As part of our ongoing effort to improve our Web site, we are now working on a vastly expanded and upgraded News & Blogs Portal. We recognize that it has unfortunately been neglected during the first round of this Beta release in favor of the Real Estate and Free Directory listings sections, yet it is no less important. In fact, it is absolutely central in reaching our goal of creating a vital online community resource focused on Real Estate in the Hudson Valley region. A network does more than connect people with information: it connects people with each other. 

In fact, we believe that in the last analysis, the Real Estate business is not about business or about money at all, but about the people whose needs create the business and financial transaction. This includes the professionals who provide services as well as the consumers who use them. The best transactions, the ones that really "click", are those in which all the right connections are made and everyone benefits.  Hudson Valley Real Estate Network is ultimately about fostering that connectivity through the latest Web technology. To keep that connection live, we need to continually provide fresh content by -- and real connections between -- real live people.

The news section overhaul will be comprehensive, starting with a change in the layout and structure of the page that will take its cues from top news portal sites like Yahoo, MSN, and Inman News. Then we'll add videos, tabbed and collapsing/expanding categories sections, a commenting system, and more feeds from major news sources. We're even looking at wonderful high-tech effects such as news stories that pop-up without leaving the page when you mouse-over links and feed titles. In tandem with these news section improvements, we're also working on improved community member networking tools and profile features. Now, this is all well and good, but it's all a bunch of cold computer code without warm fresh content to bring it to life.This is where you can help, and there are any number of ways you can become involved.

We're now seeking industry professionals and writers who can report on news, issues, and market conditions in a specific county or local area, or a certain industry sector such as financing, legal, investment, development, builiding, home improvement, economics, real estate brokerage, alternative borkerage, etc., While we're primarliy looking for regional or local focus, considering that the national and global economies are THE biggest stories these days, wider reportage is iof course welcome. We'll also be opening up a blog section for members where they can write and comment more informally on the the same sorts of issues. No prior writing or blogging experience is necessary, only a desire to communicate and a decent command of the mechanics of written English -- as well as actually having something interesting to say.

While our goal for the release of the fully overhauled news section is not until at least the New Year, we can accept and publish articles anytime. If you would like to start a blog right away or have an idea for a column, simply write to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   and tell us your intentions. If you want to start a blog, simply say so, and tell us a little bit about yourself, your background and experience, your business or service, your point of view, provide any relevant links, and we'll take it from there. If you have an idea for a regular column or a feature article we'd need the same sort of info s well as a brief query letter of your proposal the idea. It helps to sign up as a member first so we can arrange online editing privileges. And of course, we'd love to hear all constructive suggestions any of you might have regarding news section improvements.

We look forward to hearing from you and getting started on this next and most crucial phase of our development.