Kory's Real Estate Blog

I opened up the forums, if there’s problems, please feel free to let me know (admin at virlo dot net) and I’d be happy to take care of it, otherwise, if you’re a real estate professional or consumer in Illinois (or anywhere else, or someone somehow associated with the KGB as a special agent, prospective special agent, quality agent, etc.; or just anyone interested in discussing relevant subjects at all) go ahead and join the forums.

Update:

The testing forum (which is still being configured and hopefully reviewed) is available at the following link: http://blog.virlo.net/forum/.

Original Post:

Well, in the course of attempting to draw more relevant traffic to my site, I’ve began to realize that there are essentially no legitamate forums and very few blogs committed to the practice of real estate.  Sure, there are plenty of blogs that are dedicated to the advertisement of real estate and various websites similar to trulia for searching for real estate, but I can’t quite find something that allows consumers to ask questions and agents interact, and I think such a site would be helpful, for the betterment of both agents and the public, so I’m hoping to start such a community before the end of July and would like feedback as to how it should be organized, through I have my own ideas that might be a good starting place:

• There should certainly be separate boards separating posts by relevance to their involvement in a real estate transaction (consumer, client, leasing agent, salesperson, broker, attorney, appraiser, lender, etc.)
• Perhaps there should be a separate board for each state, as I would like to accommodate the expansion of the site to include multiple states
• I think two designations (possibly per state) would be sufficient: real estate professional and customer, a real estate professional would need to submit his/her licensing information so it could be verified against the IDFPR’s website
• Certainly, the site will be meant to be a forum that encourages interaction and inquiry and posting properties will (as much as I hate to say it like this) be strictly forbidden
• Everyone should have access to all information on the site, that is, consumers can view what lawyers, brokers, appraisers, etc. are saying, but consumers probably shouldn’t be able to post in the forums dedicated to professionals, if a consumer would like something clarified, a private message may be sent or an inquiry can be made on the consumer forum

If you’re having trouble imagining what the site will look like, hopefully I will have a prototype up shortly (before the end of the week), with the above ideas implemented; however, absolutely any ideas would be welcome before the go-live date (which I’ll set as Monday, July 27)

I’m attempting to draw traffic to the site, and hopefully from multiple sources (and thus different types of people), I’m interested in all brokers, salespeople, leasing agents, and prospective students as well as consumers and current clients, I’m excited about having a central location for which prospective students to discuss and current licensees to explain and socialize throughout Illinois (and perhaps even multiple states).

What’s even more important than getting traffic (and, ultimately, the reason why I’m attempting to get traffic), is to get people to visit the site and get them asking questions, so I understand what people are most interested in knowing about real estate and the process through which I’ve been going and even getting current licensees to post their stories (and thus bring more authors to the blog). I really hope my efforts work to this end, as I’ve noticed there is nothing to help prospective students decide whether they want to become salespeople/brokers and there is nothing that explains the process of starting a firm and the necessary steps, these are two of the largest goals of this website, though current issues and questions are certainly welcomed and encouraged.

Not related to real estate, but adding a favicon.ico to a Wordpress blog if you’re not able to navigate directories (it still works if you can navigate directories, though), just within Wordpress.

1. Select an image you’d like to use as your favicon
2. Go to http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/favicon/, click on browse and select your image
3. Click “Generate FavIcon.ico”
4. Click “Download FavIcon Package,” selecting a location to save a zip file
5. Navigate to the saved package and unzip it
6. In Wordpress (2.8), go to your admin page and go to the “Media” drop down box
7. Click on “Add New” then “Select Files”
8. Navigate to the unzipped FavIcon package, select it
9. Take note of where it was saved, it should be something similar to “http://blog.virlo.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/favicon.ico,” replacing the date for an appropriate value
10. Copy the portion of the link “/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/favicon.ico”
11. Navigate to Appearance >> Editor
12. Select the file “Header (header.php)”
13. On the line immediately below the line that begins “<head…” put the following (on a line of it’s own):
    1. <link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”wp-content/uploads/2009/06/favicon.ico” >
    2. again, remember to replace “2009/06″ with the appropriate value
14. Refresh the page (ctrl + r [pc] or command + r [mac])
15. Welcome yourself to the world of people with favicons!