The last time the real estate market crashed in the early 90s, somebody estimated that it took over 18 months for the fact to dawn on the masses that prices were collapsing. That makes sense when you consider that information was on one-way pipe from realtors, the financial markets and the media to the mass market "audience" consuming newspapers and TV shows. This time, I have to wonder if it won't happen faster - a whole lot faster. Consider how much things have changed. The entire MLS is available online, ziprealty.com tracks price reductions in real time, zillow.com offers instant "Zestimates" of a home's real value in a way-cool graphical context (check out those "bird's eye" views), and dozens of blogs not only discuss the impending crash, they offer near daily reams of won't-find-anywhere-else insightful and scary analysis. It's a pretty safe prediction that the bumpy landings now unfolding in California, Florida, Phoenix, D.C., Boston, et. al. are happening faster because the data are online, unfiltered and freely accessible. In fact, the bloggers have been at it for months - but it was only yesterday (July 29, 2006) that my favorite old media of record New York Times made it official in a great front-page, above the fold, far left column, it just doesn't get any better than this piece on "Housing Slows, Taking Big Toll on the Economy." HELLO! Meanwhile, in the blogosphere, the data's been collecting dust since around this time last year (which, by the way, has made it perfectly clear that if you bought last summer, congratulations - you hit the peak!); more recent analyses - say in the last few weeks give or take, are accompanied by ominous blogging of a recession in Q1 2007. You know it's going to be much much worse than the "soft landing" the real estate industry was hoping for when there are suddenly a handful of blogs chronicling California flippers in deep trouble (the messy Forsaken Craft featuring Temecula/Murrieta; LA's It's Just Money; Irvine's OC Flip Track; the widely followed Flippers in Trouble covering Sacramento, and the just plain sad SD Price Monitor chronicling the bust of the downtown San Diego condo market. Check out just a few of my favorites:

* Bubble Markets Inventory Tracking (comprehensive inventory data for the Western U.S.- why doesn't the real estate industry do this?)
* Housing Tracker (median prices and inventory for major U.S. cities)
* Bubble Meter (BubbleSphere Roundup is especially interesting)
* Calculated Risk (decidedly political economic focus on real estate bubble)
* South Bay Beaches Housing Bubble (very witty - fun photos of the "condo twirler" which has everyone in stitches)
* HouseBubble.com (compilation of news articles related to the U.S. housing bubble - increasingly depressing)

Bottom line: The Internet is going to radically change the real estate industry - inside the space of another year or two, it will not be recognizable. Comments?