Welcome to the 120th Edition of The Carnival of Real Estate. We are honored to be hosting the carnival for the 2nd time. As a technology company we stay very interested in technology’s impact on the real estate industry. Keeping with that focus, I decided the criteria for my top post would be one that focused on the topic of  Real Estate Professionals and their involvement with Social Media. Many great posts were submitted this week, but only one touched on Social Media. So I have one winner for the week and honorable mentions for the other great entries.

The Top Post and Winner of the Realty Thought of the Week Award goes to Dustin Luther for his entry : The trouble with Marc’s approach to Twitter. In this post Dustin examines an approach to social media engagement for real estate professionals:

However, on a recent conversation, we were talking about where he’s getting his business and he mentioned Facebook (he’s very active on Facebook and MySpace having uploaded thousands of photos and shared countless stories).  Says his friends on Facebook have been treating him well lately sending him great clients and he’d love to get more.  But he doesn’t consider those “internet” leads since the clients typically come to him on a recommendation from a friend.

Honorable Mentions to other Great Posts:

• Peyman Aleagha discusses the value of text messaging for Real Estate Professionals
• Doug Willis wrote a funny story about Real Estate Agents seeking a Bailout
• Patrick Duffy takes us on a Review of 2008 and a look ahead
• Jim Reppond showed us a cool thermography tool used for home inspections
• Riley Smith discussed how remodeling might not pay, but will help sell your house
• Diane Tuman gives us a look into houses that sit because of bad design and blue carpet
• Shawna Ebersole showed us there are still options to buy a home without a down payment

Jonathan Dalton reflects on the state of the industry. In What Have We Taught Our Clients?, he covers the sins of perception that real estate agents are propagating across the country.

We have taught our clients that agents are driving the buying process. We’re not. Yes, an agent will send properties to his or her buyers. But they’ll likely receive as many or more in return. Why? Because there’s little need for the middleman when it comes to searching for homes. Our role as agents has changed – finding the home is the easy part. Negotiating the contract all the way through to the closing is where our expertise comes into play.

Lani Anglin writes a fun rant titled, Obsession With Youth? I Think Not!, where she berates a letter writer to REALTOR magazine.

I object to the letter because those who have been successful in the corporate world that haven’t hit their 30th birthday SHOULD be celebrated. As a member of that group, I will tell you that my biggest professional obstacle is NOT my sex, my background or my vocabulary level- it is my age.

Patrick Kapowich, of Silicon Valley Broker, discusses How Can Brokers Protect Themselves From Agent Promotion?

My concern was the same then as it is now: Will agents and/or brokers answer online questions outside their areas of expertise? (As many do off-line) – They did. Which, by the way, is strictly prohibited.

Benn Rosales reminds us about self-fulfilling prophecies in Mortgage Drama, Real Estate Bubble, Tech Crash, Dotcom Disaster.

As some (including myself) try to remain positive around the blog-o-whatever about the mortgage industry, there are already those who cannot stop warning and passing along their own fears. It is already preordained that we will have a mortgage meltdown because the virus of words is already spreading.

Craig Schiller, of Home Staging, talks about the values of staging a home in Are Vacant Homes Black Holes That Suck the Life Out of their Own Sales?

…a vacant house will be more difficult to sell then a furnished home. A buyers market will only make it even more difficult for a seller to sell for there are more than enough homes to choose from.

Kevin Boer on The Innovator’s Dilemma In Real Estate: Beware Of That Redfin Swimming Just Below You, where he applies lessons from Harvard’s Clayton Christensen on how low-cost competitors move up the value chain to real estate brokerage.

If the new entrant succeeds, it starts to take market share from the incumbents, who finally wake up — often too late — and discover that the “cheap, undesirable” part of the market is much larger than they previously thought.