Inman

Curing the real estate disconnect

Besides the field of top real estate industry executives, the Jan. 7-9 Real Estate Connect conference in New York City will feature a wine and Web 2.0 expert; the economist behind the Case-Shiller home-price indices and author of "Irrational Exuberance"; the man behind the global empire of community sites that is craigslist; the top economist for the National Association of Realtors; and a New York Times financial news reporter, to name a few (see conference program).

Gary Vaynerchuk, an entrepreneur who rebranded a family liquor store as Wine Library and has pumped up the new brand using Web 2.0 marketing techniques, will appear as a keynote speaker during the Inman News conference in January (see Inman News article). He is well known for his daily video blog, Wine Library TV.

Robert J. Shiller, author of "Irrational Exuberance" and "The Subprime Solution" and co-creator of the home-price trends research technique that is at the center of the monthly Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home-price data, will offer a presentation on "Finding a Fix for the Housing Market" during the Real Estate Connect conference (see Inman News article). Shiller is known for his discussion of bubbles and the irrational psychological and behavioral causes of instability in financial markets.

Craig Newmark, the founder and customer service representative for the San Francisco-based craigslist network of sites and a popular regular at the conference, will take the stage during a session titled, "How the Internet Culture is Changing the U.S."

Andrew Ross Sorkin, a Wall Street insider who reports on mergers and acquisitions for the New York Times, will engage Real Estate Connect attendees in a session titled, "What to Expect from the Financial Markets in 2009."

Sorkin began writing for the newspaper in 1995 — while he was in high school. He won a 2004 award for breaking news about the sale of IBM’s personal computers business to Lenovo.

The "Bulls vs. Bears" session will return to Real Estate Connect in January, and with a powerhouse lineup of industry participant and a timely topic: "The Great Housing Market Collapse." Carter Murdoch, a Bank of America executive; NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun; financial markets expert Barry Ritholz; and UrbandDigs.com founder Noah Rosenblatt will weigh in on this panel discussion.

Also up for discussion is the future of the multiple listing service industry. David Charron, the president and CEO of Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, a heavyweight regional MLS in the Washington, D.C., area, will join Bud Fogel, CEO of Midwest Real Estate Data LLC; and Scott Kucirek, the co-founder of ZipRealty who is helping to lead a statewide MLS initiative in California (see Inman News article) in a conference session.

Executives from global real estate brokerage giant Realogy Corp. are also scheduled to speak at the conference, and attendees can chat with industry leaders and technology innovators during a "Meet the Leaders" networking session.

The Inman News Real Estate Connect conference in New York City runs from Jan. 7-9.

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