San Antonio's Rockstar Turned Realtor®

Has the darkness ended?

Obviously, if you've been on ActiveRain for more than a minute in the past few weeks, there's been a lot of talk about the dreaded downtime that has made ActiveRain an aggravation at times.  I've been blogging here since late 2008 and have had an up and down relationship with ActiveRain.  On one hand, I love the opportunities it has provided me and I have enjoyed the many people I have met through the network.  On the other hand, I have been frustrated by the reoccurring problems and sometimes have been forced to wonder if the SEO benefits of ActiveRain are quite what they're cracked up to be.

SEO what?

A lot of you will immediately question my devaluation of the power of ActiveRain's SEO power, but my experience with Google ranking has been up and down here at ActiveRain.  Sometimes, it seems the post is immediately powered through the search results of Google, other times a post seems to never quite get the rolling push it needs to become a strong ranking page.  Most people's immediate response would be that I must be doing something wrong and not taking care of some of my own self-created SEO power within the post.  I would counter with the fact that I do the same sorts of things for posts here as I do for my site at RErockstar.com, which has typically outranked my ActiveRain posts in terms of Google placement.

Is that reason enough to be done with ActiveRain?

I don't think so.  I enjoy ActiveRain.  Although I'll be the first one to stomp and shout when things are not working, I don't hate ActiveRain.  I will speak out about what I see as problems, much like I did recently at AgentGenius with my post, "ActiveRain experiences growing pains, users consider leaving" (if you read that, I suggest you read Benn Rosales' followup post, "ActiveRain problems mounting, hopes apology is enough").  Although I may be critical at times, I am also supportive.  I truly hope ActiveRain is able to put the worst behind them and move on to bigger and better things.  I still think Localism has amazing potential (although I think it is not being utilized to its fullest by members or the staff at ActiveRain).  I haven't seen much out of the ActiveRain referral system, but personal relationships have led to referrals incoming and outgoing.  What I have received most from ActiveRain has been new friends, some great "food for thought," and a chance to increase the effectiveness of my blogging efforts.

I feel I was trained as a blogger here at ActiveRain (as well as AgentGenius, as that was my first writing opportunity in the real estate realm).  I learned from some excellent real estate bloggers and even taught them a thing or two here and there.  There is a collaborative spirit here which is a definite bonus to membership as it allows for opportunities to learn from a wide selection of schools of thought.  That is something I truly appreciate.  There are tons of great posts on "how to" in order to help you improve your blogging skills (as well as your general real estate knowledge and skill).  It's a library that's open twenty four hours a day (yes, I see the irony in that statement).  There is most definitely great things you can get out of ActiveRain and I don't feel the bad outweighs the good.

I do however have a suggestion.

You know me, I like to add my thoughts to many issues and this is no exception.  My post at AgentGenius says it best, but for those of you that won't click through to it, I'd like to share what I think is the most important part of that article.

Don't be afraid to step outside of ActiveRain.

While there are many benefits to being here, they (like everything else in real estate) are not a cure-all.  Expand your horizons and start your own blog outside of ActiveRain.  Go where the consumers are.  While they do visit here, they're also out there floating through the internet...looking for you (or your competition).  My own self-hosted Wordpress blog brings in about 4,000 visitors a month.  I didn't do anything special except that I made it a mission to blog constantly and to publish the highest quality content I could muster.  Sure I picked up tips and tricks along the way (many of them here at ActiveRain), but I truly did little more than type out my opinions and discuss current issues involving real estate with my readers.  No fancy SEO marketing that cost me a fortune, no Google AdWords, no paid links from popular sites - nothing out of the ordinary.  Just content.

You can do this yourself as well.  It's not as hard or scary as it may look.  Moving outside of ActiveRain can work well in conjunction with your efforts here.  They don't have to be mutually exclusive.  Do you only market in one place?  Of course not.  You work to be seen in many places.  Use that theory to your advantage and use ActiveRain as a tool to compliment the other tools you're using.

Dear ActiveRain...

I do wish you the best in getting this solved.  Bob and I chatted briefly the other day about it all and I could hear in his emails the stress and strain that this has placed on him.  I'm sure you're all overworked and getting more than tired as you work to rectify the situation and (hopefully) put safeguards in place to prevent this from becoming a common theme.  I wish there has been more communication during all of this and I hope you'll take that into consideration, as it seems to be the most common complaint I'm hearing.  I'm sure it's not easy to be in your shoes, but I do hope you take some time to see it from our shoes.  Again, best of luck and thanks for everything.  I'll see you soon.

photo courtesy of muha...

The Code Of Ethics and Standards Of Practice.

A recent conversation between myself and Randy Hooker brought up some interesting thoughts on the National Association of Realtor®'s Code Of Ethics.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Code (as we call it, also referred to as the COE), it is basically a set of guidelines to help determine our duties to clients and customers, the public, and other Realtors®.  Within the code, we are taught to apply these ethics to our daily practice of real estate and it also sets forth a system to deal with those that break the Code.

