Town Square is a real estate community of real estate professionals and consumers with an active interest in all things real estate. Made up of blogs, wikis, forums, groups and other social tools, Town Square is continuing to grow and evolve with the community it supports.

Growth often means there are opportunities both good and bad for the individuals participating within the community. These guidelines were created with the intent of assisting those who want to be an active voice within the community and ensuring the integrity of the community and RealEstate.com.

Any posted content should be personal opinion, perspective, suggestions, guidance or communication with the intent of being useful and/or informative for consumers and other members of the real estate community.

·         Be respectful of the community. Abuse and spam will simply not be tolerated and by doing so, users may expect their accounts to be suspended or deleted.

·         By participating in an active voice, you are promoting yourself and your knowledge and expertise. Blatant advertisements or solicitations for personal business are not acceptable in blog posts or within comments on other blog posts or forums.

·         Do not make personal attacks on other members.

·         Do not slander another person.

·         Do not send unsolicited e-mails, messages, faxes or any other types of communications to other members.

·         If you are a licensed real estate professional, you are bound by the code of ethics as created by the National Association of REALTORS®. You can find the code here.

·         Do not plagiarize content and claim as your own. You must receive permission and cite accordingly.

·         Do not use hate speech. As defined by Wikipedia—“Hate speech is a term for speech that attacks or disparages a person or group of people based on their social or ethnic group, such as race, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or lack there of, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, language ability, ideology, social class, occupation, appearance (height, weight, skin color, etc.), mental capacity, and any other distinction that might be considered by some as a liability.”

·         Linking to relevant content, supporting links for a view point, or citing a source is strongly encouraged. Excessive linking and tagging to personal websites with the intent of manipulating search engine results will not be tolerated and may result in suspension or deletion of a users account.

The administrators of Town Square will review any content that is reported as abuse and will react and respond appropriately. If you encounter anything you believe is abuse or is abusive, we strongly encourage you to report it.

If you are interested in blogging, please submit an e-mail request to social@realestate.com. You must be a registered member of Town Square.