I had a superb time at Real Estate Connect last week in San Francisco. It was great to put a real human face to the names I have only read, e-mailed, and spoken with over the phone over the past year. Anyway, enough rambling from me — what I really want to touch on with this post is some take aways from the conference regarding emerging trends in real estate technology.

There’s no denying it — real estate technology is rapidly advancing whether you are ready for it or not. Blogging, podcasting, video casting, paperless transactions, and listing syndication are all making quick advances within the industry.

One of the panelists (I believe Dave Meyer from eNeighborhoods) from the closing panel “Where To From Here: What’s Next for You and the Industry?” made the excellent point that web 2.0 is finally catching up to real life. I think that’s true — real estate is, indeed, becoming real-time like Pat at ZipRealty mentioned. Generation Y expects instant responses when contacting a professional. If you don’t get back to them within 6-12 hours of an inquiry, they’ll likely contact someone else. When Generation Y contacts you, they are ready to buy or want a question answered immediately — they’ve done all their research. What that means for real estate professionals is you need an e-mail enabled mobile device — or, always be online — to satisfy those who expect instant advice.

Real estate blogging is definitely NOT going away. Sherry Chris, the COO of Coldwell Banker, mentioned the excitement around blogging as one of the biggest takeaways from the conference. Sherry said she was going to figure out a blogging strategy for Coldwell Banker. Diane Cohn, who I met at Real Estate Connect, started RenoRealtyBlog about two years ago and has since done $10 million in deals with 95% of her business via her blog. That’s an enviable position to be in.

Another interesting panel I attended was the “Digital Video: Adding dimension that works” panel that Joel Burslem moderated. I think podcasting and video casting will play an increasing role in the real estate marketing — particularly in buyers markets where homes are difficult to sell. There are numerous companies looking to serve this market, including TurnHere, MLBroadcast (formerly MLPodcast), WellcomeMat, Realty Video USA, and Online Walk Thru. Look for lots more innovation coming in this area.

Lastly, innovation in the mobile space is only just beginning. Again, think real-time — technology that enables buyers to look at property data, property values, aerial imagery, interior photos from the owner/agent right from their mobile device will be available on a wider scale in the next several years. The iPhone is only the beginning.