It’s humbling and a bit embarrassing to look back to my first posts on 4 January 2005, on a vastly different (and inferior, non-open-source) blogging platform – but it was a good place to start.
I’d like to think I and this site have grown, matured, tried new things and failed and learned in the process. I’ve made great friends through real estate blogs, and several clients as well. RealCentralVA.com was started not with the intent to gain business but to provide information, although I have. Its evolution has been one marked by rapid change, persistence, patience and a dedication to providing the absolute best local analysis of the Charlottesville area real estate market – targeted at buyers, sellers, real estate voyeurs and fellow real estate professionals.
I remain passionate and committed to the real estate industry and my clients, and this blog is a big reason for that. I know more; and I know more about the market, locally and nationally, because of this blog. The writing I do daily ties me closer to the business and the people. Every day I learn something new about client representation or some new technology that my impact the industry or my clients. Thank you.
Take a quick look at the search traffic for “real estate blog” –
A quick look at the Internet Archive shows parts of the evolution.
February 1 2007 – Sold comps matter less
Much has changed in three years – there are many more real estate bloggers than there were three years ago. Having been one of the first real estate bloggers gives me a unique perspective, and one thing is constantly being reinforced – being first matters not one damn bit unless you provide consistently high quality content and constantly innovate to meet and stay ahead of consumers’ and readers’ expectations.
Blogging has become easier; the threshold for entry is very low – and that is good and bad. It’s become mainstream, and influential. It’s become so mainstream that many of the new entries are frustratingly transparent in their goal to “get leads” versus providing information for readers.
Additionally, I have grown as my blog has grown. Now when I answer the question, “what are you doing now?” I answer – “I’m in real estate, I’m writing a lot, I’m speaking occasionally (and again next week at Inman Connect in NYC), sitting on local panels … I’ve even been coined a “real estate analyst”. It’s been a wild three years. There is more to this business than buying and selling real estate.
So – thank you. Thank you to the real estate bloggers I have met, on and offline, to the local media who have been so receptive to seeking me out occasionally, to the readers and commenters and to the clients I have gained.
I am grateful for your time, your knowledge and for the opportunity to know you, and look forward to another year of writing, analyzing and interacting with readers, clients and friends on and off line.
Congratulations, Jim. You’ve done an outstanding job.
Your experience shows, daily.
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Keep it going Jim!
Congratulations Jim, you are on my must read list and I look forward to many more insightful posts. Howard
Your experience definitely shows Jim, thanks for being so insightful. Nice job!
Congrats on your blogiversary Jim! 3 years is an eternity in this thing, and you are one to emulate.
Looking forward to finally getting to meet you face-to-face next week in the Big Apple!
Congrats Jim to sticking through it and continuing to post!
Jim,
Keep up the great work. Your blog is an outstanding example of a great Realtor blog. Consistent, focused, timely, local, original, balanced and more. There may be a larger number of ranks in blogging by Realtors, but there remain very few that I consider good examples. Yours is one that we share in a very short list when we speak about the issue of blogging in our presentations to brokers and agents.
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