Don't Read This

Sucka- I knew you'd read this...

Did you know that you can convert all of your Blogger articles over to Word Press with a simple mouse click? It's ture! If you're looking for any article from this page in the past, head over to the new site where you'll find ALL articles.

I've been surprised at the continued traffic over here- Chris, why are you coming here? :) I see you guys...

Where Is Lani???

Going On A Comment Sabbaticle

So I have this neighbor who just has to keep up with the Joneses. At some point, my husband and I became the target:

1. They have had their landscape redone to be a tad better than ours, but they keep mowing int he rain leaving trenches. We like to do our own because no one is as obsessive compulsive as we are.

2. They bought a new gianto SUV this summer. We bought a Jeep this spring.

3. We painted our door and trim a glossy black this spring. They painted their door and trim a glossy black this summer.

4. We threw a 2006 Celebrity Princess Party for our then 9 year old. They threw a 2007 Celebrity Emmy Party for their now 10 year old.

And the list goes on. I don't mind them playing the game, but why play? I'm not even attempting to be on the game field! So then, why would they go beyond keeping up with the Joneses and decide to actually hate the Joneses!?!? In what seems to be frustration that we don't want to play in their sandbox but we still somehow "beat" them in their minds, they have decided to hate us. Last night at fireworks, instead of coming over where we were shooting (sweet, huh?), they stood on their front porch with their arms crossed and wouldn't let their daughters (my daughter's best friends) come over because it was a "family affair." Whatever, sourpuss.

So what does this have to do with a comment sabbaticle? Well, the same thing has begun happening to me in the blogosphere. Look, I'm not a Realtor so I can't possibly compete with you. Nor am I in the mortgage industry. After a few bloggers have either pirated my comments, held on to my comments because their buddy was in the process of making a similar comment (and posting it after the fact, making me look like a repetitive idiot), actually editing my comments (wth?), or simply not publishing them. Therefore, I am tired and I will be on sabbaticle.

In the past, when I've needed backup, I've emailed a few friends (Realtor Genius, Bawld Guy and Kris Berg) asking them to jump in either here or on Bloodhound. If you need me to do the same, or you simply miss my voice, please email me directly. Otherwise, I will be drinking a Mojito as I enjoy my comment-free sabbaticle!

To Capthca or NOT To Captcha

Many of us (myself included) opt to include the captcha so that the spambots can't infiltrate our beautiful blogs. I'm on Google's Blogger, and I've learned that Blogger sometimes cops an attitude and insults its users... seriously.

Check it out here and consider if you still want to feature captchas on your site...

The Realtor Wives Feed Reader Hits 100!

Well, it had to come sometime- the obstacle is now here... how do I keep this feed reader under 100? As I asked this week, who should be the 100th blog to read every day?

Realtor Wives added Rebekah Herzog out of Kansas who is a budding new blogger. I encourage you all to visit her site, email her encouragement (we all need it when getting started) or suggestions and add her to your feed reader. Congrats on being #100!

Sidenote: I'm using Bloglines and I hate it- any suggestions or reviews of your own readers?

Carnival of Real Estate

Altos Reasearch hosts this week's Carnival of Real Estate.

My thoughts:
(1) sweet- Greg Swann has his own blog category (although Mike had to sidenote that he was half kidding about that),
(2) Altos subcategorized RE blogging in a very concise way (that I liked) and
(3) thank God CoRE takes a dang 4th of July break next week- I really need one!

Notes:
Definition of a Blog Carnival

Benefits of submitting to Carnivals

More about getting involved at the Carnival of Real Estate (CoRE)

List of future CoRE judges
*July 4th week- no CoRE
*July 9th- ValleyMarket.com

*July 16th- Sadie's Take on Delaware

*July 23rd- Rain City Guide
*July 30th- SacramentoReal Estate Guide

JOIN IN!!!

Only Room For One More Blog!

Today, I added the 99th blog to my Bloglines feed reader. When I started this whole blog thang (yeah, that's spelled with an "a"), I set several goals. My number three goal was to keep my feed reader under 100 blogs to stay on top of every day.

At the time, that number seemed so huge, but since then Bloglines has sucked up RE blogs like a Hoover. Whew! I now read 99 blogs every day, and I have room for ONE MORE!!!

