When you live in a community such as Lake Anna, Virginia you really learn to appreciate how great it is to live in a small place. Working in real estate in a small place can sometimes be a different thing. The positives are that the whole Lake Anna area is your neighborhood. At least that is exactly the way I feel about it. That provides you with the ability to really know your market and to know it well. I love driving around with buyers and they are often amazed at how well I know where I am and where I am going all the time. Even though Lake Anna is 17 miles long and over 250 miles of shoreline, it is my home.
What a unique opportunity we have here on Active Rain to show what fans we are of our local area. We have the chance to reach a great many people with news about our housing market, the events that take place, special places where we like to dine, and the small businesses and shops that round out our neighborhoods.
Are there any negatives with working in a small community? I know of one. It is that as wonderful as Lake Anna is many people within an easy commute have never been here, some have never even heard of it, and others have heard misinformation.
Along came Active Rain. Spreading the word about the specialness of Lake Anna living has been made possible through blogging on Active Rain. It has inspired me to take many, many photos of the lake and the surrounding area to share with readers near and far. When they say a picture is worth a 1,000 words we believe it because we have seen the proof. Active Rain has been a perfect venue, along with it's sister site, Localism.com.
If you would like some excellent tips on making the best shots possible, reviews of photography equipment, or to merely feast your eyes on compelling photographs seek out the posts of Teresa Boardman and Richard Weisser, two among a large group of folks that profess to be amateurs but can blow you away with their talent. Beyond their talent, they possess a willingness to share their knowledge with the rest of us.
Active Rain provides countless opportunities to ask questions, seek advice, provide advice, answer questions, and simply read a multitude of engaging blogs on a wide variety of topics...many related to real estate. If you have an interest in learning how to improve some of your skills such as how to write more compelling blogs, how to take those super duper photos of your listings or your community, how to increase SEO to your web site just start reading some posts that will supply you with the know how.
Active Rain provides us with the ability to join Groups. You can belong to as many groups as you would like to. There are groups for so many different interests that I will not be able to list them all but here is a (small) sampling of ones that I belong to. See how many tempt you.
- The Art of Marketing You
- SEO Bootcamp
- Active Rain Newbies (this is an excellent group for all new members of Active Rain)
- Posts to Localism (this group gives you a chance to shine locally)
- It's Raining DOGS! Dog Lovers Group
- Best Business Practices
- Ethics and the REALTOR
- Great Shots! (a fun place for those that enjoy photography)
- Ask a HOME STAGER
- Staging Works
- Active Rain Cat Lovers
- Active Rain Book Group
- REALTORS
The problem is not in finding a group that interests you, it is containing yourself from belonging to hundreds and hundreds of them. You will surely find some that become very special to you.
Looking for a little motivation? Look no further. Posts by some of our members such as Gary Woltal will supply you with a year's worth of motivation in short order. There are groups such as Positive Attitude for the Weary Soul that lift your spirits and get you going again.
Would you like to read some hard core real estate information? Click on Lenn Harley's blog and you will get precisely that. Check out Todd Clark to learn not only about real estate but to see how he manages to be the top member of Active Rain. Top in what way you wonder...tops in points. Yes, there's a point system. It is a by-product of how much you engage in Active Rain.
Interested in getting your listings out to an even larger audience? Post them here on Active Rain.
Have you heard of Google juice? If so, you'll receive plenty of it if you take 
advantage of the opportunities afforded all members of Active Rain. Post, read, comment, and you will reap the rewards.
Would you like to receive referrals? That is a distinct possibility. After all, if you become known as an expert in your area, members will turn to you when they have a client for that area. What a thrill it is to receive your first referral from someone that has gotten to know about you on Active Rain. That thrill does not diminish with subsequent referrals. It simply energizes you to be a more participatory member.
Your community may be a much larger one than mine with many more properties and many more possible buyers and sellers. Active Rain will provide you with the same exposure and the same benefits. Active Rain is certainly a place where you receive back ten-fold (or more) what you put into it.
If you are looking for a spot to revel in the friendship of numerous other real estate related professionals there is no place that I have heard of that can rival Active Rain.
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