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  • Flipper, landlord, investor
  • Coronado, CA
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I am BiggerPockets Certified

Account Closed
  • Flipper, landlord, investor
  • Coronado, CA
Posted Dec 28 2014, 22:07

  Okay, between the podcasts and the forums it's clear that it is not easy to find good help, particularly property managers and contractors.  We've all heard or read how instead of spending their time finding new deals or working on their businesses, many real estate investors are forced to deal with poor communications, unexpected expenses, no-shows, and worse.

  No doubt there are many good property managers and contractors out there, but the bad ones seem to get all the attention.  What we need is a system that recognizes the exceptional ones and also offers a pathway for improvement to the less-than-stellar ones.

So here's a thought: why not create a BiggerPockets certification program? Professional certifications already exist in hundreds of professions from finance to medicine to supply chain management, among others. Certifications assure an individual's qualification to perform a job or task and are typically issued by universities or agencies appointed to safeguard public interest. BP is neither, but occupies such a large swath of the REI space that to say, "I am BiggerPockets certified" would carry immense clout.

  It could work like this, a syllabus is created incorporating all the best practices of, say, a property manager so that when the course of study is completed the newly BP-certified property manager understands and employs all the best practices (mandating automatic rent payments and providing monthly e-mail updates, for example).  Certification could last  for a set period of time and there could be a social media aspect to it, including ratings and reviews.

  The benefit to the BP-certified individual is the clout certification brings and the ability to charge slightly higher fees, perhaps.  The real estate investor may endure these higher fees but will make up for it by spending less time and energy dealing with lower quality help.  In a sense, BP certification ensures everyone is on the same sheet of music.

  Naturally there are many details to work out but I see a real opportunity here.  Any thoughts?

Vincent

P.S. A Certified Property Manager qualification already exists, conferred by the Institute of Real Estate Management.  My proposal is specific to BiggerPockets community of like-minded folks.

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