4 Ways To Avoid Getting Pitched in the Forums as a New Investor

[Jonathan Greene]

I see the mistakes being made every day in the forums. They come from a good place of wanting to make connections or get help, but the way you make your request in the forums can open you up to a lot of pitching if you are not careful. These four tips will help you avoid getting pitched.

Help is one thing, but if you've been around the forums long enough, you will see the excessive pitching, most notably on these topics.

1. Don't tell the entirety of BiggerPockets how much money you have to invest right now. You are literally begging everyone to pitch you swamp land in the Everglades and worse. But there are a couple of caveats to this. Here is an example of what not to do - "I have $1m cash to burn on investment properties. Where should I invest?" Don't do that. But, if you are a new investor looking to make their first deal or if you are talking about how much you have to put into a specific deal, that will get you better answers. Example - "I want to house hack in Indianapolis and am pre-approved for $500k, what can I get?" This will help you get better answers, but see number 2.

2. If you want help in a certain city, ask for help from investors in those areas. Don't ever post the dreaded "does anyone know an agent in Chattanooga post." Why? Because it just brings out the BSP (blatant self-promotion) and they aren't violating the rules since you asked. But it's annoying. When you ask for a plumber in a Facebook group, you want other residents to tell you who they used. You don't want the plumbers to say they are the best and they'd be happy chat and hit them up in the DM. Use other sources to find agents, i.e. investors that invest in that area.

3. Don't openly ask the universe for a mentor. Trust me when I tell you that you don't want the "mentors" that respond to that small post with no background. You are begging someone to get you on a call that is really a timeshare seminar. You are encouraging the hottest pitches and you might fall for it. Mentors are found by building relationships at meetups in real life, not online when you are just getting started unless you are using the forums as your meetup and you are really getting to know people.

4. Don't ask about a certain coaching program or training company. While I do think you will get some good answers to this, you are telling all of the sharks that you are in the market for a coaching program and willing to pay. That means you are inviting pitches from competitors and occasionally, responses from that coaching program ready to get you on a call to discuss right away. Be more discreet and search the web first.

The goal is to help you get better answers and less pitches. There are ways of asking these questions more effectively, but generally, these four topics will invite the most pitches to your inbox in the morning.

Anyone have any others?