A long time comrade and blogger, Lucas Lechuga, was slapped with a $25M law suit today for steering his readers clear of a specific condo development on his blog, MiamiCondoInvestments.com. Lucas has been finding out the hard way that his honest opinion(s) are not widely appreciated by the industry: in addition to the news that he is being sued by the Opera Tower developer, he has lost two positions (one today) at brokerages because of his raw blogging style.

Herein lies the dichotomy: being an expert in the real estate (or any) industry absolutely requires having strong opinions. But, strongly voicing your opinions in real estate is a high-stakes game. Lucas is generating/closing quite a bit of business in what most would consider a terrible market (South Florida). Ask him why he’s doing so well, and Lucas will proudly state that it is his blog that generates the majority of new business.

It seems apparent that consumers like what they find in Lucas, and his blog. So what gives? How does one become/stay an expert without stating what could be, at times, unpopular opinions?

CBS4’s Video Coverage of the Law Suit

Popularity: 68% [?]