I recently attended the Inman Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco. Present were many of the thought leaders in the real estate industry including: Craig Newmark (Craigslist), Peter Flint (CEO, Trulia) Steve (CFO, Zillow), Glenn Kelman(CEO, Redfin) and more. This was truly a summit of the people moving the real estate industry forward.

Here are the trends that can’t be ignored and how Investor Nation is embracing them.

1. Transparency - I couldn’t help but think how the online world is creating an incredible degree of transparency. The data is all available on today’s leading real estate search portals; comparable sales, economic data, foreclosure data and more. I thought about how our company has used transparency to our advantage by taking it a step further; home inspections available for download, financial analysis, appraisals, local economic data. Increased transparency leads to reduced fluff. Reduced fluff leads to companies competing more so on service and client success than who can scream the loudest or has the most gray hairs.

2. Online Communities – Online communities are shaping the way we act as consumers. It is changing our buying patterns and how we allocate our time. People are returning less and less to websites and staying more in their social networks We’ve created networks with our footprint that allows both clients, and non-clients, local vendors, and others to discuss markets, connect, and nurture local communities. Our networks have no profit goals and are not branded as such. Our Memphis Investor Network has achieved great success and is now the fastest growing of the 3 investment organizations in Memphis associated with National REIA.

3. Streaming data - Streaming property data becomes even more important. Investor Nation has adopted the use of Twitter and we’ve crossed the 10,000 follower mark as I write this. Our company is embracing these paradigm shifts by streaming our properties to our Twitter feed(@InvestorNation). This makes it easy for our clients and potential clients to see our available properties the minute we publish them. Additionally our team members are using Twitter to create dialogue about what is happening in the investment home world. See @StephenKGreen, @CurtDavis, @JBWilli3, and @Ryan Hinricher.

You surely are exposed to these trends already. As we look to grow our investment portfolios and accelerate our retirement, working with companies who are understanding the trend shift is important. It is likely they’ll be the ones offering ways to interact, keep you informed, and offer clear and easy to understand choices of where and how to invest in real estate.

Tags: Memphis Investor Network, online communities, streaming, transparency