Blogging With a Bite

When you want to know about a particular restaurant, go to chowhound.com and see what consumers have to say about it, and for movie reviews, see themovieblog.com. But what about a real estate listing in your neighborhood? Online real estate blogs are popping up, the brainchild of a few real estate companies hoping to provide valuable commentary for shoppers, while offering the consumers a chance to voice their opinions about houses they have been to see. The benefit for a company hosting this blog is to entice traffic to their website, but at what cost?

Is an online amateur review forum fair to a seller if a negative comment prevents a buyer from even visiting the house? A simple "the bathroom wasn't clean and the dining room paint color is not as pretty as it was in the picture" can potentially override the positive descriptions given to the house in the marketing materials. Additionally, a reviewer has free reign on revealing perceived annoyances in the neighborhood, perhaps altering a prospective buyer's list of homes to see: "The children next door were screaming and the corner market's dumpster smelled like fish in the heat." Something to consider: what might be bothersome to one could have no bearing on another, as individual sensitivities vary. Additionally, there is always the potential for competitors to post negative comments in an effort to sway interest.

The fair side of this is the homeowners' equal opportunity to reply to the comments about their homes. In fact, defending a "bad rap" might only be possible in the real estate blogging environment, as opposed to a bad restaurant review. Still, blog readers must take into consideration that much critique is a matter of opinion, timing, and personal sensitivity. The bottom line: One man's fish is another man's poisson.