I was a 23 year old CEO of my company, and felt the same thing-not being taken seriously.I want to give a thoughtful word of encouragement, that it is YOUR RACE, the path is looong and in the end, only with yourself.You DONT need validation from ANYONE, and find the folks who will support you and nurture you.The cynics and naysayers. . . well they SUCK!

Generally a high traffic area, maybe on a table near the copy machine would be just the right spot that would encourage them to collect their data and get the heck out of my way.

While I'm on the subject - something that really irritates me is when one of my clients is trying to do something and the other business party with whom my client is working (or trying to work) is leery about something and consults their attorney (that part is great - I encourage everyone to make well informed decisions).

Something to keep in mind in regards to trying to encourage ethical behavior in the RE community is that many laws and regulations that seem unfair and onerous came about when government finally stepped in to address shady or unethical behavior.

I was encouraged by two other investors, to submit another offer for $500 to a $1000 more than my first offer (then the investor told me a story about how it had worked for them on a HUD Property.

Might ask how they would try to market with it, tons of questions, a different approach that encourages discussion instead of cannon fire as an informational post/blog. :)

Anyone that has "DO NOT EVER's" or "horror stories" or of course any encouraging and positive experiences please share!

I would encourage you to view social media as just another means of communicating...the ones who do really well balance their approach with both real life off line connecting, networking, and sharing with the on line approach of social networking.When you're out and about, invite folks to connect with you THEN actually be interesting enough to be worth connecting to...after looking at your current FB page, you have very few photos and everyone knows photos are a HUGE factor in FB being an amazing reason people are interested in other people :)Balance your on-line with your off-line networking...and if you're mostly an on-line networker, then stay consistent, join conversations, and stay top of mind.

You have to create a chemical barrier below your property to encourage them to eat other buildings.

I'm originally from the South Shore -- it is great to meet fellow Long Islanders here on the site -- there are plenty.To get started, I strongly encourage you to check out our Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing -- it should give you a solid foundation.Let us know if you've got any questions once you've gone through it!