2009 has not been an easy year for those in the real estate business. It wasn’t all doom and gloom like 2008, but it was no cakewalk either, as many of you can attest. The tough economy forced many REALTORS® out of the business, with NAR reporting total members at 1,135,924 (NAR Field Guide to Real Estate Statistics, August 2009), a more than 15% drop since the recession began (Field Guide to NAR Membership Statistics, 1908–Present).

When 2009 began, there was little hope that this year would be any better than the last… More

Announcing the All-New Elite Real Estate Website!
For those of you that haven’t heard, we recently released our all-new real estate website product – iHOUSE ELITE Websites™. ELITE Websites make agents look professional with tons of layouts to choose from and with integrated IDXPro MLS Search, they’re powerful lead generators too! Take a Free Test Drive Today! Sign up by 12/31/2009 and get half off your startup fee!

iHOUSEweb is a New Member Benefits Partner of the Colorado Association of REALTORS®
We recently teamed up with the Colorado Association of REALTORS® to offer our products to Colorado REALTORS® at a significant discount! Colorado REALTORS® get half off the startup fee on any iHOUSEweb product, any time! If you’re a Colorado REALTOR®, Take a No Obligation Test Drive Today!

IDXPro (and Elite Websites™!) is Now Available for 4 More MLSs!
We have been busy expanding our network of MLSs and our best-in-class IDXPro MLS Search Solution is now available for the following NEW MLSs:

• Florida – Marco Island Area Association of REALTORS®
• Missouri – Greater Springfield Board of REALTORS®
• Montana – Butte Board of REALTORS®
• New York – Greater Utica Rome Board of REALTORS®

Are you a member of one of these MLSs? If so, mention Blueprint when you sign up before the end of December and you will save 50% on your IDXPro MLS Start Up Fee!

Did you know that the new iHOUSE ELITE Websites™ automatically syndicate your listings to one of the largest networks in the industry? Your listings will be on Yahoo! Real Estate, Zillow, GoogleBase, Trulia, AOL Real Estate, Local.com, Cyberhomes, and Oodle without you having to do a thing! Take a Free Test Drive!

In the last Blueprint we asked, “Do you think the $8,000 First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit program should have been extended?” Two thirds of the responders said they were glad the First Time Home-buyer Tax Credit was extended.

This month’s survey question is: Do you feel that helping homeowners with loan modifications gets you more business?

(Poll is now closed.)