Blogging on real estate can be dangerous. As Vlad Zablotskyy is facing with his battle with ePerks.com and Lucas Lechuga in his 25 million dollar lawsuit with a Miami developer fighting deep pocket companies can be expensive and dangerous.

This is not to diminish blogging and being opinionated when you are blogging. Vlad’s case is spurious, a company asked him to write a review and then when he researched the company he found there were things that he did not like and wrote another post that was critical of ePerks. Now bloggers being led by Greg Swann are coming to his aid with a defense fund and that is admirable.

But as bloggers we are coming out of the shadows of a quirky pastime and playing in the big leagues. When we write something it will not only be for our friends and fellow bloggers. Now the targets of what we say will most likely see it. And that is where the peril is.

It is easy to write a post in the early morning slamming someone or something and have more opinion than fact in it. (In no way am I insinuating that Vlad or Lucas did so) These posts may be protected as opinion but without understanding the rules of journalism and the law. Anyone can file a lawsuit, so you have to think before you post.

We all know real estate is an expensive game. It is why cartels such as the NAR and local MLS’s are still so powerful, there is a great deal of money in play and it gives a legal framework for agents and brokers to work within.

But real estate bloggers are writing about the same topics and could be potentially at risk. Understanding how to write opinion so it does not come across as fact is an important skill for bloggers. And sourcing these opinions is also very important.

Some may wonder why most of my posts have a snippet of the source material at the bottom. It is because very often when I am writing I want people to see what I base my opinions on. Many newspapers and publications put their articles behind a pay wall or take the material off the internet after a period of time.

By having the source material it provides an added resource for you the readers. It also provides a source for those that may get the wild hair that I should be targeted. Reinforcing that my opinions came from a vetted source (that does have lawyers) gives me a layer of protection in the chance that someone does come after me. I am not running scared by any means, but I am providing safeguards for the protection of my family.

We are in the big leagues now guys and the people are watching. I am not advocating that you should write with a sense of fear. But I do recommend that when you write a blistering post in anger you hold it for a bit and re-read it later. We all learned that lesson in our dating days.

It could save you a great deal of heartache and pain.

More than 100 judgments valued at $17 million have been handed down against bloggers over the last three years, according to Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association. Cox said about 60 percent were for defamation, 25 percent for copyright infringement and 10 percent involved privacy.

“It’s the tip of the iceberg,” Cox told the Associated Press

“Bloggers are being asked to write checks. The threats against bloggers are very real. The costs are very real.”

Others are also beginning to offer assistance to citizen journalists. NowPublic.com, which collects news tips from the public and distributes them to news organizations, offers resources for contributors to help them learn to monitor themselves, said co-founder Michael Tippett. via redOrbit.

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

Tags: blogs, blogging, lawyers

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