All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Effective meetings can be managed so trolls are not an issue. There is no reason to think MeetUp is any better or worse than the BP site given both let anyone read the info.

As BP wants more people and is being promoted widely using other sites could even be a great way to spread the word rather than a private invitation system.

If trolls are a real concern just let them buy the drinks if they want to talk. Ethical bribe. As the troll if they know anyone who has a house for sale. They likely run into people who are in over their head.

Clyde,

I think he posted here in the past. I know I traded messages with him on some forum during the last 6 to 12 months.

There is some logic behind what he has to say. A reasonable guy based on the messages we traded back and forth.

Personally, I like to avoid market timing. There are high transaction costs so it makes little sense to me.

I prefer to find great deals and then make them work. Combine that with the idea that I will generally not sell means market timing is much less important than working with a motivated seller when they come along.

Now, it could be a great way to understand how others think about the market and why they might be buying and selling at retail.

Thanks Josh for the quick feedback. I noted that you put a message up on the dashboard. Good way to get the word out.

I have a few conversations that have taken place between myself and some other individual. Some of the time I delete the conversation when it is done and other times I just leave it.

It would be great if I could go to a person's profile and see the conversations that have not been deleted that involved the specific person. That way if I know 'Bill' and I talked about something I can at least quickly find all the conversations I had with Bill (the ones not deleted) so I can then find the one I want.

No idea if such a link is a simple change or something more complex. Just consider it a feature request that would improve the user experience.

Thanks in advance

Are we sticking to private lenders?

Most private lenders deal with local deals. They many times are older RE investors who have turned to lending as it is less time consuming. They like to kick the tires and see what is taking place.

If you want a more dependable source than a private person who can get sick, etc. consider a local bank.

Best to have multiple solutions as things change. With the credit crunch there is a lot of evidence that things are changing.

To all,

I was just thinking about some of the other social networks that are much bigger than BP. It dawned on me that when a group gets large it develops its own voice. It takes on a life of its own. In the case of some the community even starts to developer software that complements and otherwise influences the direction of how the network grows.

In the case of one early site, LinkedIn, the company did not allow members to interact much on the site. I even made suggestions to a couple of the founders but they stuck to their model. Over time they were pushed aside in terms of market capitalization and leadership. Only late in the game did they add the ability to post questions for the community to answer (forums on BP) and other things that let a community interact without direct moderation from the company. In some ways it because worse for LinkedIn as some of the best group conversations happen over on Yahoo groups (LinkedIn specific discussion groups hosted on Yahoo and not tied into LinkedIn). The restrictive model lead people to move to other platforms which has significantly reduced the LinkedIn financial success.

Social networks are pretty fluid. Google has an Open Social effort so that you can easily connect your different groups and not waste time building multiple profiles. It also works in the other direction. You can move your career on and not loose the network investment you made to a platform after you have shifted your focus.

Networks have value and some of the time the value in the future is something you can not anticipate in advance. Who you know can make a difference in the deals you can do. Platforms for networks evolve with the community but can not control or direct the community. The platform needs to adjust to the evolving marketplace and the evolving community for it to remain attractive to people's lives.

Comments and view?

Definitely a problem. Maybe not such an issue if the lender knew this could happen when they set up the loan. Bad idea if done after the fact. Worse if the lender has no room to present their position.

An agree worked out with court supervision makes sense. Then the lender can not be sued by investors who bought the bonds while the deal would be something that is acceptable to the principals.

To all community members,

I have been using the new site for a few days now. Some will remember that I was an active contributor to the old site. I took some time off for a number of reasons including the fact that something was missing from BP in the past. Josh assured me that the gaps would be filled with some changes he was planning so I took a break and focused my online activities in other places.

Having used the new site I have to say my usage patterns have changed. I find that while there are still discussions in the forums I can more likely to start a conversation (from the conversation tab or from a PM in a forum discussion). I trade a few messages with a specific person. I get to know them better or can ask about something specific that would be Off Topic (O/T) if places in the thread.

I have been adding people to my colleague list. More or less the same types of people who in the past I found interesting. I am in a sense storing them up because I anticipate that I will want to ask them a question about something in the future. I use the notes section to put in some keywords or something specific they said. Like a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system I can organize my contacts and my communication in a way that makes sense to me rather than having to search the forum for something that I think might have been said by someone.

Most people do seem to be using the profile section to provide a description of what they do. I also like the idea that if I find someone's profile interesting (or what they said in a post interesting) I can work back to prior posts including any introduction they might have left on the new members forum. Granted this mostly works for new people as those who did an introduction a long time ago might not appear in that specific forum.

I see that most people have not discovered the references section. I have asked for a few references and some do not even understand the concept. Maybe too new or maybe just not what people are used to as this was a forum and not a social network in the past. That might change with time.

There are some glitches along the way. Josh tells me that many are being sorted so things should get even better with a bit more time.

I would still like the ability to tune or otherwise adjust my preferences. Mostly when I read a thread and I know that I no longer have an interest even if a new responses is posted. I want to put the specific topic on ignore so when I check for new activity nothing shows up for that thread.

I would also like a prompt if someone responses to my specific post. That way I do not ignore people who have asked me something specific in a forum. A bit harder to do depending on the site design.

What are other people thinking about the new site? Has your use of BP changed (assuming you are a user from the old model). For those who have only used the new site how does it compare to other social networking sites in terms of navigation and other things you have come to expect from Facebook, LinkedIn or what ever site you also use. Even when other sites are not similar in intent they tend to create perceptions as to what makes a site useable or effective. We grow from ideas even if the ideas are found in unrelated places.

LinkedIn has a heavy bias towards Silicon Valley and technology. It has grow a lot and many sectors use it. Still there is a large community of people in your home territory James.

A friend was a co-founder so I was a beta tester when it first was being launched. He was someone I help to fund in a prior start up.

LinkedIn has certainly grown. The business model has sifted a fair amount. They get a good bit of their revenue from headhunters and others who need a quality database of people with specific skills. It is much less social and more focuses on business networking that Facebook or Myspace.

I encourage people to join LinkedIn and some other social networks. You can use them to find a job or for other purposes. As you want a large and effective network in place when you have a need it is best to join long before you need it to be there. Even if you do not know why, sign up (no charge for most) and start adding connections. Like planting seeds that come up later and bear fruit. The difference is you do not know just what you might need in the future so best to build the network broadly and in advance.

I took a look at the site but I have not read the book.

Is the person more or less sticking to the facts or is this a piece of fiction with some facts thrown in to make it more interesting?

Does the person have an agenda (conspiracy or otherwise).

I happen to work for Swiss Bank Corp when it bought Dillion Reed. I have a bit of background with investment banks and have read some books including one on the House of Morgan (close to the title but likely not a perfect match).

Thanks in advance