Do you look at their profile before considering their opinion?
Shiloh LundahlPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votesDo you look at their profile before considering their opinion?
Most Popular Reply
Jody SchnurrenbergerPro Member
Investor · Asheville, NC · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 404 votesI mostly just consider how thoughtfully it's written and whether it makes sense. If they present a good argument, then that's usually good enough for me. Besides, it's an opinion, so there may not even be a right or wrong answer and if there is, I probably won't find out until after I act on the one I chose. lol
81 Replies
- Investor · Traverse City, MI · Member since 2014 · 19 posts · 20 votes8y
I am guilty of this for sure. But no one will know because I just started posting on Bigger Pockets so no one will read this response :).
But seriously when someone is making a lot of sense I could care less how many times they've posted or how many votes they have. There are people with 10x the posts/votes I have that have never done a deal in their lives.
Learn what you can from others, do your due diligence, and take action!
- Longview, TX · Member since 2017 · 65 posts · 50 votes8yI haven't been on BP long, but I think you can quickly ascertain who has real knowledge and who's blowing smoke. As someone else pointed out, it's up to each person to do their due diligence in regard to accepting anyone's opinion. Because I'm not selling anything, it really didn't occur to me that my profile would matter much. I'm here to learn; I'm not partnering or looking for a mentor. That being said, I also typically refrain from giving a lot of advice. There are others here far more qualified than me to take that role. I read almost every thread though. I don't typically look at profiles, unless someone strikes my curiosity.
- 8yMike ReynoldsPro Memberconstruction · Nacogdoches, TX · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
I have never really looked at post count either. Not that much anyway. When I am looking for something I just look it up. I look at many different views from many people. There is something to be said about votes though. Most newbies that come in ask a lot of questions. Questions usually don't get voted on. Answers do. I asked a lot of questions when I first got here. I maybe had 3-5 votes my first year here. I cant remember exactly.
I dont go around giving advice where I dont have the knowledge either. Most questions are already answered anyway by the limited time I have to get on here anyway. I dont consider myself a pro but I buy the pro membership because it provides me many times over the cost in value for me. It would suit me just fine of they called me a vendor or a fanatic or a student membership. I didnt buy it for the title but I can see where some newbies might get the wrong idea by the title. A pro to me is one who does REI for a living and nothing else. That has never been my intent in life. I do it because I like it and it happens to pay.
- Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2013 · 80 posts · 64 votes8yI'm very thankful for the site and have learned quite a bit. The overall goal seems to be the same for most people: Buy low, sell high, hold with minimal headaches, stay ahead of the taxman, use OPM where you can, etc. I stay in my lane and comment on what I know which is the city I live in and my experience as a residential landlord and small business owner. Where I can learn is the acquisition and financing wizardry I read about. And from that I must separate who knows what they're talking about and truly passing along useful information and who just likes to see their name and comments in print. That dynamic is found in any business category.
- 8yIan WalshBusiness MemberLender · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
I have always spent a lot of time on forums and found the best way to vet people is usually the long way. I read A TON of posts by that person to see if there are holes in their game and how good the advice they are giving is.
- Investor · Singapore · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 3k+ votes8yIsn't that what the vote system is for ?
- Investor · Worcester, MA · Member since 2017 · 66 posts · 36 votes8y
I think most of the time when we ask a question, we often already have a feeling what the answer is and you tend to lay more weight on those answers that answer the way you think anyway. LOL... Even if you're doing it subconsciously, that's human nature. But hearing opposing opinions is great. I will take anyone's answer, because even when I was entirely new in an arena, I may have thoughts that are new and exciting other's never thought of, or heard from another seasoned investor a good idea that I was passing on. Being a newb doesn't mean you're an idiot. Also, many real investors are out there doing deals, not necessarily on here arm chair quarterbacking. Most real investors are using this as a networking opportunity, not posting all day every day. Just like the bible says about religion: listen and use discernment. Take everything, reason it out, and that 16 year old newb that isn't even old enough to get out and do something may be that young whipper snapper that scares you with his great ideas... don't discount anyone without hearing them out. To do so is just plain being full of yourself. However, all this to say, I'd never take legal advice on a REAL deal without paying the person. I may come on here and ask advice about some deal I was thinking of, but when the deal actually goes down, there are real flesh and blood people with fiduciary duties to me being paid to watch out for me... no exceptions.
- Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes8y
One of the goals of this post was to increase the awareness of who is giving the advice over controversial topics that tend to polarize the BiggerPockets community such as:
1. Should investors use credit cards to fund their real estate deals or not?
2. Should investors leverage the maximum they can in their real estate, work to pay it off, or is the answer somewhere in the middle?
3. Should someone pay for real estate education? How much is too much? $200, $2000, $20,000, $200,000? Are guru programs a scam?
4. Which is better in terms of making the most money with the least amount of head aches: flipping or buying rentals?
5. Which is more risky 1st position notes or 2nd position notes?
6. Is it wise to buy a property that negative cash flows if it is an appreciation play?
7. Should someone wait to get out of debt before they start to invest?
8. Should I go to college if I want to be an entrepreneur and go into lots of debt, or should I just start a business if I know that is what I want to do?
These have been some of the questions on forums recently where it tends to polarize an audience. Many people have opinions over these types of questions, and several of them may be strong opinions. How does someone starting out know which opinions are most likely to lead them to success? You have heard the phrase (or some variation) don’t get financial advice from your broke uncle. I’m just wondering if we have any broke uncles giving advice on the forums, and if so how do we, or new investors, tell them apart from those who give wise direction? Considering the best advice is not always the advice we agree with or want to hear?
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes8y
Originally posted by @Shiloh Lundahl:
These have been some of the questions on forums recently where it tends to polarize an audience. Many people have opinions over these types of questions, and several of them may be strong opinions. How does someone starting out know which opinions are most likely to lead them to success? You have heard the phrase (or some variation) don’t get financial advice from your broke uncle. I’m just wondering if we have any broke uncles giving advice on the forums, and if so how do we, or new investors, tell them apart from those who give wise direction? Considering the best advice is not always the advice we agree with or want to hear?
Most people hear what they want to hear, so from that point of view it doesn't really matter who is giving the advice. Personally, I enjoy reading points that are contrary to my own, especially when they are well-reasoned, because (like most people, at least those not suffering from mental illness) at the end of the day I believe I am my own best counsel, no matter what anyone else has to say about my question or situation. No one can give you answers; all that can really happen is that light is shed on (hopefully) all corners so that you go forth in light rather than darkness.
The forums - in my opinion - operate in much the same way a counselor or psychologist works. Counselors & psychologists don't solve anyone's problems or tell them what to do (good ones, anyway) - they draw the information out of the patient so that he or she can come to their own informed conclusion and act accordingly. No one can know for sure if you should go to college or spend that 20 grand on a rental property, no matter what their own experience in that arena. Maxing out your credit cards to rehab a multifamily property might be the best action one could take - only the poster can know that for sure. Our role, as forum members, is to "give it to you straight", so to speak, relating our real experience and reasoned opinions to the poster rather than serving as a bunch of boot-licking yes-men. I don't believe in blowing smoke up anyone's ***, and I don't want anyone to do it to me, either. If my idea sucks, I want someone to tell me it sucks, but I also want them to tell me WHY it sucks and the basis for that position. That's what I try to do in everything I post, and I hope everyone that answers my questions does the same for me.
Finally, for new posters who are reading this: question everything and everyone, whether they have 1 vote or a million. Having 5,000 votes or the word "Pro" or "Moderator" next to your name doesn't necessarily mean that you know more than the freebie guy who joined yesterday and is making his first post.
Skyline Properties - Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes8y
Anyone posting a question should be expecting/seeking opinions not answers. Every topic, every investor potentially has a different opinion and approach to business that works for them. Posters need to absorb the information provided and determine what will work for them.
When someone posts seeking information they will get conflicting opinions and it is their responsibility to gravitate to those that meet their requirements and that they can make work for them.
Maximum leverage, minimum leverage, it is a investors choice as each works differently. I can not think of a question on BP that this does not apply to.
