All Forum Posts by: Jimmy Oldrich

I know most here are probably interested in the algo change's effect on page placement.

But an interesting search strategy I picked up recently: Google's advanced search will let you filter by "reading level." I forget how they defined the algorithm, but it's out there somewhere. I think they are less secretive with this one than with their pagerank algo.

At any rate, adjusting it yields interesting results depending on what kind of thing you're looking for.

I like the idea of a known scam or pitfall section.

I got burned on shoddy construction practices on a new construction condo. Water damage and had to rebuild the walls. 10s of thousands blown.

As far as specific issues with specific BP members, I think anyone who feels strongly that they have been ripped off and wants to warn the community could spend a few hundred with a lawyer to educate themselves on how to do it in a way that minimizes their risks.

I see some pretty outrageous stuff on the internet in terms of people calling each other out. Context is important in the libel laws. But there may be a case that BP is a more professional community. Certainly best to get expert advice.

Several years ago, I was researching an offer for some mineral rights, calling land people in Texas and giving them the name of the prospective buyer. First thing from most of them, "I haven't heard anything dishonest about them."

I was stricken by how they presupposed the idea of a scam.

I noticed you are building directories for service providers. If you are considering rating these kinds of things or doing a reputation feedback system, it might be instructive as far as costs, controversy, and PR to look at the ongoing concerns about yelp.com.

You can google yelp pay to play. Other analyst research organizations, Gartner in the technology space is one I know, has these issues as well.

Not saying a hall of shame is a good thing or bad thing, but you may want to consider what phase of growth the web site it is in when thinking about how to deal with this.

Even for just informational sites? Neither of these sites are pitching anything. I have seen references to informative news articles on this forums as well.

Thanks for the heads up.

Let me rephrase: What indicators do you watch? I like the REO inventory level and the rate of inventory change. Unemployment is always a biggie.

What sources do you use to get this statistical data that is not trying to sell anyone anything :).

If you're not confident you can flip the property, you find someone else to share your lack of confidence with? Can you clarify?

I am mainly interested in the lending/financial partner side; I have looked at trust deed investment opportunities, and they strike me as inefficient use of capital and slanted toward the broker (possible 30% of return? Hedge funds don't charge that!)

"Churn and burn" was a popular phrase in the '80s. Happy hunting.

What blogs and online data sources do my fellow armchair economists follow? I like calculatedriskblog.com and http://www.lpsvcs.com/NewsRoom/IndustryData/Pages/default.aspx from the loan servicing people.

Also use local realty data for individual MSAs when I can find it. Often not as detailed or independent as I would like (brokers, go figure :)).

Anyone got other suggestions or ideas?

You echo my thinking exactly. Having a good process to keep execution costs down is critical. How to scale it across regions is challenging.

A good system could probably be franchised for a better, frictionless gross margin. I think this is the insight behind operations like homevestor.

So if I want to pool money from friends and family to invest in real estate or a real estate business, should I be talking to a mortgage broker or a lawyer? Is a typical mortgage broker going to be familiar with this kind of situation? What are the terms of art I need to use in discussing it? And any idea on the likely hit on fees?