Mario Sundar May 14, 2008
For the second straight week in a row, LinkedIn Answers' question of the week focuses on housing and real estate and both relate to the 2nd most emailed article of that day from the New York Times (NYT). This week's question shines the spotlight on continued national interest in personal real estate as evidenced by this NYT article titled "Collateral Foreclosure damage for Condo owners".
LinkedIn Answers' Question of the week: What are the Top 10 Factors you consider when investing in real estate?
Answers category: Personal Real Estate
The question from Joel Landou, Supply Quality Engineer at Boeing, even surprised him in terms of the quality and number of answers that he offered to consolidate the answers into a nice spreadsheet for those interested. Even better, Doug Boedecker, another LinkedIn user spent an entire hour on Saturday explaining to Joel his analysis for investing in real estate. Joel says:
Thanks to Doug Boedecker!!! Doug spent about
an hour on Saturday explaining his detailed analysis methodology for
investing in real estate in select neighborhoods in the Mid West and
Southern states. I believe he has some very profitable ideas and I
highly recommend him to everyone of my contacts that are interested in
investing in real estate in the future.
Besides Doug's answer, here was the best answer selected by Joel from Ray Garrett Jr., Realtor/Investor in ZipRealty. I'm going to publish the answer in its entirety for the benefit of the readers, long as it may be. Consider yourself warned.
Why:
Without a doubt, the most important question to ask is “why am I
investing.” Investing strategies may sometimes be diametrically opposed
based on the desired outcome of the strategy. For instance, if an
investor seeks to build a portfolio of monthly income producing
properties, he may consider buying homes in impoverished areas where a
greater number of people rent. If he wants to flip homes, this would
not be the best strategy.
Where:
Again, location is a very important part of strategy. When one buys
a personal residence, he may select a property in an older, established
neighborhood. While this may be an excellent decision for a personal
residence, investors tend to gravitate toward neighborhoods on the
upswing of their lifecycles. Also, rental returns are often higher in
areas the investor would not personally choose to live.
Typically investors should focus on one or two neighborhoods if
possible. This way, the investor will be aware of the intimate details
of the area, and he will know exactly what homes sell for, and, more
importantly, what he should pay.
How:
Very few residential property investors would be successful if
traditional bank financing were the only method by which an investor
could acquire properties. Bank financing is certainly an important
part, but unconventional methods such as lease purchasing, wrap around
mortgages, sandwich leasing, and purchase options are all important
strategies when acquiring investment properties. An investor should
spend considerable time determining by which means he will acquire
desirable properties, and what resources and capital he has available
prior to locating properties.
Who:
Very few investors will spend their entire career flying solo. At
some point, most investors partner on deals. Investors should always
make a list of people who would invest with them if an offer was
presented that both parties feel could be mutually lucrative. Nothing
is more frustrating than finding that “home-run” property, and not
having the resources to acquire it.
Also, many people are involved in your investment property. They
all need to make money. If they make money they will be happy to help
you make money. The most important of these people is your contractor.
Many novice investors try to cut almost all the profit from the
contractor to maximize their own profit on a single investment
property. This strategy will eventually spell doom. Everyone needs to
make money. I’m not saying that an investor should pay whatever the
contractor asks, but be fair and share the wealth. The investor has
most all the risk, so he should get the lion’s share, but he needs good
contractors who also need to make a living.
What:
Some investors buy a wide variety of homes, but most investors pick
a style, price range, or home type to specialize in. If someone
specializes in period craftsman homes, he will become very familiar
with his typical buyer, and he will quickly develop a repertoire of
contractors who specialize in these types of homes. I cannot emphasis
strongly enough how important it is to have good relationships with
several contractors.
When:
Every neighborhood goes through a life cycle. At what point of the
life cycle an investor buys is high dependent on the investment
strategy. Unless the investor is a seasoned, it is best to consult a
professional for information on neighborhood life cycles. This
information will prove invaluable to the investor.
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Admin May 13, 2008
Today, we'll focus on recruiting, the challenges in finding the right candidate all the time and how LinkedIn makes that process painfully simple. Also, moving forward, we will provide a succinct summary of the user (see user snapshot below) before presenting the video and the LinkedIn tips.
User Snapshot
Who: Lenny Bordeau
Where: Finance Director at Stephen James Associates (Boston)
How: LinkedIn helped Lenny earn a placement fee of $20K by placing a candidate in the Software High-tech and Professional services industry, with just an InMail (see video below). Tips on using LinkedIn after the jump.
Two LinkedIn Tips from Lenny
1. