1998 General Overview
The media had a field day with President Bill Clinton and his attempts to cover up hie ‘sexual relationship’ with Monica Lewinsky. The year ends in drama, as the US Congress votes to impeach the President on charges of lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Oddly enough, the headline was shared with a new drug Viagra, a pill developed by Pfizer to combat male impotence.
Not since the 1960’s has design, form and marketing dominated consumers’ awareness. Products such as Apple’s iMac and Mercedes-Benz’s MCC Smart Car rewrite the rules.
The number of Internet users worldwide reaches 150 million, while the movie Titanic remains unsinkable, capturing a record-tying 11 Academy Awards and becoming the highest-grossing film of all time, raking in more than $1.85 billion worldwide.
Real Estate Overview
It appears that it was a year in which common sense, profits and good management were out of style. The Real Estate Industry outspent every other industry, including retail, technology, legal and pharmaceutical markets by registering the most URLs. Predictions that new Internet companies are going to topple traditional real estate companies flourish. Popular forerunners include IRED, HomeSeekers, HomeWeb, HomeAdvisor and Homes.com. It is, however, the once still-born NAR baby RIN that is revived into Realtor.com, and then HomeStore.com that grabs the spotlight.
Meredith Corp. sells its BH&G franchise to GMAC Home Services, Inc., a subsidiary of GMAC Financial Services, as RE/MAX founder and CEO Dave Liniger becomes one of a three-pilot crew who attempts to beat Richard Branson, the Virgin multi-millionaire, in an around-the-world, stratospheric helium balloon race.
