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Commercial RE and ActiveRain

By Bob Woods

Services for Real Estate Pros with Sibdu.com/eCREsystems, LLC

August 28, 2007 08:06 AM

A question for all of you AR commercial real estate practitoners. A friend of mine who is still in CRE brokerage (I got out a few months ago to helm the business efforts of a new IT firm servicing the CRE brokerage sector) asked me what I thought of AR for commercial.

I had to tell him that I wasn't sure. I mean, I know it works really well for residential brokers and agents. But I keep looking in some of the commercial-oriented boards here, and I'm not sure if commercial people will get the same "bang for the buck" -- especially considering AR is free!

Don't get me wrong; I definitely think he'll get something out of it. Kick-butt Google search rankings and a free blog are the top 2 things off the top of my head, and both are pretty big in my opinion.

But I don't know if there's as much benefit for commercial people as there is for residential. I told him I'd ask the community here, and specifically the commercial people, to get their opinion. So please feel free to provide yours, and I'll be sure to let him know.

One thing's for sure -- there's not a lot of commercial RE agents/brokers out there blogging in general. Any kind of blog in the area would be welcome. I tried doing one myself, but then the offer from my current employer came along and I discontinued it.

Thanks in advance for any comments you may leave.

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Ryan Hukill - Edmond

405home @ ERA Courtyard - Edmond, OK

Realtor, Team Lead

It's funny, I was thinking about this very same thing yesterday as I had lunch with a good friend of mine who's a Commerical Broker. I agree with you, it never hurts to have great Google juice, but I don't see that commercial brokers would benefit to the extreme that I have. How many commercial clients are searching blogs for info on properties, how to buy, sell, market reports, etc? I could be completely wrong, and hope that I am, but it seems that the consumer-driven web 2.0 is far more useful for the residential side than the commercial. I'll be interested to see what others post here. Thanks for the great topic.

Aug 28, 2007 08:09 AM

The Entire Team of Price & Company Professionals

Price & Company Realty - Myrtle Beach, SC

Commercial real estate is such a sensitive animal. It can have so many variables involved, that it doesn't translate as easily as residential. If there isn't a great presence on the commercial side of AR, what a great time for your friend to launch it.

Aug 28, 2007 08:14 AM

Bob Woods

Sibdu.com/eCREsystems, LLC - Silver Spring, MD

Ryan- interesting coincidence, eh? I do think commercial brokers could benefit, but if it is done right. I want to hold off on sharing my opinions, though, until I (hopefully) hear from other CRE brokers and agents. And of course, I'll do it as another blog posting, so I'll get 200 points instead of just 25! ;-)

Christopher - Coming from CRE brokerage, I hear ya, believe me. And both him and I are keeping our ear to the ground, in regards to doing something ourselves. That's definitely a "stay tuned" kind of thing.

Anyone else with opinions? Thanks!

Aug 28, 2007 08:25 AM

Wow, it's been a couple of days now since I first posted this, and I haven't gotten any more replies. I'll have more on my thoughts about this in an upcoming blog post.

And thanks again, Ryan and Christopher, for replying.

Aug 30, 2007 08:46 AM

Bump - hoping to get more feedback! Thanks.

Sep 10, 2007 08:25 AM

Alan Kirkpatrick

Austin Texas Homes - Round Rock, TX

Alan in Austin

Bob:

Hey sorry, I did not see your post earlier. I would be very interested in a blog group on AR that is dedicated to commercial. Thanks for commenting on my blog. I do think AR needs a commercial side. It would be great to be able to network with other CRE agents and brokers.

If you decide to move forward. I am happy to help in any way I can.

Oct 01, 2007 03:46 AM

Alan -

Thanks for your feedback -- appreciate it! I'll be in touch soon to let you know what's going on. Thanks again.

Oct 01, 2007 06:47 AM

Steve Saunders

e2 Property - Houston, TX

I am new to AR but would love to see a Commercial group. I am a partnership syndicator and property management company focusing on multi family and would love to hear from you guys about properties , possible investors and trends in the industry. Maybe that is a whole different commercial group?

Oct 22, 2007 09:25 AM

Steve -

We're working on something...stand by for more! Thanks.

Oct 23, 2007 01:48 AM

Commercial RE and ActiveRain

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