- 8yMike CumbieBusiness MemberREALTOR® · Brockport, NY · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
In my opinion the biggest advantage of high count posters is I have read other things they have written. I can tell if they keep roughly the same "Risk tolerance" as I do. Which is what really drives my opinions. Generally I am conservative when it comes to risk. I take less risk by being as consistent as I can be, which involves processes and staying out of as many gray areas as I can. It is a personal comfort zone. Other investors play in gray areas, push the envelope on the edge and get either much higher or much lower returns depending how the dice fall. Not saying either is right or wrong but when someone I normally agree with is disagreeing with me, it causes me to sit back and try and figure out why my head is not in the same place. Also if someone is very risky and they are on my side, I need to step back and reevaluate what I am missing.
Just my 2 cents, good post!
- Walnut Creek, CA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes8y
I'm still new here but the amount of people I see tossing around the term investor makes me laugh sometimes. I mean I still have plenty to learn, there's plenty of people who have done more with less than me that won't even call themselves investors in every post.... yet people who haven't even written an offer are "investors". I don't really broadcast my info here because I am here to help not treating this as interview where I need to document my education/experience.
I really just hang out in the new post section and help out where I can. If I know the answer, have some helpful info, or have experience.... then I post it. If I have a serious question or something specific to a deal I try to ask a real question with real answer that shows I at least tried to solve it my self and it's most likely done in a private message.
I think how the person responds to a alternate point of view tells you much more than their profile will.... and let's be honest RE is regional not all experience applies to all markets. - Investor · Riverside, CA · Member since 2014 · 239 posts · 177 votes8yAdam D. Man as much as I'd like to read your post, I just can't due to your low number of posts.. jk jk sarcasm. No I really do agree with so many of these posts. The way i look at it is, if you really don't have much quality info to contribute, then why hear yourself talk. I've been on BP for over three years and lurk daily, every day, and only have under 200 posts. Why? Because why blurt out comments that won't do anyone good. I get when there's questions, or when there's a good conversation going, but as for just hoping to add to a conversation that you know little about, it's not very helpful. "When you talk you're only repeating what you already know, but when you listen you may learn something new" Good quote
- Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes8y
I subscribe to the idea that everyone has something to offer. That said, lip service is lip service. Daddy used to say, don't believe everything you read, hear or see on tv - that goes double for the internet.
- Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes8y
I look at profiles when someone new with low posts hops in and offers terrific information. I message them a welcome and offer to be colleagues!
Otherwise, no on the profile check for me unless they message me/send a colleague request.
On some specific subjects like leverage/asset pay-down or whether they should get an LLC or not, I wish some qualifications were required when you answer. If you've never paid anything off and are swimming in debt, the OP should know that and take your 'borrow to your eyeballs always' advice with a grain of salt.
Because my opinion is lost with all others, I try and qualify my response with 'I've experienced this' or 'Half my portfolio is paid off, here's how I decided which half' or 'I have LLCs and an S-corp - here's how I've handled it'... on those specific subjects.
@Matt K. - I hear you about everyone being listed as an 'investor'. I wish 'investor to be' or 'investor in training' was an option! That would help.
Thanks for starting another great thread @Shiloh Lundahl!
- Bedford, NH · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes8y
Nah, I virtually never look at profiles. Usually only when they have sent me a colleague request.
I have been here long enough and read enough posts to have a good handle on who knows what.
- Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes8y
@Jay Helms great question trying to keep me accountable. Well I shot for the moon but only hit the stars. So far we have purchased 16 buy and holds that we are renting as lease options and we ended up only closing on 6 flips. We have one more that we are debating whether we want to sell as a flip or on a lease option. Originally we were going to flip some of the houses that we have turned into lease options but the money is just better long term as a lease option compared to just flipping it.
How have things gone for you with your goals this year?
- Rental Property Investor · Gulf Breeze, FL · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 733 votes8y
Originally posted by @Shiloh Lundahl:
@Jay Helms great question trying to keep me accountable. Well I shot for the moon but only hit the stars. So far we have purchased 16 buy and holds that we are renting as lease options and we ended up only closing on 6 flips. We have one more that we are debating whether we want to sell as a flip or on a lease option. Originally we were going to flip some of the houses that we have turned into lease options but the money is just better long term as a lease option compared to just flipping it.
