layout: post title: Real Estate and the Web in Canada - Listen to Ben created: 1144246772 categories:

• Canada
• web 2.0
• sutton
• real estate
• ben wong

Want to know State of Real Estate and the Web in Canada? Just read Ben Wong's stuff over at Mostly Geek:

We’re deep in web2.0 and data is flying everywhere. However, real estate listings in Canada are pretty much still stuck in web1.0. When I read stories about listing aggregators like Zillow.com with millions of listings in the US, I can’t help but let out a long *sigh* about the state of things in Canada.

I worked with Ben on some projects at Sutton Group. I got a chance to break my head around the many nuances of the real estate business. Just when I thought I understood everything and the various business and regulatory aspects, there would be another layer, I'd swear a lot, and throw out my design for open real estate data.

This is part one from Ben, where he's going to walk us through the issues around the real estate data walled garden issue in Canada. Remember, this *is* a tipping point kind of thing. Right now, virtually all the value is inside the walled garden silo, with very little information sitting in the "open" silo. But, as the open silo grows, it accrues value a lot more quickly than the walled garden ever can, and there will come a tipping point. Really, the only way to prevent complete open-ness is for the walled garden itself to take steps to become more open.

Open real estate data. It's an interesting technology concept, but there is *so much* about the real estate business that really is about people. I'll perhaps write some anecdotal stories about this as Ben continues his series.