How to Be an Expert With Your Mouth Taped Shut
By WellcomeMat on Jan 28, 2008 in WellcomeMat
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: 72% [?]
On Jan 29, 2008, Lucas Lechuga said:
This is a very difficult situation to be in right now. I had no malicious intent against the condo developer, nor his condo development.
The reason why I wrote the post was because I was receiving a high number of phone calls from people stating to me that they did not want to close on their condos at Opera Tower. About three weeks ago, a local newspaper unraveled the story that a class-action lawsuit had been filed against the developer by contract holders looking to get out of their contracts. This was something that I had known months before through the conversations that I had with contract holders.
I, for one, believe that a blog is intended to share opinions and concerns. I was merely sharing these concerns with others who read my blog. I had no intention of conducting a “smear campaign” against the condo developer, as the complaint stipulates.
I guess the court system will judge the outcome of this situation.
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On Jan 29, 2008, Doug Heddings said:
It was only a matter of time before something like this happened.
Good for Lucas though! Despite losing jobs and a pending lawsuit,
he continues to blog. Doesn’t the developer realize he is adding to his negative press by suing a blogger for stating his and his reader’s opinions. “Smear campaign?” Are you kidding me? Build
a quality product and no one will be able to “smear” it. Absolutely ridiculous!!! Good luck Lucas and keep up the honest blogging. There is no other way.
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