The (un)intentional arms race continues.

RCG, BHB, AG.

Seemingly every week brings another contributor, but to what end?

The writing has inarguably elevated the conversation. Two years ago the “divorced commission” concept was one that made sense, but had not congealed on a national level. Now, to a much greater degree, it has. I believe that there may be an end to Dual Agency in my lifetime, thanks in large part to the conversations held locally and nationally – again, due to these national blogs. The disagreements and debates are of a higher level than found almost anywhere else. The intensity with which writers and commenters argue is frequently fierce and typically civilized.

There is authenticity found here that isn’t found elsewhere. We’re not doing it for the advertising revenue. We’re not doing it for the salaries or the bonuses. We’re not doing it for all the “leads” that come our way. We’re doing it because we believe in what we do and seem to share a collective passion.

As Greg said earlier this year

My immediate goal for BloodhoundBlog is to make it the best-read, most-rewarding real estate weblog in the RE.net. Further out, I want for our contributors to be so well known that they can pursue other opportunities: Public speaking, freelance writing, books, seminars, television shows, etc. I don’t know that we will attain this, necessarily, but the goal itself is definitely attainable: Witness Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit.

For now, I’m interested in growing our talents to see where they can take us. I think we benefit each other more together than we would apart …

At least six Bloodhounds are speaking at Inman Connect in January; if that’s not a form of acceptance, I don’t know what is. Look at the list of speakers – Presidents, CEOs, Directors … bloggers! The numbers of bloggers is phenomenal. Gaining acceptance and influence is a journey, and each day, week, month brings another convert – and another reader/listener/follower. In response to a recent email – the people in Chicago are reaching out; the RE.net is too large and influential to be ignored. Influential and powerful groups all started somewhere.

The vast majority of consumers don’t care about what we talk about here; they care about the price of their respective homes and how they can buy or sell better – be it more efficiently, cheaper, faster … divorcing the commissions is something many find to be a no-brainer. It’s up to us to influence those who can make the changes. Realtor ethics? Sure, consumers believe that this ethereal, mystical concept exists, but many more see that reality is something much different than what the Code of Ethics says one must do. (I have argued before that if you need 8 pages to explain ethics, rather than a simple code of honor, you just might need too much guidance). The blogs give an opportunity to talk the walk.

To answer Jeff’s question from a recent commentthis is how we give out samples, but we do it to other professionals.