How have things gone for you with your goals this year?
I love the accountability...keeps me...accountable haha. Sounds like you were more productive than previous years. I'm focusing on discovering my 2018 goals and having a hard time. I'm curious, did you find yourself seriously entertaining marginal deals and with a voice of reason you luckily walked away? Meaning obtaining a marginal deal to reach your goal wasn't worth the acquisition of a marginally bad deal? Thoughts on 2018?
I posted a couple weeks ago. I actually forgot I put those goals on my BP profile and it was somewhat a bittersweet reunion. Did I aim too small??
- Build Relationships - CHECK. If it weren't for the relationships built, we wouldn't have closed on our apartment complex. The "fire" was due largely in part to a spark ignited from right here on BP.
- find that 15+ apartment building - CHECK. Actually a 42 unit, closed on in Sept and we are moving toward stabilization.
- Lowering Expenses by capital improvements - CHECK. This involved having hurricane clips installed on two of our properties, cutting our insurance premiums by 40-50%
- Rental Property Investor · Lawrence, KS · Member since 2016 · 84 posts · 20 votes8y
No, I don't care who they are or what experience they have. I don't even care if they are from a Russian troll farm in a St.Petersburg office complex paid to sow discontent, and destabilize Western Democracies.
If it's posted on the forum, I make the biggest financial decisions of my life based on them. No questions asked, no further due diligence required.
- Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes8y
@Jay Helms that’s fantastic on your 42 unit apartment. And to answer your question, yes I noticed that with the flips the margins were getting thinner so we switched over to doing more lease options.
- Winona, MN · Member since 2016 · 26 posts · 20 votes8yI like to take a “Wikipedia approach”. After the initial impressions (Pro membership, post to vote ratio, profile, tone, etc.), I’ll take the information and cross reference it with other pages and posts. In these early stages of my investing career, I’m not trying to innovative. I’ll seek the proven wisdom and leave the unique strategies to those with capital to throw around.
- Longview, TX · Member since 2017 · 65 posts · 50 votes8y
What cracks me up is when someone posts a question (usually a newbie) and then argues with the good advice that's given. By all means, ask WHY someone answers a particular way, don't take anything at face value, but realize sometimes the best advice is something you don't want to hear.
Person: "I want to do this super risky thing. What does everyone think?"
Everyone: "THAT'S A TERRIBLE IDEA!!!"
Person: "Yall can't hold be back; I'm going to achieve my dreams anyway!"
Hahaha so, I guess my point is, when vetting advice, be open to the people that disagree with you. Those are often the ones you can learn something from.
- Walnut Creek, CA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes8y
Originally posted by @Leather Nix:
What cracks me up is when someone posts a question (usually a newbie) and then argues with the good advice that's given. By all means, ask WHY someone answers a particular way, don't take anything at face value, but realize sometimes the best advice is something you don't want to hear.
Person: "I want to do this super risky thing. What does everyone think?"
Everyone: "THAT'S A TERRIBLE IDEA!!!"
Person: "Yall can't hold be back; I'm going to achieve my dreams anyway!"
Hahaha so, I guess my point is, when vetting advice, be open to the people that disagree with you. Those are often the ones you can learn something from.
don't forget the "you don't know my market, you can get (insert crazy deal) easily"...... yet they make posts asking how to get them.
- Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes8yHi all, A very successful and wise person told me. I never take financial advice from people that have not traveled the road I am traveling on and I especially don't take financial advice from people that have less than I do. He was specifically talking about financial planners that their average income is approximately $60,000 a year and they are telling us how to become financially free. At times I see people giving advice to people here on BP and they have very little if any real estate. I see them copying and pasting info from the internet and speaking theory, when they don't walk the talk. They just talk the talk. Talk is cheap without taking action and have traveled down that road that they are posting like they have done so. An example for me would be that I am buying and repositioning apartment complexes. I don't take advice from people that have not gone down my road I am traveling. If they don't own an apartment complex and repositioned an apartment complex, I don't take advice from them. Swanny
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