With a full-time job, creating content for this site, and the numerous side projects I’ve got going on at any given time, I don’t seem to have much time anymore to spend trolling the internet for other real estate discussion. That said, I am curious where some of you have found the most interesting conversations about local real estate, other than here at Seattle Bubble.
Here are a few sites I know of, and my general impression of each:
Redfin’s Seattle Forum: I do spend some time on this one, but it’s generally on the clock. From what I’ve seen (and based on what I know from working at Redfin), they do a pretty good job of keeping the forums pretty customer-focused, actively moderating discussions to keep the spam and blatent agent ad-type posts to a minimum. Topics range from practical homebuying advice to amusing threads like the “Overpriced hall of shame.”
Zillow Home Buying Advice: I generally don’t spend much time on the Zillow forums. My impression from the times I have visited is that many threads are started by customers, but quickly become overrun with agents trying to fish for leads. One nice thing about Zillow’s format is that the agents and lenders are identified with little badges, so there’s no hiding their motivations.
Trulia Voices Home Buying in Seattle: The user interface style of Trulia’s forums doesn’t jive well with me. Also, like Zillow, most threads seem to be populated almost entirely by real estate agents. Here’s a classic: Is this a good time to buy a house in Seattle? You’ll never guess what the agents’ answers are.
City-Data Seattle Forum: City-Data is more general than just real estate, but the topics often seem to cover real estate issues, such as Moving to Bellevue for 60k-Family of three- Will it be Livable? and How do you afford it? (Living in Seattle). Since the site isn’t real estate focused, it seems that the realtor swarm has not descended upon these forums as much as the others.
That’s all I can think of… So where do you find the good stuff? Did I miss some obviously cool user-driven discussion sites?
Full disclosure: The Tim is employed by Redfin.