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I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember the last time we had a “normal” week. If it’s not the “worst week ever”, it’s the government pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy or companies going bankrupt or being bought. Last week was no exception. We saw the global stock markets tumble and in our neck of the woods foreclosures are down a little month-over-month but up 21% year-over-year.  Foreclosures continue to be a huge part of the housing market as the number of existing home sales grows, but prices plummet. While many of us in the real estate industry have been used to negative news for some time, the recent volume and intensity is unprecedented. For some companies and agents in the real estate industry, this no doubt will be a perfect storm , and they will move on and out of the industry

I see the combined impact of:

1. The deflating housing market, with double digit price declines in many regions
2. Credit markets dried up, making financing for new homes much more difficult
3. Reduced consumer confidence from the falling value of their investments leads to economic uncertainty

We’re responding to the market — both internally and over at Trulia’s housing crisis center and are confident we will weather the storm.  But we do not underestimate the ferocity ahead.

On a day-to-day basis, one of the most challenging aspects of running Trulia in today’s market is forecasting our business. We have lots of plans, products and initiatives and it is hard to predict what is going to happen next week. Historically, we have been pretty good at hitting our milestones and forecasts for visitors to the site, community participation and revenues, but over the last 3 months, it’s been much harder to forecast.

For a company that is driven by data, it is maddening. I guess I should feel lucky that I’m not in the stock market, where daily 5% up or down swings seem to have become commonplace! That being said, all news is not bad news—we are seeing record days in terms of traffic and revenue and other real estate companies are seeing bounces as well.  So, while I enjoy a good rollercoaster now and again, I’ll be very happy when things return back to normal.

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