I have been lurking as a guest here for awhile and I think this is one of the best SS groups. I am a private investor and work exclusively with Short Sales in Michigan, mainly around Detroit suburbs.
The past few months my marketing is bringing in more Short Sale leads than I can handle and also leads in surrounding areas and states that I don’t work in. I want to try to use these to leverage my business and partner with other investors who can work them.
I would provide the lead at no upfront cost in return for a percentage (thinking 10-15%) of the profits if it closes. I would provide ongoing support and advice if needed and could even provide financing for the right person at the right price.
My questions are… is it ok to post leads that are available in this forum, and would anyone be interested in this type of set-up or are you similarly overloaded?
I had a feeling the questions were going to come about my marketing.
I will only say vaguely that I do alot of different things. All web based. Some craigslist, some ebay, some google adwords related, some blog related, some other stuff, but I won’t give away the good stuff!
I’m in Michigan too. I have some decent leads too… I need the buyers/money end!
As far as I know, I don’t think leads can be outright posted like that. And you cannot make posts that say to contact you. However, you can contact anyone you want via PM or email. And you could put something in your sig perhaps.
Strange because the purpose of this forum is to share. You said you’ve been “lurking” and assumably gathering knowledge, but think it’s cool to be “vague” and not help others if you’ve found something that works better. Definitely shows your true colors and seems as if you’re here to offer simplified “tools” so you can sell leads to others.
Teach a man to fish, don’t just try to sell your leads.
Sorry you feel that way. It is not my style to pick fights with moderators but I think your comments are unfair. Let’s be real here. This is not an altruistic endeavor for you or anyone here. We are all here in an attempt to increase our business. You include your contact info as a Realtor in your signature in order to potentially generate business as a result of your “sharing” in this forum.
There are ads plastered all over this website because the owners and participants are trying to make money from this forum and this website. (Incidentally I have not mentioned my short sale website in this forum at all, a site that has no ads, costs nothing to use and sells nothing. It only provides information to homeowners and Realtors)
I am willing to share information (in fact on my first day here I had already posted a plan to spend my time creating a large database of short sale deal results to share with everyone here) and I am willing to share my leads with others. All of which may make others money. It is not unreasonable for me to want to see some benefit from my work and skill in generating those leads too, just as you seek to profit from your participation here.
Does participation in this sharing forum require that we all must provide full information to every question asked and that we are not entitled to make money as a result of the participation? Of course not.
Just because there is some information that I do not wish to share with others who may compete with me does not make me worthy of an attack. I would doubt that you would be willing to share all your best tricks and info with your competition. Everyone has things they don’t want to tell but when they don’t want to tell, they usually just don’t reply to a post. I guess that is the right way so you don’t get slammed by a moderator. At least I was upfront that I did not care to share that particular information.
I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of people who visit this board only seek information and don’t provide any information. There are very few people consistently giving advice. Most are newbies looking for free tips. Do you criticize them too?
If REIClub did not want lurkers, the forums would be password protected. In fact, they encourage lurking.
And by the way, as a private short sale investor who has closed over 20 deals just in the past year, I wasn’t lurking in order to gain knowledge. I was lurking (for a total of about 2 hours!) to determine whether this forum includes any other experienced investors who might be able to take good advantage of my leads. The majority of forums are filled with newbies or product vendors who wouldn’t be able to profit from these leads.
Here are the rules (posted at the top of every forum for future reference if needed):
Welcome to REIClub!
The discussion forums are intended for asking and answering ONLY INFORMATIONAL questions SPECIFICALLY related to real estate investing. If you notice a post that is in violation of the rules, please click the blue “Report to moderator” link on the right side of the post so that Moderators will take notice. If you look below to the right, you will see an example on this post.
Forum Rules
No Profanity or Name Calling - if you disagree, that’s fine, but do so in a professional manner.
No Duplicate Posts - do not post the same or similar post in more than one place; No Advertising - do not post advertisements, solicitations, or offer your services;
No Domains for Username - do not use a website url or domain name as your username; No Networking - do not post networking, leads, mentors, or partner requests;
No Referrals - do not ask for referrals for a specific need; “How do I find” is okay versus “Can someone recommend”.
No “Contact Me” Posts - do not ask to be contacted by email or phone in your post and do not include your email address or phone number in the body of your post.
Profile Images - images for your profile cannot be larger than 40 x 40 pixels
Offline Requests - you are welcome to email and private message members in direct response to a post. If you want someone to contact you, then you should initiate the contact through email or a private message.
Member Default Signature - you may use your forum signature to advertise your business and/or network as long as the signature is no more than 5 lines and has no blank lines in it. You may not post more than one link to your site in your signature. Once you’re logged in, click the “profile” button underneath the banner ad near the top of this page to set it up.
Moderator Control - moderators may modify, delete, and/or move posts to a more appropriate forum without notice.
Besides your forum signature the only acceptable method to advertise, solicit business, and network on the site is:
It’s funny how people claim they’re being “attacked” when someone is just posting their opinion. I didn’t call you names or yell or get out of hand. You can make excuses if you want and claim we don’t want lurkers. I was saying it’s funny that you gathered knowledge, but when you’re ready to step up, chose not to.
I’ve seen the most successful investors share. There really aren’t “secrets” in this business, just little enhanced tactics or different ways of looking at things that can help us all be more successful. I see agents guarding their “secrets” all of the time, but I choose to instead do classes to reveal mine. It helps others become successful and they like me for it. I have a class on Monday on my favorite farm area, East Austin. Now that I know what works and doesn’t over there, I’m sharing with other agents.
If you’re here to sell, people will trust you more the more you give. Again, just my personal opinion and not that of “the moderators”. Anyone can feel free to disagree and my feelings won’t be hurt. I won’t feel “attacked”.
Don’t try to back off from your passive aggressive attack now. You may not have blantantly called names but how can you spin “definitely shows your true colors”. That is an implied insult to my character and everyone knows that.
Opinions can be attacks too. Opinions can also be kept to yourself and opinions can be communicated in private to the person. You chose to post your “opinion” publicly. There is only one reason to post an opinion publicly and that is to attempt to influence someone other people opinions. Why else would you feel others need to know your opinion about any particular post? The fact that you chose to do it publicly is simply a veiled, passive aggressive “warning” to others to beware…this is not a good guy making this shady offer.
I also did not claim the forum doesn’t want lurkers as you say, in fact it was the opposite. I claimed that it DID want them, since it does want lurkers why would YOU personally criticise someone for lurking and supposedly getting info for nothing.
You accuse me of selling leads and advise me to teach a man to fish. If you read my original post, I specifically said the leads would not be sold but would be given away and I would be providing ongoing support and even financing to share in the profits if any. Sounds like I am offering to teach people to fish, just in a different (real world) way rather than giving seminars.
I was clearly not here to sell anything. I never have sold and I don’t sell. I invest my own money and profit by my own skill and wits. I don’t survive leaching off others for commissions on their money and their deals. It would be very comical if you were holding up salespeople as the ethical ones.
I was clearly here to share information and knowledge with specific interested persons to the mutual benefit of both. I offered nothing for sale. I simply asked if anyone was interested in sharing information. What about the person who asked my for information about my marketing? Why is that person ok with you. They are asking for something and not giving anything. There is no sharing there. If that is what your forum is full of, it ends up being worthless.
Incidentally, Dee, according my in box, the tally is running about 11-0 against you on this one.