Who should it be?

A Loud 10 Year Old

Realtor Genius and I have a beautiful, intelligent, newly 10 year old daughter who recently took an interest in blogging. We set her up with an invitation-only Blogger site and she has blogged like a madwoman!

Tonight, she asked if she could blog on our Austin Real Estate Blog, but I told her she'd have to create a draft and have it approved with the brokerage boss (aka Daddy). He didn't sign off on it, rather sent it over to the head of Asset Management (aka me) and I saw a great RealtorWives article. So on an orange piece of paper with a purple marker, she had written the following:

"You should pick my dad he's the Best. Better than everyone."

Best blog of the year if you ask me. I think she's getting the whole Web2.0 RE.net down already! Watch out, y'all- she's just getting started!

Sidenote: photo courtesy of jynmeyer (our daughter is actually cuter...)

RE WEBLOGGING 101

Realtor Genius has sniffed out a great new site by TheGreg over at Bloodhound:

Weblogging101 opened today, and to be honest there is just so much information it would take several days to plow through it all, so I’ll let you know my thoughts next week- but here are my general thoughts in advance.

First of all, bloodhoundblog.com isn’t profiting on this at all. No one is over there giving criticism of your blog to gain your business, it’s the simply how-to we all needed when we started (and I for one, still need) and for this I believe it has heart, merit, and to be honest, you can trust it. Why? Because the only thing your being sold is a better understanding of what in the heck you’re doing!

Although I'd be lying if I didn't know REWeblogging101 was coming, Realtor Genius has published a great evaluation of the new site- THANKS RG!

Learn more about RE Weblogging and how to put the REW101 logo on your site!

Attention Newbies

I have had several emails lately from new bloggers asking what direction to take (and I'm no specialist, but I'm always happy to share links to any of the 92 blogs on my feed reader)... there are so many great resources out there!

For those of you new to blogging, finding inspiration can be one of the most difficult tasks. No problem, RSS Pieces has the perfect solution- use one of their 225 proposed article ideas written by the supersupersassy Fairy Blogmother. If you haven't stumbled onto this site yet, it is great for new bloggers (or uh, bad ones)...

What In The World Is "Deck"?

Don't know what "deck" is? You're just not hip... I'll clue you in! Liz Barkdale writes my absolute favorite article written thus far in 2007; click here to read on!

Anywhere in Austin south of the Capitol, the "Keep Austin Weird" subculture reigns. I've been debating how to use this article in the blogosphere, but it's too dang funny to not publish. For those of you who have lived in or visited Austin, you'll giggle as you read this article; for those who have not, you surely have some "deck" element in your own city.

Tell us how deck YOUR city is!


photo (from thatotherpaper.com )/ Fred Benenson

Notorious B.I.G. Said "Mo Money, Mo Problems"

Notorious B.I.G. said "Mo Money, Mo Problems" and I agree. In the blogosphere, the bigger you get, the more bold you become and it leads to enemies whether you like it or not. Instead of talking dollars, let's talk blogosphere "fame." Greg Swann's got a lot of that "fame" and because of his "mo fame," he's got "mo problems." Greg and I don't always agree, so I am not defending any particular viewpoint today. Rather, I wanted to share with you why Greg and I are friends.

(1) Before I was a BHB contributor, I decided to ask Greg any and all questions regarding blogging even if the questions made me look stupid. He never judged my ignorance, instead he quickly emailed me back an answer.

(2) There has been no restriction on what Greg has been willing to share with me. He's given me access to the PHP code for parts of his site that I wanted to steal, he's given me his Carnival judging algorithm, and he's endlessly given me definitions to dorky blog words that I've had to learn over the past months.

(3) Greg is not inflammatory. His articles and comments are provocative, but he never cusses at anyone, he backs his theories up with his researched facts and is willing to take the heat when his arguments anger people. Currently, Greg has brought up the licensing bar and postulates that we should abolish it. I disagree with this- abolishment is not a solution; I'm waiting on a solution. Regardless, what I like about Greg is that if I email him saying, "hey, I disagree," or "what's the solution to the licensing issue?" he will write an article about such a topic instead of hiding behind an offline conversation.

