Okay, so I thought this blog would be a great idea regarding real estate (buying and selling) from an "outsiders" point-of-view. With any idea, there is always a negative connotation and thus I received an email from an Active Rain member asking if the purpose of my blog was to be deragatory against real estate agents and the business itself. At first, I was a little stunned, but after reading into it, I can completely understand why someone would question our purpose. 

To be honest, this blog has nothing to do with being deragatory or inflammatory to agents or the real estate sector. In fact, our only purpose is to give insight to those considering selling/buying a home that are not agents themselves and to pose questions and inquiries to actual agents about the business. From our experience, real estate is a simple process, but when you are actually involved in conducting a transaction, it can be quite a convoluted and complicated process. Also, a lot of information is common and often repeated on the Web. This information is dedicated for non-real estate agents, but often is very open-ended and a summary of what actually takes place. In our opinion, you only learn about what actually happens when you are actually involved in a transaction.

The person asked us if we were "former, disgruntled agents" (which we are not) , if we are speaking are using this blog as a conduit from negative transactions we were involved in (which is not true), or if we were trying to sell something (no, but we do actually specialize in blog/podcast developement). Here is a short-list of why we started this: 

• Web 2.0 (more specifically blogs): There is no other industry grasping the Web 2.0 phenomenon like real estate. Not only do most agents have their own website, but more and more agents are utilizing blogs and podcasts to drive interaction and share knowledge to people not involved in the real estate business. Active Rain is one of the leading networks utilizing blogs for professionals instead of listservs and forums.
  
• We believe in Web 2.0: Have you ever tried to explain what a blog is? What's been your experience with answers? If your like us, most people have no idea what they are and do not understand their power in terms of usage and receiving feedback besides a cut-and-dry "info@xyz.com" email address. Most people feel that blogs and podcasts (Web 2.0) is buzzword that will fizzle out in short and a technology used by children and adolescents. Really? I'd love to talk to those same people when websites are replaced by blogs in a few years. We've set up blogs for a few real estate agents and they love them and use them now more than email. 
• We're just hungry for knowledge and sharing our information: What better way to get information than from actual people who this everyday. You can read articles, ask friends, etc., but the best way to get information is from the people who know the business. Plus, blogs allow you to comment on information real-time and get others involved to your inquiry.
  

In our opinion, real estate is an intriguing business with a lot of questions from consumers. Hopefully our blog will ask those questions and get the real answers real estate professionals can answer.

Just our two cents...