there’s no doubting that maps, imagery, and most recently, mashups are ideally suitable for the real estate industry. So whay the hell are most realtors so technologically challenged and spatially clueless?? It never ceases to amaze me how few of the “professionals” in the real estate biz have adopted or even looked into what technology is available. The clincher for me was hearing from my realtor today how he hates computers, isn’t into maps, and doesn’t have a clue what “zillow” is… oh, this guy has a degree in Geography too… ohmygod!! For examples of some GIS-centric solutions developed for the real estate bizness see the likes of pretty much any county property appraser website, www.zillow.com, http://www.housingmaps.com/ (mashing craigslist & google maps), http://www.forsalebyownercenter.com/maps/ , http://www.ononemap.com (a cool UK mashup), http://nosyneighbormap.com (see info about neighbors) and even this cool app at http://www.mapbuilder.net/ where anyone can build their own mashup! With tools like Craigslist, (for listing) mapbuilder (for building the mashup) flickr (for posting photos) who the heck needs a realtor these days?? To get an idea of just a few of the companies providing GIS-centric solutions for the real estate industry see this archive of news items — http://www.gisuser.com/content/category/1/224/2/