Neighborhood Watch, by Redfin

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The housing market may be cooling, but there is a dot-com land grab going on -- websites are racing each other to build sites where readers can discuss properties and neighborhoods.

From Inman News: ‘Real estate brokerage company Redfin Corp., which has made a name for itself with low-cost services and an unconventional business model, today is launching message boards to facilitate real estate conversations among consumers.... The company announced that its Redfin Forums message boards will feature discussions about neighborhoods in which Redfin operates.’

More: ‘The concept is not new to the industry. Zillow (Home Q&A) and Trulia (Trulia Voices) have launched online question-and-answer communities that allow consumers and real estate professionals to talk about properties or neighborhoods online.... And Move Inc. has announced similar plans to facilitate online real estate discussions.’

Backstory: The MLS in Seattle objected to Redfin’s efforts to create blogs about houses, saying it ran afoul of MLS rules. The Redfin Forums are part of Redfin’s effort to create blogs that will pass MLS muster.

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