(4) BHB publishing rules don't exist. As an author, I've never been censored. I've also never used curse words or made ignorant personal attacks. Some people have been censored (and Greg emailed me the censored comments and his reasons for censoring) and I'm okay with that. Ponch (Kris and Steve's troll) and Prime Minister (my troll) pick fights online and if they get out of hand (which they haven't yet), they WILL be censored- that's my right. I disagree that Greg arbitrarily blacklists- like I said, I've seen the conversations. Whether I would make the same choice to censor is not the point.

Greg didn't ask me to (and would probably prefer that I didn't) write my Top Four Reasons I'm Friends With Greg Swann, but sometimes someone with "mo money [and] mo problems" are busy and that's when a friend should step in.

And if Athol asks me why I'm friends with him, I can make that my next article... :)

State of the Blog Report- Unhealthy Competition

Several bloggers are observing the problems with RE blogging of late, namely the abuse of the forum. People have been accused of censoring, being inappropriate and vulgar, inflammatory and the like for reasons of ratings (or prospecting or entertaining).

On a recent Realtor Wives article, some bold statements were made. Please read the article and statements here in full if you have not today. I will address my response here:

We are business bloggers. If we weren't, no one would be professing their career choice, and we would be writing about movies, jeans, kitties or concerts. There should be no "taking it personally," "personal attacks" or censoring for a self-indulgent cause (which I can't personally say has occurred or not, nor do I really care). Come on! We are here to promote our individual businesses, the concept of buying and selling real estate, to discuss the market and hopefully teach readers about what we do in hopes that the healthy Web2.0 style conversation draws people in- if not to us, at least to someone knowledgeable.

Lockwood also humorously tried to correct Realtor Wives regarding "Project Bladder" which makes light of the whole competitive issue. I still stand by my satirical look at the issue- people are engaging in personal competitiveness. Kris mentioned that she feels in the middle (and I share that sentiment due to my BHB affiliation)- no one should have to feel that way because of personal problems bloggers have with each other, nor should they be publicly aired in such nasty ways (simply aired anywhere so aggressively, not specifically on Realtor Wives).

The point: get over yourselves! Quit making it personal- this is business blogging, not Project Bladder. A slow news cycle is no excuse for arm wrestling about blogging.

Project Bladder

John Lockwood has been actively commenting on Realtor Wives as of late, namely on the "Know Your Identity" article. If you haven't read it, back up and take a look before continuing... I'll wait... As you read in the comments, Lockwood created this satirical logo (and it's pretty dang good if you ask me) as the "thread's official logo."

To add to this concept, I believe that this "Project Bladder" seal should be used on any article that a blogger writes that is part of the distance competition (see "Know Your Identity" if you haven't yet). When you're calling another blogger out whether indirectly (as I normally do) or directly (as BHB and the Sock Goblin are currently doing), you should feature this logo so everyone knows that you're in it to win it!

Who's in???

Austin Realtor's Wife Around Town

Two reasons to link to blogs I've commented on today:

(1) to hear more of my unsolicited opinion regarding real estate and
(2) to fend off the comment pirate(s)
(3) but mainly to be more creative in showing who's on my feed reader.

I hope others will pick up this idea of linking to sites where they've added to (or screwed up in some cases) the ongoing conversations:

Dalton's Zillow Roast
Chris' New Buds
Rory's Buffett Connection
Berg Barks at Vultures
RG Exposes Dad at the Sorority Party

These are in no particular order, rather listed arbitrarily on this here ol' blog. We're headed out for the weekend, so forgive my lack of comments/articles over the weekend. For those of you who know me (and how verbose I can be), you'll know to call the authorities if I'm not actively commenting by Tuesday...

State of The Blog Report- Know Your Identity

Today, I respond to the following articles:

*Realtor Genius' Web 2. Oh No
*BawldGuy's Adios Blog
*Greg's Line in the Sand
*RSS Pieces' Style Thesis
*Athol's Neener Neener
*Lockwood's Hate/Love Affair

Because I am friends with 4 of the 5 blogs mentioned above, I will speak in generalities...

