This past 5th of October some bloggers and realtors got together in San Jose, CA for the first ever unconference in Silicon Valley, so it was natural to call it REBarcamp SiliconValley.

Real Estate Barcamp SiliconValley

We where there to talk with real estate professionals and service providers about our niche market, but also try to get a first hand view as to what are realtors doing online, how agencies and brokers are working together. So we could pinpoint contact points with their real estate peers at the International border between Mexico and the United States.

It was very instructional for how real estate agents are leveraging web technologies to help them accelerate the process for generating leads. We had the pleasure of seeing some familiar faces like Brad Coy, Andy Kaufman from REBarcamp Seattle and meeting new people like Mike Mueller, Ginger Wilcox, Cindy Lin and many more.

Now that everyone is talking about Twitter and how social media is expanding into the everyday lives of people, enhancing the way they interact and communicate with the real estate industry. Propagation of our message and transformation of our contacts into clients, was a hot topic in conversations. We had a chance to analyse the Mexican real estate industry and we have seen a clear opportunity to start an educating process about these technologies like social networks and microblogging applications to real estate associations in Mexico.

But the great digital divide in Mexico is something that is deep rooted in realtors, because the majority have not integrated 100% the use of the Internet as a channel for marketing para real estate. Lots of real estate brokers and agencies do not have a strong presence over the Web, so many internet users do not have a digital “brand” to go for resolving their housing needs in the North of Mexico.

This creates a “chicken and egg” problem, since there is no central hub of information about real estate in the North of Mexico, more than the traditional media channels of printed magazines and news channels. The real estate industry does not adopt new ways that social media is offering on the Web, because they do not see a clear return of their investment (ROI).

The problem (that Mexican realtors have) is that if their is no “web listings offered and information backing it” on the Internet, it will be quite difficult to emulate the demand that US realtors are creating.

Case in point for real estate at the Mexican international border, it is providing lots of information regarding seaside view properties and beach housing, which is focused on middle and upper class population. Meanwhile housing in urban residential areas is minimal, because most are offered to the working class low income families in Mexico which the majority are handdled via INFONAVIT credit loans. This could be a potential market for Hispanics in the US, because these are inexpensive housing opportunities that could be quite affordable for their US salaries. But little of this information is focused to them.

On the other side we have new generations of potential agents and brokers not entering the real estate industry, because of their close group and difficult network to reach, there are some initiatives by the Asociación de Profesionales Inmobiliarios or Professional Real Estate Associations, to reach out to the general public to generate a better understanding of their profession and a better image of realtors in Mexico. This is to get University graduates interested in getting into the real estate industry.

These will be some challenges that the real estate industry will face so real estate associations, agents, brokers, public institutions and companies offering services to the real estate industry need to work together to have the same message.

We believe that REBarcamp will play a crucial role filling the gaps, that for the moment is not focused for the general public it could be used as a tool to reach our to prospects and future buyers. So we invite you to be part of the 2nd Virtual REBarcamp, that will be held today from 9 am to 4 pm PST. You can register here.

We hope to meet you there are the many sessions, or feel free to contact me. My username is Claudio.