Every once in a while, I like to take a look at the benchmarks that our website has set. While reading our real estate investing forums, I noticed something very exciting . . .

Our Forums Now Have 20,000 Posts and Close to 5,000 Members!

We were teetering around 1,000 people close to a year ago, and our membership has since grown almost 5-fold! I just wanted to take this time to thank everyone who participates on the forums.

In case you aren’t familiar, our discussion forums cover topics including starting out in real estate, foreclosure investing, landlording, notes investing, rehabbing, and much much more! I constantly get emails from people who have learned from the site, or who have been inspired to take their investing careers to the next level because of the inspirational stories found there. In addition, investors continue to make deals with one another, and I am astonished by all of the profitable opportunities that flow through the site on our dealmaking section (members only).

One of the things I am most proud of is the moderators on our forums. They have done a phenomenal job making sure that the discussion areas are free of SPAM, and that the discussions remain on task. Spend a few minutes on the site and you’ll see what I mean! There are no questions that are too “stupid” to ask; there are no people with too little experience to learn how to be successful.

There is no cost to join, and the only personal information we require is your email address.

Many of the areas of the forums can only be viewed by members. If you want to experience all of the benefits that the site provides, I encourage you to Join Today!

Help us double our membership in this next year by telling a friend all about the BiggerPockets.com Real Estate Investing Forums!

Welcome to Our Blog!
Welcome to the Real Estate Dispatch from BiggerPockets.com. Our blog brings together experts in various fields of real estate with the goal of keeping our readers informed and up to speed. Whether you're a real estate professional (lender, Realtor, banker, etc), investor (landlord, flipper, wholesaler, etc.), or simply a consumer, renter or homeowner interested in the world of real estate, this blog is the place for you to get involved!

You can subscribe to our RSS feed, get blog updates by email, join our free mailing list, or best of all, join our social network along with 35,000 others interested in real estate education, dealmaking, networking, and marketing.

Tags: bigger pockets, biggerpockets, investing-forums, real estate, real estate forums, real estate investing forums, real-estate-discussion-forums

Recognize Great Marketing When You See It
When someone has a good idea, you have to acknowledge them. As a long-time real estate blogger (that is in relative terms), I’ve seen thousands of blogs pop up throughout the past year. Many have been good, but I did not really take notice, as I currently subscribe to hundreds of real estate blogs. A few days ago, I was told that BiggerPockets was nominated for the 2007 Real Estate Blogging Awards (the REBAs).

I was not fully aware of these awards, so I took a look at the site offering them, Housing Wire. The site has been around since December, and according to most measures, was not very highly ranked. Over these past few days, I’ve watched the site quickly climb in traffic (according to several sources). I must applaud their efforts, because it takes a TON of hard work to create a popular blog, and they are well on their way thanks to this little Award idea. I guess the lesson here is that linkbaiting does work for real estate (we all knew that anyway).

Now that you know about this smart marketing move, I thought it was a good time to let you know what we’re nominated for:

Best Overall Blog
Recognizes the best overall real estate blog, regardless of how much traffic or what focus the blog has.

AND

Best Corporate Blog
Recognizes the best real estate-focused blog sponsored by a traditional media outlet or other corporate entity.

I am honored, regardless of who established these awards. It is nice to be recognized by your peers for your work. I guess we’ll find out who the winner is of the awards after the 10th of January, since that is that last day of voting. . .

VOTING???
That’s right! You can actually vote for your favorite blogs (you can even vote for us, incase I haven’t gotten my point across). Since we’re already nominated, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to win . . . so, that’s where you all come in!

Take a minute out of your day and let everyone know that Real Estate Investing For Real is your favorite blog in the above categories! Make sure to do so by January 10, 2007, though.

Yes, I realize I’m being a real shill here, but I’ve been having a terrible day, and I wouldn’t mind having a little award on the mantle or something. It may make all the bad feelings go away, sorta like a cone of mint-chip ice cream. Make sure you vote in all categories, or the votes don’t count.

Whether or not we win, the only real recognition we need is your support! Keep coming back to our site and our blog, and I’ll be content!

Thanks everyone!

Tags: 2007, awards, biggerpockets, biggerpockets.com, blogging, estate, real, Real Estate Investing, REBAs

Just letting everyone know about our latest press release:

Changing Real Estate Environment Turns BiggerPockets.com into Indispensable Resource

Help us by continuing to get the word out about BiggerPockets.com Real Estate Investing Community!