rules: HouseLogic: Realtors® Beware of Copyright Infringement - 10/29/10 12:55 AM
HouseLogic for Realtors®
It's that time again - time to talk about copyright infringement and what is and isn't good practice.  With the recent push of the Realtor® Content Resource by HouseLogic, I've seen a lot of what I (and probably a few lawyers) would see as copyright infringement.  Even if it doesn't fall under "breaking the law," a lot of what I'm seeing is just plain bad practice.
If you haven't checked it out yet, HouseLogic is a consumer-oriented website focusing on homeownership.  I've spent quite a bit of time there and so far the content has been excellent in … (119 comments)

rules: Frank And Sally Explain The First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit - 11/10/09 05:01 AM

Frank And Sally Explain Real Estate: Episode 1
Meet Frank and his agent, Sally.
In trying to come up with a simple breakdown of the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, I thought that video would be the answer.  Since I've done a few for the previous tax credit, I wanted to find a new way to use video to explain it all.  Enter Frank and Sally.  In this video, Frank's agent Sally, helps him understand the basics of the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.  In the future, Frank and Sally will be providing some much needed help to … (37 comments)

rules: Quick thought: Disclosure on Twitter - 11/04/09 07:21 AM

image courtesy of Twitter, croncast, and rerockstar
I'm not great at quick thoughts.
I was having a discussion today with Doug Lazovick, Jeff Turner, and Kris Smith about Kris' (@croncast) useful tool, CMP.ly which I've written about previously, "A quick and easy way to satisfy new FTC disclosure requirements on your blog - CMP.ly" when a thought that had been in the back of my head for some time came to the surface.
In the comment above, you can see Kris quotes "http://cmp.ly/4" at the end of his Tweet.  This particular disclosure (CMP.ly Disclosure 4), states:
Employee/shareholder/business relationship
DISCLOSURE … (4 comments)

rules: The "Google Is A Scraper" Saga Continues. - 05/17/09 04:33 AM

photo courtesy of PhoenixREGuy
I hate writing this post.
I feel angry, frustrated, and annoyed that I am doing this post.  I shouldn't have to.  For those of you that have been following along with the recent decision by MIBOR (Metropolitan Indianapolis Board Of Realtors®) to send everything back to committee (again).  If you haven't been following, these articles will help bring you up to speed:
AgentGenius - Did Google Scrape My Website? You Be The Judge. Rules Threaten Realtors & IDX Providers. - Paula Henry
ActiveRain - Is Google A Scraper Site? - Missy Caulk
AgentGenius - NAR Responds … (75 comments)