All Forum Posts by: Brad B.

There are several exceptions to the law, but in general you cannot restrict the installation of a dish or antenna. This is a result of the 1996 Federal Telecommunications Act and the FCC rulings providing interpretation.

Here is a guide: http://www.fcc.gov/guides/over-air-reception-devices-rule

Interesting Topic.

As a sporadic poster yet avid reader, I tend not to look at influence. Even when I first got here, to me it was more a measure of longevity rather than that of authority. As an interesting observation, it seems that with a sufficiently large post count, it begins to normalize around 10:1 being that influence tends to hover around 10x the post count.

Geeky statistics aside, I would give two opinions.

On the simple side of things, get rid of it. It doesn't seem to hold a measurable value in most cases and eliminating it would seem to be the easy fix. However, on that note, I do like seeing individual posts voted up. Whether that tied into a larger aggregate value or not would be something else - maybe it could be tied to some form of achievement rather than a generic influence.

On the more complex side, I do think there's significant value in subject matter influence. Some here are very, very knowledgable in specific aspects of the business. They should be given some form of at-a-glance recognition so a newbie knows to possibly hold their opinion at a higher level than some others. This may be forum specific since topic or thread specific would probably be a nightmare to program effectively. But in that case, specific subject matter influence would hold weight.

In thinking about it a little more, I think one of the problems is that it does seem to have a fuzzy definition. For someone just coming in, what is good influence? Right now, the system only shows a number, but there's no context to it. There is no threshold for judging. The system has an implication that in order to know what is good influence a person has to have some experience here, which by then probably negates the need for influence in the first place since they know who are the A+ posters and who aren't.

Something to consider is that several states have laws about passing processing fees for credit cards directly to the consumer. You may want to check that out for your locality. The way most businesses get around this is by offering a cash discount. For example, you set your general price high enough to cover processing fees and then offer a discount equal to the processing fees for people who pay cash. It seems crazy since it has the exact same effect, but I've seen places in New York get busted for adding a surcharge rather than crediting a discount.

That makes sense to me and definitely sympathize about the memory thing. How do you currently handle this problem?

Paige, that's great input. Thank you.

I can definitely see value in tracking that information. In your mind, how would you optimally want to put that data in? Would you find it useful to be something you could sync your on-site notes into back at your office or would you rather be able to fill in the blanks on-site in the form of a smartphone app? Are there defined attributes you want to capture or do you want to just enter things free-form and let the system figure it out?

My thoughts have actually been leaning towards this type of system. There are so many data points involved in REI that it seems like there's definite room for collecting it and making it useful. The big challenge in terms of concept and design is what would people want for it to really be useful, meaning what's the balance of collecting as much data as possible without it becoming too tedious to really be useful without full time help.

Brad

Hello all;

I'm in an fun situation at the moment and wanted to solicit some input from the collective experience and input of the BP community.

I'm coming to the end of a venture I've been a part of for several years now as my part winds down. I'm looking for a new project to build up and see where it goes.

My professional experience is in software development and I've decided to stay with what I know. As I've been lurking around this industry and seeing what's offered and what's available, I see some opportunities for adding value to this whole real estate investment business through new or improved technology. I've got some ideas and thoughts on what I want to do, but as I've learned so often in the past, it's not good to do things in a vacuum. So, I'm posting here.

I'd like your thoughts.

As a real estate investor, you know what it is that you do and how you do it. You may manage your operations using sticky-notes, you may use a collection of spreadsheets, you may have a custom database in Access or the like, or you may subscribe to a full blown SaaS solution. Whatever you use, you know there are things you like and things you don't. You know there are times when you say to yourself or others, "I wish I had..." or, "You know what would be great...".

That's what I'm interested in. Hearing your thoughts on what you want, need, or just would like to see improved. This is, for lack of a better term, "big-picture" stuff. I'm not too concerned at this point with things like, "In salesforce.com I wish I could drag this widget to this box and have it do whatever". Instead, I'd like to hear your big wish list like, "I wish I could have a portal that would list all pre-foreclosed properties in my target areas and do a lookup to identify the current names and addresses of the owner."

For me, this is a feasibility study of sorts. My observations say that there is a lack of GOOD tools available today and that people are continually having to solve the same problems over and over again. But, my observations could be way off base. I also think there are a lot of ways to leverage data to make the investor's life easier and streamline this process.

So, if you could have a system that could do anything you would want, what would it do for you?

Thanks

Brad

I would love to read the updates as well.

A good app if you do any traveling is "AroundMe" - it does pretty much what it says, which is show you what's around you broken into categories.

I agree with Jon on the weather app. I tend to have both the Weatherbug app as well as the one from the Weather Channel. Both are good, but I've noticed the Weather Channel one, if left on in the background, will suck a battery down in short order.

One of the things I love about this place is the variety of experience and the willingness to help out. Thank you Loc and Will.

I'm not as worried about the security of the loan itself being its unsecured on its own. The loan in question is being used to offset a short term hit to cash flow of an existing business of which I'm an equity partner. It's a complex situation, but as a minor partner, the major partners have asked that the loan not be paid as a lump sum since it would have an adverse affect on operating capital. Being that I'm a good guy, trust the business, and my partners I'm willing to extend repayment terms on the cash. Being nice however is not to say I'm naive, so I'm trying to determine an acceptable interest rate that won't work against my own interests as an equity partner but also allows for an acceptable return on my money.

In trying to determine what was reasonable in this circumstance I realized that outside of some accounting and finance classes in college, notes; bonds; and other debt instruments are pretty foreign to me in this context. Being a personal loan to a company I had a stake in, I don't want to be overbearing since it ultimately affects my equity position - by a miniscule amount, but something nonetheless. I'm also not being overly generous since I am looking for the return on my investment and this is a for-profit business benefiting from my cash.

Hopefully that explains my mindset behind the question itself. The note will be unsecured in technicality except on the credit and reputation of the company hold a stake in and the majority partners. Threats of non-payment are a non-probable possibility and can be mitigated through personal guarantees.

Rephrased, how do I make a fair profit while not trying to be excessive. Where is the balance?

Thoughts?

Thanks to you all for the replies. It gives me some guidance on the prevailing thoughts for this type of investment.

Just to clarify, I am the lender in this instance. Although the loan is unsecured, I don't have any question about being paid back.

Given the amount in question is a large-ish amount to some, would your thoughts change with a lower amount or is that immaterial?