I got mine online.

Great article in Fortune about Zillow:
http://biz.yahoo.com/hftn/070207/020507_8400262.html

"Looks like inventory supply will be curtailed going forward, thus causing a housing shortage. Sending prices skyward once people run out of used homes on the market."
Quite a jump to conclusions. We are a few months removed from record inventories, aren't we? I look around and do not see a housing shortage, particlarly in Loudoun.

Every post you make seems like you're trying to convince yourself.

Supervisors pass Staton plan
By: Jason Jacks - 12/06/2006
Loudoun Times Mirror

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors narrowly approved changes Tuesday to the zoning policy for western Loudoun to allow for the construction of as many as 18,000 homes west of Leesburg, 28,000 less than what was previously permitted.

Pr. William freezes new construction
Washington Business Journal - 9:08 AM EST Wednesday
by Joe Coombs
Senior Staff Reporter

Prince William County has sent its message to Richmond: Until it gets more money for roads, it's saying no to new development. Well, some of it.

Looks like inventory supply will be curtailed going forward, thus causing a housing shortage. Sending prices skyward once people run out of used homes on the market.

If buying and selling a home become as simple as trading stocks online, that might be scary. But with the Internet, I wouldn't bet against it. Just wait until they start selling Futures/Options on homes. Now that would be something.

R. Appreciate your insights. I am sure the new and improved Zillow is just around the corner. It will be fun to watch their business mature and their impact on the industry. They do listen.

See my comments responding to Alby about my take on the future of "business models" and real estate agents.

Alby, I agree, the traditional model may be broken and new models are warranted but, a scam? The vast majority of people in our profession are hard working, honest, have integrity and provide a valuable service to their clients. I might have strong opinions on getting paid a fair fee for the services provided but in no way do we scam anyone. Many of our clients prefer the % commission model where we take all the risk. Fees are negotiable, always have been.

There will continue to be a need for professionals to assist buyers and sellers with navigating the rules, regulations and protecting the interest of their clients. I don't see the demise of agents. I do see a transformation to a different way of doing business.

The nature of compensation must change. Consumers don't understand the current model because there is no transparency. I do see Zillow's innovations as a catalyst for needed change.

I think it is premature to call the RE agent dead. I think it is heading in that direction, like travel agents and full service stock brokers their services will largely be replaced by technology. I think Merv is right that the future of RE agents will be fee for service consulting, like a financial advisor.

I wasn't very impressed with the search features on zillow's buyer home search. They need to do some significant user interface work. I don't want to see a bunch of red flags sticking up out of a satellite image from 50k ft. I want the listings first then if I like a house click on it and get the satelite images and prior sales etc. Sat. images take up too much of the screen. I also want to be able to group searches by neighborhoods.

If I were zillow I would allow users to create log-ins and customize their interface. I would also allow you to save a number of different home searches. This would also allow them to collect valuable data that they could then sell to mortgage brokers and home builders. Zillow needs to also get on the ball and start to include foreclosure listings in their database. Foreclosures will be where a lot of action is in the next couple of years with all of those ARM resets.

I've said it here before but eventually all loan processing and title transfer will be done electronically. Given that we have lots of local governments to deal with it will probably take 10-15 years. But eventually you will be able to purchase a house almost as easily as buying stock through an online broker.

The end is near for Real Estate Agents and their Lofty commissions. If the Sellers can be matched up with Buyers for pennies on the dollar, then Agents aren't needed. The Internet is slowly writing the obituary on Agents and their 4%-6% commissions. Like I've said before, an agent selling a $500k home doesn't do any extra than an agent selling a $1,000,000 home. So why should the agent's paycheck go from $15k to $30k just because they hit the jackpot with a Seller who owns a $1,000,000 home (noting: 3% BuyerAgent - 3% Seller Agent). Its all a scam and its about time that Sellers stopped getting milked by having to pay Buyer and Seller Commissions on their asset sale.