This is part 4 of a 5 part series.  

There are many options to choose from when picking a blogging platform, often called a blog hosting service, and there are a lot of free services that will allow you to get acclimated to blogging without unnecessary overhead. Some options are:

Blogger by Google (free)
Typepad by Six Apart  (has 3 basic levels; Basic, Plus, and Pro)
•·     http://growabrain.typepad.com/growabrain/
•·     http://realestatetomato.typepad.com/
•·     http://realestatesnippets.typepad.com/
MovableType by Six Apart (for business blogging)
Vox by Six Apart
WordPress (free)

Also, Check with your website vendor, they may package a blogging solution with your website.

Real Estate Industry Blogging Platforms

http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/
http://www.inman.com/default.aspx
http://www.activerain.com/

One of the decisions that you will need to make is whether you are focused on consumer-oriented interaction or referral/social networking. ActiveRain provides an excellent network to learn from other agents in the field and create a referral network and as I understand is working on launching a consumer-oriented version of it's service. 

I use Blogger.com for the Marco Island Real Estate Forum  blog focused at clients, potential clients and preferred partners. My real estate technology blog on ActiveRain is directed towards other agents.

Having a good plan will definitely help in identifying a service that will meet your needs. If your intent is to expand and customize your blog's look and feel and functionality, make sure that the blog platform is one that provides the flexibility to address your current and future growth needs. Changing platforms can be painful if you outgrow it.  Get it right the first time and you will avoid a headache.