Have you tried Quora for real estate questions?

Question

I recently got introduced to Quora from a West Coast friend of mine. It seems like a powerful place to get questions answered about real estate. Anyone have any experience? How does it compare to BP? There seem to be a lot of topic trending about financing and startups.

Gwen Fyfe · Answer

I think BiggerPockets is going to be a lot better than Quora for real estate questions. People here are on the site because they are specifically, seriously interested in real estate. On Quora, you check off a bunch of topics you're interested in and get presented with a list of questions, then can pick and choose which to answer.

Do you want answers from someone on a real estate forum, or someone picking your question out of a list about sandwiches, real estate, breeding toy poodles, gender politics, and Canadian tourism? :)

I love Quora and you definitely can find experts there on a ton of subjects. But I think BiggerPockets is a more reliable source.

Ray Lai · Answer

Account Closed really nailed it.

Here's another thing that is huge about BP, you can check out people's profiles and there are questions pertaining to their real estate experiences whereas in Quora you get a generic profile that is not real-estate centric.

When I have real estate questions this is my go-to process flow:

1) Search BP for the answer, chances are it's already posted

2) Ask my real estate mentors that I know in real life that own millions in real estate

3) Post about it on BP and solicit the community as there are plenty of self-made millionaires on here as well

Why ask random people on Quora when you can ask successful people that've already done it?

Account Closed · Answer

@Gwen Fyfe that puts it in good perspective for me. It sounds like Quora is more of social network for questions.

Of course I would prefer to talk to people dedicated to real estate vs. breeding toy poodles, although I do have a really cool toy poodle myself. He looks like a teddy bear.

Do you personally use BiggerPockets are more of a reference website or to ask specific questions to help you with real estate on a continuous basis?

Derrick Thomas · Answer

I agree with @Ray Lai on this one. While I don't have a pro account so I can't access the mentors, I think that just the nature that there is a group of people out there really contributing to this community as part of their daily lives and investing in it makes a huge difference. I've been meeting a lot more people and getting some great feedback in DMs with people from BP on things like finding seed capital that I don't think I could really pull away from the Quora community.

Anna McGill · Answer

I agree with what's been said about Quora v. BP. I think you might find some of those Quora posts higher on a Google search so it gets traffic but when it comes down to getting a highly educated and active community for your questions, I'd stick with BP or similar real estate communities. Just because I can buy a tire from Walmart doesn't mean I'll get the same service or products I'd get from my car dealership.

Zack Bloom · Answer

I agree with Account Closed on this one. I did some coding for a startup with a couple friends a while back and we used Quora a lot for technical coding questions and they had a strong community for those more technical questions similar to StackOverflow. While you might find a couple examples, I just joined the BP community here and it's an extremely active community for real estate questions. It's really incredible to see how helpful real estate investors on this site are, some that have been doing it for more than 20 years! I'd take the advice from a mentor on BP on something like finding seed capital a lot quicker than I would from someone on Quora.

Account Closed · Answer

Account Closed So Quora is more like a general purpose community for any questions? I have seen some interesting posts like:

How do you approach your first investor for seed capital

Or

How do I invest in real estate in my 20s

Are there any other forums you found like bigger pockets or is the best and only serious one on the web?

Account Closed · Answer

Account Closed I would say one of the best strength of Quora is getting info from hard industries to connect with. There are some great insights to Google and Microsoft from people that work there. Or highly intellectual items where professors are chiming in on the answers summarizing years of research into a few paragraphs .

With real estate I want more than one perspective across the country and in many settings because it gives me more insight. I am sure there are some great answers there but it will take more digging than on BP.

Account Closed · Answer

While I have seen some great information on Quora I have not seen it in real estate information and community like BP. I also think Quora's format limits getting a balanced perspective without really digging into a question.

Account Closed · Answer

@Hank Wu have you had any luck using the forums to learn about WCAP, working capital, or getting seed capital?

Have you tried Quora for real estate questions?

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