SAN FRANCISCO -- Craig Donato, CEO for classified listings search site Oodle.com, has glimpsed the future of Internet searching – and it looks a lot like his 5-year-old daughter, who already has an aptitude for finding information online.

"When I think about search and real estate, all the data we've seen is that consumers are absolutely using the Internet. It's certainly happening with the new generation," he said. His daughter recently looked up song lyrics for "The Cheetah Girls" using the Web, he said, and that says something about the Internet's evolution as an everyday tool.

"She can search better than her mom. It's a natural, inert thing. The train has left the station in regards to search being a valuable tool in how people search for real estate listings."

The World Wide Web has spawned a growing "Web 2.0 world," Donato said, featuring rich, integrated content such as blogs and Internet video. "We're in the process of turning ourselves inside out. It's not about getting everyone to come to you, it's about being everywhere."

Donato spoke during a panel presentation Friday titled "A Gaze Inside the Crystal Ball: What Will the Real Estate Industry Look Like in 5 Years?" at the Inman News Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco.

Other panelists said they expect an increasing proliferation of online property listings information, more transparency and simplification of real estate transactions, a continuing shift of ad spending to online sites, and a further convergence of real estate-related technologies through mashups and partnerships.

"The proliferation of listings will continue, and I think that's what's good," said Tim Fagan, CEO for HomeGain, a company that seeks to connect online consumers with real estate professionals.

And while there is much talk in the industry about advertising dollars migrating from print to online, there are also reasons why print sources have survived, he said, and it has a lot to do with the strong relationships they have built over time with their customers, Fagan said. "Why newspapers and why traditional publishing outfits are still around is because they hold those values really to be sacrosanct," he said.

As the real estate industry evolves, Fagan said companies in the media space must "not only get your model figured out on the consumer side," but must also understand the changing environment for advertising.

While property listings information is finding its way to many online venues, some online players are putting a dent in real estate professionals' commission compensation by asking for referral fees in exchange for drawing in an online audience, said Joel Singer, president of Real Estate Business Services Inc., a subsidiary of the California Association of Realtors trade group.

Source:
http://www.inman.com/inmannews.aspx?ID=54994