I love the fact that the National Association of Realtors® has put forth this set of 17 Articles in order to help define our business and I take the idea of ethics quite seriously as in this business, as with many others, there is always a potential for unethical actions that could bring harm to the consumer as well as our industry as a whole.

The responsibility of a Realtor®.

Randy and I were talking about the responsibilities of being an agent and best serving our clients.  We were discussing Trulia Voices and bank foreclosures.  Trulia Voices is a great idea, if you've not used it before its pretty simple - people post questions and people answer them.  Typically its consumers asking questions and agents responding, but sometimes it works the other way around.  There has been a lot of debate over the value of Trulia Voices and the potential problems it brings.  As for bank foreclosures, we both agreed that the current state of them in the MLS is unacceptable and its a shame the banks don't care much or know about it.  These foreclosed properties are lucky to get one photo and a line description.  Without showcasing the property, the bank is losing out on potential buyers (in our opinion).  We both wished there were good solutions to the problems.

Of course, the simplest solution would be for Randy and I to rule the world and list all these properties and answer all the questions on Trulia Voices (no offense to all you other great agents out there, but it was Randy and I talking, so we took it upon ourselves to rule the world).  Of course, that's not going to happen and in reality, there are plenty of excellent agents out there who could join our team.  But there are plenty that couldn't join.  They're just no good.  Yep, I said it - there are Realtors® out there that are no good.  They're bad at their jobs, they do a disservice to their clients, they flirt with legal disaster, and they give the rest of us a bad name.  I'm not talking about the ones who slip up here or there - people make mistakes.  The ones who do it consistently time and time again - those were the targets of our ire.

I wish I could paint a rosy picture for you and tell you all Realtors® are perfect and do everything in their client's best interest, but that would make me a liar.  Because of my own ethical code, I wouldn't want to do that.  So, yes, there are bad Realtors® out there.  I don't have some magic list, but in some ways, I wish I did.  The problem with our own Code Of Ethics is that it protects us against each other.  Ever wonder why Realtors® always ask, "Are you working with a Realtor®?"  Its because we're afraid you might have a contractual agency-relationship with another agent and we could get in big trouble for getting in the way of that relationship. 

So how does the Code Of Ethics create a problem?

Article 15 of the Code Of Ethics deals with how we relate to other Realtors®.  Its basic tenet is that we shouldn't "trash talk" other agents (I'm putting it simply there).  In making this Article, my guess is that the National Association Of Realtors was attempting to stop agents from saying things about other agents in order to gain business (ie, "Oh him?  He smokes crack," "You're working with who?  They ripped off their last client," or "That agent?  I heard he eats babies and runs a small-time meth lab out of his office.")  Obviously, this type of business practice is idiotic and not-so-ethical, but things like these happen everyday in all types of businesses.  Competitors trying to run the other into the ground through rumor, false statement, and misleading comments.  Its not the way I would choose to run my business, but there are those that would (ie, politicians).

The problem arises when you want to "call someone out" for what they're doing that isn't in the best interest of the client or the public.  I know a lot of people keep the "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all" idealism going in real estate, but the fact is - if someone's giving a client sub-par service than that consumer deserves to know.  Of course, this brings up a conundrum - whose idea of "best interest" is right.  Because of this little snag, its next to impossible to get around the Code and "call someone out" for their actions (or more typically, their lack of them).  So at the end of the day, those of us who want the world to get the best from real estate and improve the client's experience (and perception of the industry) just have to lead by example and do our best as trying to correct the situation (via open discussion with the client about their agent) really isn't within our reach.

I love real estate, but (and I've stated this before) we sometimes get a bit touchy about the subject of ethics and what to do about the agent who's giving us all a bad name.  I've seen many posts here on ActiveRain revolving around "taking the high road" or "best not to air our (Realtors®) dirty laundry in public" and I have to politely disagree.  If this industry is to move forward and adapt to work with a changing society, then we need to discuss things openly and honestly - with the public involved.  Locking out the public, just creates a secret society that will fuel the images of corruption and greed within the consumer's mind.  It does us no good to not involve the public in our growth as they are the people we serve (I sound like I should be running for City Council) and without them, we're a huge number of our of jobless people with useless licenses.

photo courtesy of ^Berd

Article 15
REALTORS^® shall not knowingly or recklessly make false or misleading statements about competitors, their businesses, or their business practices. (Amended 1/92)

Standard of Practice 15-1

REALTORS^® shall not knowingly or recklessly file false or unfounded ethics complaints. (Adopted 1/00)

Standard of Practice 15-2

The obligation to refrain from making false or misleading statements about competitors’ businesses and competitors’ business practices includes the duty to not knowingly or recklessly repeat, retransmit, or republish false or misleading statements made by others. This duty applies whether false or misleading statements are repeated in person, in writing, by technological means (e.g., the Internet), or by any other means. (Adopted 1/07)