Active Rain has recently announced its second Carnival of Active Rain, under the guidance of Maureen Francis, and I was selected to judge the "general information" category.

And the nominees for this prestigious award are ...

• Tess Baker's "AFCI and GFCI explained" 
• Teresa Boardman's "All Realtors Are Not the Same" 
• Brian Brady's "A Realtor's Guide to YSP (Yield Spread Premium)"
• Leigh Brown's "Dear Mr/Ms Seller-Why I Avoid Dual Agency (or double dipping)"
• Lisa Hammerstein's "Did You Ever Sell a Used Car?"
• Rich Jacobson's "Adventures in 1st Time Home Buying: 'Make Them an Offer They Can't Refuse!'"
• Rich Kruse's "100% Rehab Financing"
• Jim Lee's "Become a junior 'G' man, no experience required" (members only post on Active Rain)
• Jay McGillicuddy's "The Man Who Sold Hot Dogs"
• Gena Riede's "Fraud in Real Estate?"
• Craig Schiller's "Property Pricing advice can be hard for sellers to swallow"

All of the entries provide great information and are great reads for those all over the real estate industry.

"This has been a very difficult decision to make. All of these articles provided great information for a variety of different audiences, whether for the general public or real estate professionals."

And the winner is ... We'll be right back after these messages.

Rich Jacobson!

Jacobson's series on first-time home buying was well-written and provided buyers with a great collection of tips on preparing for that first contract offer.

I really enjoyed his writing style and it was a very tough decision for him to make.

Congratulations to Rich! And all the other entrants this was a very tough category to choose!