Additional search criteria for networking

[Account Closed]

It is wonderful to have a large community of investors that work in many fields. I would love to see a tool that makes it easier to search and find potential contacts.

Currently you can sort by state and category. It would be great to be able to sort any results as well by say date of last activity, influence or perhaps other criteria.

Some times a search will bring up a large number of names and it can take a considerable amount of time to review each of the profiles.

I don't know if others might also find this useful.

[Bryan Hancock]

If there was an "expertise" category it would make searching for certain types of people a lot easier too. I don't necessarily care a whole lot about their last activity point, but their total expertise in a given category would be nice to sort by.

[Account Closed]

I've wasted time in the past trying to contact people that may or may not be even in the business any more. Last activity gives me some clue as to whether I might get a call back our response.

[Vikram C.]

Charles, Bryan: Why would you want to contact another BP member? I am asking because perhaps I am not using the site very well. I just thought our goal was to discuss stuff in the forums but maybe there is something more?

[Account Closed]

I look at BP as serving to important needs. It is a great resource of information and answers. It is also a great way to build contacts in real estate. Much of investing is about contacts.

Knowing that BP has a large and diverse number of investors it is also nice to know that you can reach out and create win-win opportunities. While I am more likely to trust those that contribute to the site because I get to know a little about who they are, there are times that I'm looking for more specific or specialized contacts. If I can find someone that I can trust to work with here, I would like to do that.

Someone that has remote real estate might benefit from knowing investors or specialists in that area. A tool that makes it is easier to find a contact that is more likely to be reliable, IMO would be very handy way to serve individuals and the community at large.

[Bryan Hancock]

I've been here just over 3 weeks and I bet I have had 10 conversations via email or phone with BP members about:

1. Funding (debt and equity)

2. Our programs

3. Expertise/SAFE Act

4. Sources of information that you can find in other places

5. Coaching (given and received)

IMO if you are just posting in the forums you are missing half the experience. I check the groups, bulletins, blogs, articles, profiles, etc. All of this is great information, but at times is is kind of difficult to sort through all of it. There are some helpful canned sort procedures, but there are some other items that are present on other sites that I think would be helpful to have here too.

I am sure there are limited resources for this and everyone will obviously want to see different things in the site. I appreciate seeing a thread about this though...

[Account Closed]

Vikram,

Why would you limit your conversations to only the forum? Especially with the brains that are a part of this forum.

I look at it as if you grab as much knowledge as possible and put it into action you reap much more. That being said, do I gain more knowledge by reading someones post, or by speaking to them individually?

Not to mention the services that are available from members on this site. Many of the members on this site not only contribute but provide transactional funding and hard money.

Biggerpockets is much more of a community than a forum, If you want to see how much that is true read this post.

Community involvement on BP

[Account Closed]

I wholeheartedly agree Marcus. There are many networking opportunities here as well as opportunities to read and ask questions.

It is great that we have so many knowledgeable and experienced investors and professionals here. I won't be surprised if Josh already has something in the works to make networking easier.

Vikram we had a great conversation not to long ago by PM. The forums are a great way to get to know people and share thoughts. It is nice to have other ways as well to establish new connections. Not everyone participates in the forums.

[Vikram C.]

I need to clarify that I do use PMs. What I meant was that I use the forums primarily and if I see someone's forum post that makes me curious to communicate with that person through PM, I then do so.

What I am now trying to figure out is how to network with someone without knowing anything about them. Charles had a good example - suppose I have a property in a location that I am not near or familiar with, then it makes sense to network with that person.

I am not opposed to networking, BTW. Just trying to figure out useful ways to do it considering that BP has 40,000 members and I have only limited time.

[James Ward]

Not sure if this is what you all are looking for, but here a few items that have assist me thru my many travels while being apart of the BP Nation:

1) Looking for a certain skill set, I look in the Company section of the site.
2) Looking for items in a certain area: I either type the are in the search tool, or I post a Topic and start a Thread.

Maybe I do not fully understand what all you all are looking for, but maybe these two(2) items will assist you along your way.