< bloginfo('name'); ?>

I bet that many of you didn’t realize that Sunday, April 22 was Earth Day, a day for activists to connect, interact, and work to create positive change in local and global policies. A day for average citizens like us to remind ourselves to turn the TV off on our way out the door, use the recycling bin, and switch out our inefficient incandescent light bulbs.

Well this Earth Day was a special one for me, where I was afforded the great privilege of reading through 28 real estate related blog posts as I pondered what the gas mileage actually is on my euro-guzzler.

Without further rambling, my top picks…

Recycling Award: Jim Cronin at the Real Estate Tomato shows that it pays to recycle. With his The 10 biggest mistakes made by real estate bloggers, he recycles 24 quality blog posts with tips to make all of us better in the blogosphere. Not sure why Trulia didn’t get included in his #6: don’t write about what everyone else writes about (Zillow, Redfin, HousingPanic, Craigslist, ActiveRain)–but we are working on it!

Oil Company Award: Zillow actions have caused a lot of stir in the industry, with their fair share of defenders and those that…we’ll, aren’t in love with them. In Why do so many agents fear Zillow, Jay Thompson is perplexed as to why many agents perceive Zillow the way Earth Day activists see big Oil. Exactly right Jay: “I love it when a client whips out a…Zestimate. It’s a golden opportunity to display my expertise.”

Kyoto Protocol Award: Are greenhouse gases a problem for the world, should the U.S. fall in line? Well, another issue that gets nearly as much air time and debate is the state of the real estate market today. This award goes to the Salt Lake Real Estate Blog for Are we being blinded by real estate? where he defends his “rosy outlook” on real estate and concludes that all real estate is in fact local.

Plant a Tree Award: Erik Hersman from Realty Thoughts came out of the Web 2.0 conference last week with thoughts on how Web 2.0 is contributing to change in the real estate industry. His post Web 2.0 in real estate highlights its different elements–mashups, blogs, social networks, wikis and video–that are playing a part in the evolution of the real estate industry on the web.

Organic Award: Coming from the heart versus some synthetic analysis, Diane Tuman from the Zillow Blog gets this award for sincerely defending her Ranch home in Don’t rip on my Ranch house. I don’t think the brick is ugly, although I do look forward to seeing your paint job Diane!

Carbon Award: The Silicon Valley Blogger highlights a black eye on the mortgage industry today in How to kill your credit instantly with mortgage fraud and subprime borrowing. Included is a 6-point “road to broke” that should spread far beyond real estate bloggers and get in the hands of the actual targets of this practice.

Spare the Air Day Award: Jonathan Dalton and his dog get this award (which I would’ve named the “Spare Me” award…but I couldn’t figure out the tie to Earth Day) for Pricing your home to sell. Jonathan is angry with agents that will say anything to get the listing and who ultimately set unrealistic expectations for their sellers. He reminds his readers that snake oil is nothing new and it’s far preferable to have an agent tell you what your home will realistically sell for.

And the winner, with a topic that strikes very close to home…

An Inconvenient Truth Award: In San Francisco, there is always some neighborhood considered as “emerging” and desirable for the D.I.N.K., first-time home owner set. Individual luxury homes begin to sprout and a former crack house with new wood floors comes on the market for a mere $649,999 (cheap!!). In Misplaced Improvements, Dan Melson from Searchlight Crusade reminds us to look out the door of a newly refurbished abode before purchasing.

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone that submitted posts this week.

Pat Kitano will be hosting next week’s Carnival at TransparentRE.com. See you then!

Popularity: 5% [?]