Great intro, spazlabz. Welcome to the family
There are people far more qualified than me to help with free sites, but I'm always happy to help any way I can. Feel free to email me and, if you want, I'll pass on the urls to some of my free sites. I'm also setting up a design service - should be available within 1/2 weeks - and I'll have plenty of free templates for you to download.
You obviously know your way around pay sites. That's what I'd like to get into next. Maybe you could offer me some pointers?
All the best,
Kris.