Comments on: How to IDIOT Proof Your Blog From Lawsuits

By: Chicago Real Estate Company Sues Woman Over Twitter Tweet

Chicago Real Estate Company Sues Woman Over Twitter Tweet — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:08:39 +0000

[...] How to Idiot Proof You Blog From Lawsuits [...]

By: NAR Code of Ethics Amendment Imposes Duty on Realtor For Statements of Third Parties in Social Media

Tue, 19 May 2009 17:08:28 +0000

[...] Related Post: How to Idiot Proof Your Blog. [...]

By: RE Blogging Hits The Mainstream And Brings The Lawyers

RE Blogging Hits The Mainstream And Brings The Lawyers — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:48:47 +0000

[...] Joe Ferrara over at Sellsius has a great post on this topic, How to IDIOT Proof Your Blog From Lawsuits, worth a [...]

By: Best of Sellsius 2008

Best of Sellsius 2008 — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:46:28 +0000

[...] Best Blogger Advice: How to Idiot Proof Your Blog from Lawsuits [...]

By: J Boyer Morristown NJ

J Boyer Morristown NJ — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 04:05:41 +0000

All great advice. I like the disclaimer which is a very good idea. Keep up the great work.

By: Does Your Attorney Speak Your Language?

Does Your Attorney Speak Your Language? — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:19:38 +0000

[...] Last but definitely not least Joe of Sellsius Real Estate Blog. They say that a picture speaks lauder than words. What a better picture there is that of Joe and Darren Rowse of ProBlogger to convey my point. No only Joe understands the language of bloggers, he is an avid blogger as well. If you have a chance to browse through his blog I highly recommend Joe’s posts on viral wars and his tips on how to prove your blog against lawsuits. [...]

By: Joseph Ferrara

Joseph Ferrara — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:41:09 +0000

Gotcha, Steve.

Good point. Losing your license over local rules and standards would be worse than a room full of sharks.

By: Steve Belt

Steve Belt — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:28:09 +0000

Joe, There are 2 aspects of legal that I’m referring to. The first is fair housing law and the second is commissioner’s standards. Arizona has commissioner’s standards that apply to any real estate website. The standards include reference to fair housing law, but other rules as well. I’m honestly not 100% certain if commissioner’s standards are laws or just standards that if not adhered to can cause loss of license and/or fines. Not a good thing to thumb a finger at, and important enough I consider them law, since I don’t have a license if I don’t adhere.

Understanding your real estate commissioner’s rules, and adhering to them I consider to be paramount to any successful defense if litigation were to ensue. I can see the plaintiff’s lawyer starting the argument with “if John Doe REALTOR doesn’t even adhere to his state commissioner’s rules, how can we…”.

By: Joseph Ferrara

Joseph Ferrara — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:02:11 +0000

I agree 100% Steve. Avoiding controversy is a good formula for lawyer-free consumer success.

That’s interesting– in what respect are the blogs not legal– is it with regard to the MLS or some local laws?

By: Steve Belt

Steve Belt — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:57:11 +0000

I tend to favor Todd’s approach as well. I know being positive results in less traffic, but the traffic of being controversial is more from the RE.NET, rather than from buyers and sellers. I’ll worry more about my local search results and less about traffic, and staying positive will do just fine in that regard.

I think more important than ALL of the things you highlight here Joe, would be making sure our real estate blogs are legal in the jurisdiction in which they reside. I see many, many, many Arizona blogs that are not be legal in my state. Being legal needs to be #1, because if it isn’t legal, disclosing that it’s our opinion, blah, blah, blah, doesn’t really matter.