I'm personally delighted to be invited to be a part of this blogging community. The company I keep here is second to none, with truly some of the most acclaimed experts in the real estate industry participating here. I hope to contribute my expertise for all who wish to listen.

As a personal introduction, my name is Stu Siegel. I am the CEO and Founder of eNeighborhoods, Inc. I founded the company in 1996 with two partners, David Meyer and Jerry Meyer. I was the business guy (finance, marketing, sales, strategy) and they were the operations guys (technology, programming, production, operations). It has been a great partnership which has already endured a decade. Our initial concept of compiling information about every U.S. neighborhood and giving Realtors easy access to that information has grown into a substantial information services company. Along the way, we've learned so much about how to manipulate data for the benefit of the industry. We have become experts at not only compiling neighborhood info (school data, demographics, crime stats, housing values, mapping, etc.), but we have also become expert at aggregating and manipulating other data, such as MLS, aerial imagery and large consumer files from some of the nation's huge data repositories.

Along the way, we also decided to give back to the industry. Our best example of this was when we helped NAR start the Realtor Good Neighbor Awards back in 1999. It was just an idea back then, but in six short years, it has become one of the major highlights of NAR's award giving at their national convention. Each year, we award five outstanding Realtors who have done exceptional things for their communities. I've gotten to meet EVERY one of these people, and in fact get to give them their award at the general session at the annual convention. These people are so uplifting and gracious in spirit. But beyond the recognition of these outstanding people, the main reason I love this program is because it allows us to showcase these recipients to the rest of the 1.2 million Realtors. We've developed programs to encourage the NAR membership to get involved in their communities -"?with much success."?What's great about Realtors is two-fold in making the impact potentially enormous:

1. Being a Realtor is truly one of the few professions where"?taking the time to get involved in the community is totally in line with success. The networking and goodwill combined with the flexible hours make for a great combination.

2. There is truly national coverage of Realtors in every urban, suburban and rural community in America. The footprint couldn't be better!

So that's a quick introduction of who I am. I look forward to participating here for the good of the entire RealBlogging community!

Best always,

Stu Siegel