Lately, it seems that the only economic news was bad news. Some real estate dotcoms are in trouble, and others are closing their doors. Recent reported layoffs at Realestate.com, iProperty.com, and eHome among others have the sector singing the blues. But solid business plans and a fresh economic outlook may bring happy days here again.

HomeSeekers.com, Inc., after , has announced a new equity line of credit up to four million dollars from a private equity fund. Alpha Group of Funds specializes in providing financing to emerging mid-cap and small-cap companies in domestic and global equity markets. The advantage for HomeSeekers is that the release of the money is not conditional upon a future performance, but is a show of faith in the immediate prospects of the company.

"HomeSeekers.com is an outstanding investment opportunity for us," added Barry Herman, managing director of the Alpha Group of Funds. "We are delighted to have this opportunity to assist HomeSeekers.com and look forward to a long-term relationship with the Company."

"We feel that this financing strengthens us substantially," said Greg Costley, chairman and CEO of HomeSeekers.com. "This is a significant step in our plans to obtain the resources to execute our business plan and move us towards cash profitability."

The investment community isn't just taking chances on proven business models such as HomeSeekers. A new company, NeighborhoodFind.com was funded in June at the height of the dotcom roller coaster ride through which many companies emerged motion sick. The new company is focusing on becoming the communications tool for local neighborhoods. The company, which has spent three years rolling out eight states, has just gone nationwide since August 2000, adding over 4,000 real estate agent sponsors. The company has multiple revenue streams including local advertising sales, real estate agent sponsorship and marketing tools such as Web sites.

Homes.com laid off 50 redundant personnel recently with the intention of becoming profitable by the first quarter of 2001, the company revealed in a recent report. The report also said that Homes.com has a paying subscribership of 90,000 agents which puts it close to competitor HomeStore's agent base of over 120,000. The report said that Homes.com also plans to add new services such as online property auctions and transaction management.

Other companies such as Realty Plus Online say they are doing just fine, thank you very much. Company president Kelly Pantis says of her Internet MLS information management systems company, "We don't have large marketing and advertising budgets. We have had modest growth because we followed a different growth model."

Ditto for Com-stock, a Web marketing vendor for the real estate industry, says spokesperson David Teefy. "Goodness, yes, we are profitable," he says. "and have been for a long time."

And it is going to get even better, says the National Association of REALTORSâ. The trade organization predicts that the economy is heading for a soft landing, with interest rates possibly dropping again soon.

Dr. David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said the Federal Reserve has accomplished its goals in slowing the economy through its series of interest rate hikes, according to a press release.

"We do expect a soft landing, but the yellow caution flag is up and we need to keep a close eye on the indicators," he said. "In fact, the Fed may have to cut interest rates to avoid a hard landing," he added.

Despite higher energy prices, a volatile stock market, flagging consumer confidence and other indicators, housing has remained a stable factor.

"Existing-home sales will be off only 4.0 percent from the all-time record in 1999, and we project sales to be fairly stable next year, declining only 1.1 percent," Lereah said. NAR expects a resale volume of 4.99 million sales this year, with 4.94 million forecast for 2001. New-home sales are expected to slip only 1.7 percent this year to 892,000 units, with 2001 projected at 861,000 units, a decline of 3.4 percent from this year. Housing starts are forecast to decline 4.8 percent to a total of 1.59 million units this year, then slip 3.8 percent to 1.53 million in 2001.

Ironically for the dotcoms, the N.A.R. believes that homes sales and investment real estate will remain high, as diversification of portfolios was considered a major reason why many are buying real estate.

Published: December 12, 2000

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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.