forums for sure!!

Forums will do for me both would be even better

You can actually shoot two birds with one stone here... set up a WordPress forum and then download a forum plugin like XForum, and then you have a blog with a form built right inside it!

How about going with a blog and forum. That way you have all your bases covered. I just created a new forum for Tampa Real Estate and all agents are welcome.

I believe free hosted forums are a good thing. I know a lot of people who run very successful forums using these services. A lot of people don't even have websites but still manage to run a successful forum. Generally the admins don't even want to move from the service even when they get to >100,000 posts, they are happy all server management is done for them and the costs involved in running a large forum are handled by the main forum hosting company.

I have had a phpbb forum for a couple of years and while I don't push real estate on it most of the members know I am a Realtor and real estate questions do come up quite often. I am in a second home/seasonal area and I get many out of towne people on there trading information and wishing summer and boating season will hurry and get here.
I opted for the $5.95 a month hosting and this gets rid of the google popup ads...admin is pretty simple and I have blocks on the "seven dirty words"

It all depends on the forum and the blog. Sure a forum will provide you with a lot of backlinks because your link is in the signature but think about how would Google view a link on a blog that has a PR 0-whatever with only a few comments and links. And how does Google look at a forum that has a vast array of links on each individual page?

In my personal opinion blogs trump forums, but if you are in the need for links and want exposure quick then forums are your best bet for sure. I am sorry but I know this wasn't exactly on topic but I wanted to share the differences when it comes to seo.

I just recently started using a Wordpress plugin from Simple Press simplepressforum.com. Pretty easy to set up.

Simple Press looks like an excellent idea. From a quick look at their site it seems to have everything most people would require from a forum. The price is right too!

Well, I think that blogs are a must in the real estate business, so I would definitely go with blogs (from wordpress, activerain). I use RE forums for gathering additional information about the market from professionals.

Agree. Blogs build credibility no doubt. Forums a place to network and gather information. Depends on each other a lot instead of competing against.

Blogs are more one night stand posting. Forums are more personal.. and comfy. = )

Forums are also alot more customizable than blogs.

Forums are more interactive as compared to blogs. We can discuss things here. On the blog article are shared. But we can make it interactive too by giving the comments option at the end.

I don't know if it's necessary to choose one over the other. Both have their advantages and you can choose both.
1 - Create a blog if you think you have enough ideas to write on a weekly or monthly basis.
2 - Create a forum if you want to create a community around a specific topic.
They are very different beasts, even though at their core they share similarities.