1.) I am noticing a heating up of pee contests online (so what if I've used this phrase before?!?!). Some of you know that you are agitating the pit bull that is chained up, but listen well- when the chain breaks, you won't be able to run fast enough and I predict you'll lose parts of your pants. Sure, your friends think it's funny because they don't like the pit bull and your making funny faces at it is entertaining, or they do like the pit bull and they are just bored. However, the pissing contest is one that has an eventual winner (and loser) and I for one squat, so I won't get into the urine launching arena. Just remember though, someone has to lose. I just hope that everyone calms down- we're blogging for business, not for fun. If you want a fun blog about pants and music, get off of the RE airwaves.

2.) I have also noticed a great deal of Web 2.0 observations going on and I am loving it! Lockwood does a great job of bringing this topic up, and Realtor Genius tears it a new hole (yeah, that hole). While they talk about the merit (or lack thereof) of the Web 2.0 movement, I have to pause to affirm that it is a means to connect with your clients by being more natural and by being yourself which is a great benefit to those with relatable personalities. The problem that Realtor Genius notes is that many bloggers put on a sideways hat and say "whattup dawg" to attempt to relate rather than being themselves (which he asserts is the point of Web 2.0).

3.) Jeff Brown and I had an off-line conversation about RSS Pieces' article regarding style and he made the distinct note that style and voice are not the same thing. He and I have voices that are recognizable even if we don't put our names on our articles or comments- it's inescapable. My style, however, changes with each article. My style can be the Troublemaker (see Point 1), and I can be authoritative, but my voice is usually silly and I don't take myself too seriously. I AM a 20-something non-Realtor, and I write as such. I never pretend to have a voice/style that is one of a Realtor with 20 years worth of experience (like Jeff). To complete my stream of consciousness point on the RSSPieces article, your style is not your voice (as the piece asserts) and the two should not be confused. I may have a silly style in one article and a condemning style in another, but my voice is constant because of who I am- you are always able to point me out in the blogosphere (even if I play the anonymous card).

***********************
I am the first to stand up for myself and others, but I think we should all get back to what we were doing- blogging about real estate (usually for the consumer). Some of you can pee further than me (and others can't), but who cares? I don't blog to clients- my niche is more for Realtors (and the occasional spouse), so I remind those who ARE blogging to clients to relax and get your eyes back on the ball. Please. I mean, now. :)

Carnival of Real Estate

The Carnival of Real Estate (CoRE) is over at the North Fulton County Real Estate Blog this week!!! If you want to read the best and brightest RE bloggers' work, head on over! You'll see bloggers such as Kris Berg on this week's list of what I like to call the "Most Awesome Blogs!"

In five short months, Realtorwives.com will be host of our first CoRE... yippee!

What's Up With The Zilence?

David G. at Zillow gave a great speech defending his product (which was not named in Realtor Genius' article) via a comment, but has become silent at the simple question "is your model in the end a national consumer driven listing service?"

We at Realtor Wives think he should answer so others don't do it for him...

Check out the conversation here and encourage David to follow up!

Blogs Overlooked

The following blogs have not had nearly the amount of comments I believe they deserve; check them out and get the ball rolling:

Realtor genius parodies the term "business model"- hilarous read!!!

REAgent asks some philisophical questions about horizontal vs. vertical agency

Regarding retirement, Bawld Guy asks if you're up for a "magnificently abundant retirement OR a life sentence." He calls it Grandpa Economics.

These are my top three for this week- my comments don't count, so HEAD OVER and make sure the conversation doesn't die, these are great articles!!!

The Bloodhound Blog Runs With a French Bulldog!

Not that I like French stuff, but I relate to French Bulldogs. I'm little and silly, but I'm great at learning new tricks! Odysseus seemed to need some company over at the ol' BHB, so I've been invited to be a contributor.

I have to admit on this site that I was terrified when Greg approached me. I feel like I'm about to go into the review on my senior thesis again. Now, I'll have to learn Latin, remember Spanish, and most importantly, remember how to speak (uh, write) English properly. How can I possibly run with the big dogs? I'm a two month old French bulldog- in the blogosphere, I weigh only 3.21 lbs.

After my initial shock, I became elated- what an awesome opportunity! I am not selling anything, so my voice is different than most people in our blogworld... I opine because I want to, not because I need to. Being buddies with Odysseus will be a blast! I CAN run with the big dogs- I'm fit, I have great stamina, and I can bite an Achille's heel better than anyone at this vantage point! So watch out world, this little pup is up for the work out!!!