Gotcha Guide™: Online Real Estate Forums Provide Advice to Consumers and Professionals

NOTE: This information is part of a forthcoming book, the Gotcha Guide™ to Buying and Investing in Real Estate.
by DeeinAustin™

One of my friends has a Nintendo Wii game console. He falls into the group of people who "aren't into video games", so I was shocked when he said he wanted a Wii.  I later realized that Nintendo has done a great job creating a fun, interactive games like Wii Sports, where the entire family can get involved. The reason I bring this up is because there are a lot of agents and consumers who "aren't into internet forums". When they think of forums, they may think of seedy or childish chatrooms where anonymous predators lurk.

Although we should be careful in online forums and chatrooms, real estate-related forums are helpful resources to provide advice to new agents, investors, buyers, sellers, mortgage brokers, and anyone else interested in our industry. I wanted to discuss some of the common forums that I provide advice in, but first wanted to explain what a real estate forum is.

WHAT IS A FORUM?
According to answers.com, a forum is:

1. 1. The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.
   2. A public meeting place for open discussion.
   3. A medium for open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper, a radio or television program, or a website.
2. A public meeting or presentation involving a discussion usually among experts and often including audience participation.
3. A court of law; a tribunal.

On the internet, forums are a website with a back end that allows people to create a profile, then post their opinion or question in a public place. It's where you can sit back and watch OR login to participate in the exchange of ideas. In a perfect world, users will respect each other's opinions and provide helpful advice. Since many forums are anonymous (meaning you supply what you want to about yourself), the downside is that there can be spammers, bullies, or people who are more harsh with their words than they would be in person.

TOP REAL ESTATE FORUMS

The forums I use have good moderators who keep control of spam and rude behaviour. I use them to ask for or provide advice about various areas of the business.

1. AgentsOnline.net. This one is pretty active. They have new moderators to help keep people who want to rant all of the time in line.
2. ActiveRain.com. I just joined this one. I like the ability to post blogs and join subgroups.
3. REiClub.com. A real estate investor blog. Very active. I'm a moderator, so follow the rules.
4. BiggerPockets.com. I just joined this investor forum It seems ok, but I see a lot of posts where people are just advertising their service. Not sure why they let these stay, but again, I'm new to this board. I do like their investment articles
5. Creonline.com. Their forum is pretty basic-looking, but they have great articles and other advice for investors.
6. TheCreativeInvestor.com. This one has a lot of resources for residential and commercial investors. You can also post properties.

Before joining any forum, "lurk" around the board by searching for information or questions you'd like. Also read the rules since there are often guidlines on the type of signature you can have or where you can post certain questions. Before posting a new topic, always search the forum to see what's been said before. It gets annoying to some people when the same question is asked several times within a short timespan. This will also separate good information into several threads.

Check out the forums I mentioned and others. Feel free to post a comment if there are good ones that I missed.

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