If NAR doesn’t get you your broker will . . well when they get internet access and learn how to use it they will . . but only if they can find you . . maybe you don’t have anything to worry about after all.
When I was in grade school some times my parents would help me with my homework. My dad used to frustrate me at times but he was right. I would ask a question and instead of giving me an answer he would have me look it up myself. he used to tell me that if he gave me the answer I wouldn’t really remember it, but if I looked it up myself I would.
So here we go. Many of the real estate blogs that I encounter are not compliant with NAR regulations that apply to all types of Realtor marketing.
In some cases the blogs are designed by vendors who just don’t know any better. it isn’t their job to understand the rules, it is the job of the REALTOR with the blog or website. As the big behemoth soulless money grubbing corporations that are real estate companies start to lose profitability and have some of their internet traffic swiped by micro entrepreneurs like myself, they will want to fight back. They have been making money for years selling our own leads back to us. Now some of us are able to compete head-to-head with big companies through our blogs.
The day will come when someone will start slapping non-compliant bloggers around and ask them to either make their site compliant or take it down. Worse yet maybe the big companies will make policies against REALTOR blogs becasue agents can not be trusted to follow the NAR rules and the local guidelines set at the state level that apply to real estate marketing materials including web sites.
What the hell am I talking about you ask? I am not going to give you the answer. Go to NAR, look up the rules and decide if your blog is complaint. Naturally it is password protected becasue they don’t want to make it easy to find. For vendors selling blogs to REALTORS it would not hurt you to familiarize your selves with these rules. It would be a great way to add value and to become a true expert on real estate blogging.
The St. Paul Real Estate Blog has been compliant since day one. This blog is not compliant. Weather or not it needs to be is debatable.
I talked to a lender yesterday who had been told not to blog anymore by his company. I wonder if brokerages are going to start getting nervous about blogs, too. My manager loves that I blog, but things change.
Sarah – I think eventually the real estate companies will start talking to lawyers and it will be all over for us. That is why I got my brokers license. My blog is my business and without it I am unemployed.
Now I’m scared and have to run off to NAR and double-check my blog.
Regarding Sarah’s comment on not being allowed to blog – I’d be changing brokerages in a second. One nice thing about being at a small independent brokerage is that I can control the direction more than some of my friends in large companies where policy is set in a far-off location.
Somehow I doubt the large brokerages will disallow agents to blog as that would mean giving up leads to the smaller brokerages that do allow blogging. However, I do think that there may come a day when they develop blogging policies and have a company employee in charge of checking on all RE blogs published by the company’s agents to ensure they’re adhering to the company policies. JMHO