Is it that time of year again?
By John Occhi, Hemet Realtor

Well the spring awards season is here - the one thing you can count on with the beginning of every New Year is a new season of awards to reward and promote the events and accomplishments of the prior year.  2007 is no different...

Or is it?

2007 will go down in history as the first year that real estate blogs have the opportunity to compete and receive their own award ; introducing the REBA or the Real Estate Blogging Award.

It's true.

The nominations have all been made - Yet it is not too late.  If you think you deserve a trip on the red carpet, here the judges will accept write in candidates.  Unfortunately, when I look at the nominees, there is not a single Active Rain Blog represented.  So let's rally around some of our great ones and lets makes sure Active Rain is in contention for an impressive REBA.

This is my challenge to all of you Active Rainers who have been around the puddle longer than I have and know more of what we've got here - lets get one of our own with a REBA.  Lets do whatever we can to rally the troops and make a difference.  Can we do this - of course we can, so lets not waste any time.

Lets Look at the Categories and those who have been nominated:

Category: Best Overall
Recognizes the best overall real estate blog, regardless of how much traffic or what focus the blog has.

Nominees:

• Calculated Risk (http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com)
• Housing Doom (http://www.housingdoom.com)
• Housing Panic (http://housingpanic.blogspot.com)
• Mortgage Fraud Blog (http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com)
• Paper Money (http://paper-money.blogspot.com)
• Real Estate Investing for Real (http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog)
• The Housing Bubble Blog (http://www.thehousingbubbleblog.com)
• The Real Estate Bloggers (http://www.therealestatebloggers.com)

Category: Brain Power
Recognizes the real estate blog that consistently provides the most informed insight and analysis.

Nominees:

• BloodhoundBlog (http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog)
• Calculated Risk (http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com)
• Housing Doom (http://www.housingdoom.com)
• Nouriel Roubini's Blog (http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini)
• Piggington's Econo-Almanac (http://www.piggington.com)

Category: Best-Kept Secret
Recognizes a high-quality blog that should be getting more attention than it currently does.

Nominees:

• Altos Research Real Estate Insights (http://www.altosresearch.com/blog)
• Bubbleinfo.com (http://www.bubbleinfo.com)
• OC Fliptrack(http://ocfliptrack.blogspot.com)
• PressReal (http://www.pressreal.com)
• RealtyThoughts (http://www.realtythoughts.com)

Category: Best Corporate Blog
Recognizes the best real estate-focused blog sponsored by a traditional media outlet or other corporate entity.

Nominees:

• Hot Property / BusinessWeek.com (http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty)
• Inman News Blog / Inman News (http://www.inman.com/blogger/bradinman.aspx)
• Lansner on Real Estate / Orange County Register (http://blogs.ocregister.com/lansner)
• Mortgage Matters / Bankrate.com
  (http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mortgages/mortgage_update.asp)
• Real Estate Investing for Real / BiggerPockets.com (http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog)

Category: Best Regional Blog
Recognizes the best real estate blog focused on a local or regional real estate market.

Nominees:

• Burbed / Bay Area region, CA (http://www.burbed.com)
• Northern Virginia Real Estate Guide / Northern Virginia region, VA (http://askmerv.choice3realty.com)
• Sacramento Land(ing) / Sacramento, CA (http://sacramentolanding.blogspot.com)
• Sonoma Housing Bubble / Sonoma region, CA (http://sonomahousingbubble.blogspot.com)
• Vancouver Housing Market Blog / Vancouver, Canada (http://van-housing.blogspot.com)

Category: Most Extreme
Recognizes the most opinionated and outrageous real estate blog.

Nominees:

• Another FB (http://www.housingbubblecasualty.com)
• Dr. Housing Bubble (http://drhousingbubble.blogspot.com)
• Housing Panic (http://housingpanic.blogspot.com)
• Patrick's Housing Crash Blog (http://patrick.net/wp)
• The Housing Bubble Blog (http://www.thehousingbubbleblog.com)

Category: Techno Leader
Recognizes the best real estate blog dedicated to helping real estate professionals harness the power of the web.

Candidates:

• Future of Real Estate Marketing (http://www.futureofrealestatemarketing.com)
• Realty Blogging (http://www.realtyblogging.com)
• RSS Pieces (http://www.rsspieces.com)
• Sellsius Real Estate Blog (http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com)
• The Real Estate Tomato (http://realestatetomato.typepad.com)

Of all of the nominees, there are two in particular that I read on a regular basis - The "best overall" nominee - Real Estate Fraud Blog (You can vote for them here, please) and the best "corporate blog" - Inman News Blog.

So remember, it is your blogging duty to get out the vote!

Now Have a Blessed Day,

John Occhi, Hemet Realtor
http://www.johnocchi.com/