I see a lot of really poor spelling on this site, words that aren’t even close.
Example: spisific (supposed to be specific as we all know)
I truly hope you are spellchecking your written correspondence to homeowners and lenders better than that. If I saw truly glaring errors like that I wouldn’t do business with the person. If they can’t even spell easy words how can I expect them to handle hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of real estate? I hate to rag on people or sound high and mighty with my properly spelled words but this is something I see glaring in my face that is easy to correct and will allow new (and old) investors to come off looking a little more professional and educated.
Remember, Einstein was a purported terrible speller. I’ve often heard some of the brightest people are terrible spellers. I meant, sum a da britist peepal ar teribal spelirs.
I didn’t necessarily mean they aren’t bright, but their spelling can often paint an incorrect picture of them. People don’t even need to learn how to spell, they just need to pick up a copy of Microsoft Word and let the built in spellcheck handle all of the spelling errors.
Something else I noticed was a lot of mixups with words like there and their, spellcheck doesn’t find that one. Grammarcheck will if you are using a product like Microsoft Word.
I personally see this as a professional community filled with bright people, I’d hate to see someone that would do well shot down by something trivial like spelling.
As an investor, if someone sent something to me that resembles some of these posts as a proposal, I’d be very hesitant to give them money. Partially because I’d be worried if they’re capable of managing a project and, secondly, because it’s just pure laziness. There’s a plethora of programs out there to help grammar and spelling that take a few seconds to use. It tells me that they won’t make the effort and that’s an undesirable trait in this business, in my opinion.
I agree with both of you. However, I would think (hope!) that these same people would be smart enough to use a spellchecker for such important communication. An online message board filled with anonymity isn’t what I would label such an important communication (unless they do, or plan to do, business with someone here). I’m actually notorious for my bad spelling on my blog and in posts, but use a spellchecker for emails, etc., to people when it’s business-oriented.
Spelling errors are one thing, they’re forgivable. Not knowing how to spell a simple word puts your intelligence in question. They say you’re only as smart as what you can articulate. Most people have a lot of great ideas and thoughts that can’t be properly or fully expresed. People would be much more advanced as a whole if we knew how to better express our thoughts.
Some people have their fingers try to keep up with their brain/thinking while they type and make mistakes and hit wrong buttonz eye youzt tu due it all the tyme ;D
A misspelling now and again is one thing, people normally see it as that. Granted every formal document that is sent should be spellchecked but a small slip up won’t cause any problems. I’m mostly talking about what I see on here quite a bit- completely misspelled (not just typos) words, lack of capitalization, bad grammar, etc. I’d love to copy a user’s post here but I’d hate to single someone out. I know some people are more lax here because its a forum not a formal peice of communication but I’ve gotten many emails from investors, brokers, etc that were terrible. I had an ad on Craigslist looking for a $1mil bridge loan and got back some responses that were barely 3rd grade grammar (if I was teaching I’d fail the 3rd grader). Why would I let you work my deal if you can’t even properly communicate in an email? I thanked them for their time and told them I was all set.
It is easy to live with the spelling mistakes I think. I have a hard time typing and if yuo read some of my post you will see when I type “have” that a lot of times my “h” and “a” will be reversed.
Where I have had the most problems is when people try to ask for assistance but their grammer is so bad you can not even tell what they are asking. I have seen so many, it seems, with the first responce being, “WHAT???”
Some of the posters just need to read their post before releasing it to us all and if they don’t understand it then don’t think that others can.
I have a program running I think through Google tool bar. It checks all spelling as if I am always typing on a work doc. I love it, especially for my emails.
The man who gave me my start in real estate had a sixth grade education. By the time he was 60 he owned (real estate included) 26 Dunkin Donut franchises, 18 commercial strip malls, office buildings, industrial space and on and on…
He could not spell to save his life. If I had blown this guy off because of his spelling and told ANYONE why I did it, I would have been the idiot.
When I got started in this business I applied for my first loan for a investment property. This was in the early 90’s when the banks were getting killed in real estate. I got turned down quickly. As I left the bank I saw “Paul” getting out of his car. he asked what I was doing and told him I just applied for a loan and got shot down. His exact words were “Why don’t you come back tommorow and try again” I kindly explained that it wouldn’t make much difference but agreed to come back. The next morning before I could get out of my car the same bank manager who so coldly turned me down was making his way towards me with an out stretched hand. " Your loans all set" Apparently the bank didn’t care if Paul could spell.
The one thing I have learned OVER and OVER in this business is NEVER EVER assume you know something about someone because of the way they look, talk, act or even smell. I sold a $950,000 house to a guy who looked and acted like an animal. But I showed him my house like he was a Harvard Educated Doctor. By the way He paid cash!!!
The point here actually isn’t the spelling. The point here is the effort and ability to use resources. In the early 90s when you started, the internet, email and computers were in their infancy. The resources weren’t there. Now, it’s extremely easy to use these resources and it only takes a moment.
Education certainly doesn’t equal intelligence. One of the most successful businessmen I know is a high school drop out. However, he knows his weakspots and uses the resources around him to get past those weak spots.
We weren’t suggesting that the people with bad spelling weren’t capable of succeeding. We were merely suggesting that they use the resources available to them such as spell check.