All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

Taking action isn't only investing in real estate. You should take a break from buying if the deals don't match your buy box, you are out of money, or for several other reasons (partner isn't on board, over-leveraged on different properties, acting out of FOMO, etc.). Still, you should never take a break from looking, touring, vetting, and analyzing. You can't take six months off from reviewing properties and hop back in like nothing happened. Stuff happened.

If I were to sum up the one thing that I think investors aren't doing enough, it would be getting real-life reps. Real-life reps, to me, means seeing properties in person, whatever your asset class. What you see on the spreadsheet is a small part of every story. Boots on the ground, or lack thereof, are where the mistakes are made. Of course, the smaller the property, the more necessary that you see every inch of it because there isn't a business running on top of the land like large-scale multifamily, self-storage, industrial, and more. But even if you want to do large deals, you need comparable reps.

Technology has made it easy to "analyze" deals. Still, if you aren't whittling down the number you are analyzing financially to a small subset you see before deciding what to do, you are missing an essential part of getting to the tipping point of expertise in your field. The most successful investors have looked at thousands of properties in person in their lifetimes. So, even when the market is challenging, you can still see properties and stay current.

Don't take a break when the rates are high. Don't take a break when the weather is terrible. Don't take a break when others are taking a break. Removing all skills from the equation, if you don't take a break from participating as a real estate investor in some way each day, you will stay far ahead of everyone else who keeps subbing themselves out and then asking to get back in when the game is already out of reach.

You don't need your real estate attorney to set up LLCs in New Jersey. It takes five minutes on the state site. If you need an operating agreement, that is usually a different attorney (but not always). I've done more than 50 deals with Ashley Molson at Molson Law Firm if you want to look her up.

There is definitely nothing better, or even close out there, that's why I think the technology drag isn't emphasized. The resources are endless here, but at some point, the messier it gets, the less seasoned investors are going to spend the time. But I may just need a break because as others who have been here for 10+ years with me, these cycles have happened before.

This is it exactly - there's more talk about investing than actually investing. That's why so much talk about BRRRR when it doesn't work in almost every market.

1. I would employ full-time paid employees as moderators, not VAs or people willing to help (although they are great for doing it) because it is what makes the site better to get rid of the dust.

2. I would spend money to enhance and update to current standards the search functionality and person to person tagging so it's easier to find stuff. Even the drop down menus for the forum subgroups are not organized that well.

3. I would try as a company to do whatever it takes to keep the old timers in the forums with some benefits or something to show that they mean something to the site. The entire focus is on new people because they spend on more.

4. I would allow for differences of opinions that are amicable, and even sometimes heated, as long as names and profanities aren't used. The culture of fragility is horrifying. I have seen several posts removed just because it was a problem post, but it was censorship. Nothing in the ones I am talking about were out of bounds at all.

This one is not a you issue for the tech, Jay, the search function and tagging is awful. Almost unusable and that is important when we tell people to look up the LLC question. That one can be found though for sure.

When I was moderating, it was frankly laughable the excuses the very few people made when their posts were obviously self-promotion. About ninety percent are thankful and just didn't know the rules.

Yeah that is a huge pet peeve, but also could be AI posters who don't care or my even least favorite, didn't get the initial feedback they wanted so they didn't look again.

Yes, the overall functionality of the site makes it very hard. It hasn't progressed at all. When you are tagging a person, if you mess up a letter, you have to start all over. And the search is absolutely abysmal, you can't find anything well. I agree with all of that.

Yes, very fair analysis. I don't think there are greener pastures for this type of thing, but may be generally time to take a break for anyone who finds no value in the forums.

That is helpful, but do you find, like I do, that only maybe half of those people actually appreciate that you went an extra level to help them and answer?