Using BiggerPockets to find Help or Partners

[James Vermillion]

Hey everyone,

I have just spend the last 30 minutes or so getting caught up on the forums and something really caught my eye...the number of people who come seeking deals/partnerships/HMLs and do not follow basic etiquette or treat people with respect. For anyone using BP to make contacts or find partners I thought I would lay out a list of basic rules to follow (I apologize if this has been brought up lately).

1. Be honest. Not telling the whole truth about yourself, your company or the deal is the quickest way to ruin your reputation on BP. Remember, BP is full of experienced investors and business persons, who can very easily find the BS. If you cannot be honest, why would anyone risk getting involved in anything with you?

2. Expect a lot of questions and answer them openly and to the best of your ability. You are asking people to risk their hard earned money with you, they have a right to ask as many questions as they need to feel comfortable, and your job as someone seeking funds or a partnership is to answer the questions. When you invest in stocks or funds, you can read a prospectus to better understand the purpose/strategy/numbers and any good investor will seek those same answers in a any real estate deal. If you truly have a good deal you should be able to answer the questions and prove it.

3. Know what you are talking about. Make sure you have done all your homework on a deal before you present it to the BP community. People get offended when someone comes seeking money, yet they have only scratched the surface as far as research and due diligence is concerned. Know the deal, know the numbers, know the plan!

4. Do not be easily offended. You have to have thick skin sometimes, and retaliating to questions or accusations in a rude way is not going to help your cause. If someone accuses you of something you have not done, simply explain your case. This is a business, so treat it as so.

I know these are all very basic "rules" but I believe if people thought of these before they posted about deal making, they would see much better results and see that BP is one of the best resources for successful real estate investing.

[J Scott]

Btw, just to give everyone an idea of the type of partners I've met on BP, here's a short list:

• I've found a partner and now good friend who I've worked with on probably 25 deals in different capacities (partnering, lending, listing, buying, staging, etc)
• I found a partner and now good friend that taught me how to build new construction and who I've started building spec homes with
• I found an out-of-state partner that I've done nearly 20 deals with
• I've purchased deals from 4 different BP members
• I've sold deals to at least 3 different BP members
• I've borrowed money from 3 BP members
• I've loaned money to 2 BP members
• I've found two people who I've mentored
• I found a GC who has worked on about a dozen projects for me
• I found a partner that I'm hoping to start building spec homes with in the near future
• I've found a partner (@Joshua Dorkin ) who has published two of my books

And that doesn't include the dozens of people I've met, keep in contact with, and will likely partner with in some capacity in the years to come (I hope!)...

If anyone has questions about the power of BiggerPockets, re-read my list above. It's probably safe to say that BP has been responsible for putting literally hundreds of thousands of dollars into my pockets.