As part of the annual Swanepoel TRENDS Report we also every year include a look back at the year that just passed and list the Top 10 Newsmakers, Top 10 Events and Top 10 Trendsetters for 2008. 
 
This week I am discussing the Trendsetters. Trendsetters are defined as those companies that during 2008 set forth actions that were different and memorable and could potentially have a far reaching impact on the real estate industry in the years to come.
 
The Top 10 Trendsetters in Real Estate for 2008 are:
 
1. Brookfield …

I received a few emails indicating surprise that I included micro blogging (Twitter) on my Top 10 Events impacting Real Estate in 2008 so I thought I would provide a little more information for those that are not that familiar with the concept of short text-based 140 character posts.
 
Twitter is again one of those social media phenomena’s. Founded in 2006 Twitter moved into the mainstream in this year. According to HubSpot 1 million people joined Twitter since October, pushing the new 2008 Twitter users to 3.5 million and the grand …

As part of the annual Swanepoel TRENDS Report that is published every year during the first week of February, the research team wraps their four month study of the real estate industry by announcing the top 10 Newsmakers, Events and Trendsetters for the year.
The second list to be released is the top 10 events that during 2008 had the largest impact and influence on the real estate brokerage industry. Events are defined as those occurrences that transpired during the previous calendar year (2008) that made headlines and captured the …

As part of the annual Swanepoel TRENDS Report that is published every year during the first week of February, the research team wraps their four month study of the real estate industry by announcing the top 10 Newsmakers, Events and Trendsetters for the year.
The first list to be released is the Newsmakers. Newsmakers are defined as those people that during the year made headlines as individuals, as a result of their actions and leadership of the companies or associations they are involved with in the real estate industry.
The Top 10 …

The chronicles of Kellie Pillors….
I have a young agent who is so tenacious she refuses to see any discord in this market.  Instead, she chooses to see the opportunity of a lifetime.   Why?  Because she is doing the right prospecting to make her phone ring and her closing count is rising.  I met Kellie when she was a succesful rookie at one of my client’s offices in Southern California.  I knew the minute I met her she was a very talented agent and prospector.  It was my great fortune, when she …

Evolution is all part of the process of re-engineering the real estate industry and the home buying process so every time I come across a new business model that is working I get excited.  Some may say that this concept is not truly new, but with its format and European origin, it is definitely unique and very different.

Originally launched in 1977 as Engel & Cie., the company changed its name in 1987 to Engel & Völkers. It operated pretty much as a traditional real estate franchise until the mid …

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced that they will suspend foreclosure sales on properties that they insure over the Thanksgiving and December Holidays! Part of me wants to shout, “It’s a Christmas Miracle”, another part is truly thankful, and yet another part is angry because I wish they could extend that a bit further than November 26th through January 9th, 2009.This is great news for anyone who has a FNMA or Freddie owned loan that was going up for sale during this time frame. It doesn’t apply to all …

On November 7th, while I was at the NAR convention in Orlando, Fidelity surprised us all by announcing that it would be acquiring LandAmerica in an all stock deal valued at $128 million. This merger would have great the largest title insurance group with about a 45% market share. In terms of the agreement Fidelity had time till today, November 21st to back out of the deal based on their due diligence. Well, last night, Friday at 8:00PM Eastern time they did exactly that. The deals off!

I know most of you real estate agents and brokers are all over this but you may want to get this information out to your contact database and geographic farm.  I was recently asked by a couple agents if the relief covers years other than 2007, so I know that some of you may not be aware that this tax relief option is available for 2008 and 2009.
There are homeowners out there who should understand this relief plan and what they need to do to implement and take advantage of …

Well it’s official! While Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES) is still “taking care of business” until everything is transitioned over, as of October 29th, Emphasys Software is now at the helm of Agent Office! Emphasys is a Real Estate management, financial and compliance software solutions company. It offers a long list of Real Estate related software solutions.
Personally, I’m happy about the potential for this move, obviously pending seeing what happens. Emphasys is a Software company, as opposed to a Title company. Their interest in having Agent Office is to …