If you are in the real estate industry, you don’t need me to tell you that the market is still continuing its downward trend.  And according to Patrick Stone of The Stone Group, real estate professionals should expect at least another year until all markets have corrected.  And even then, there will only be lateral movement for 3-4 years leaving the market flat.

As for the mortgage industry, again we are not yet through the crisis.  In an interview with InmanTV Yves Smith, head of Aurora Advisors and author of the popular blog NakedCapitalism, explains that if you compare this real estate recession to the one back around ‘90-’91, you will see that it lasted 15 quarters, and in that the Case-Schiller Index only dropped 5% while it is already down 19% since 2006 and we are only part way through the mortgage crisis.  Other experts estimate that the Case-Shiller may drop 30% by the time it is all said and done.  Another indicator that this mortgage credit crisis is not over yet is that there are still many weak borrowers out there that are likely to have difficulties over the next couple of years.

As grim as the outlook appears agents, brokers and loan officers are not going down without a fight.  Many are turning to technology and the web to help them through the tough times.  Some of the tools they are employing include:

As many real estate agents and brokers struggle to keep their businesses afloat during this recession, they are finding that by employing a little creativity and by taking advantage of the technology available to them today, they will be able to generate the leads and close the deals they need to ride out the slide.