After thinking about Greg Sterling’s assertion that

Real estate is probably the most interesting local search vertical, given how aggressive and generally savvy its SMB practitioners are (relative to the general population), how inherently local it is and how rich and interesting the consumer-facing sites are becoming. In some ways it’s a “leading indicator” of larger trends in the market.

Just like the general population, some Realtors are and some aren’t. There is a small subset of the real estate profession (found most glaringly in the RE.net) that is leading the way with implementing new technologies, but the challenge remains – how does one implement cutting-edge technology in a way that will appeal to the general populace without alienating them?

My best example of the day is one I from a conversation this morning about instant messaging. I use Adium for my instant messaging client; through it I access all of my IM accounts. Rather than convince readers to change and use one of the various IMs, I use them all, but have found the right technology for me to make my life easier yet still allow everybody to contact me in the way they feel most comfortable.

Quoting myself from an Inman News story:

“The challenge that we’re facing from the technology standpoint is that there is not a critical mass yet for bleeding-edge technology. If only one person in the market has heard of it — it’s cool to be in the leading edge but it doesn’t do any good if nobody else is using it. The balance is knowing and using what is new and cool but also knowing and using what everyone else is (using),” he said.

Hat tip: FBS blog

Update: Here is the 2007 NAR Technology Survey.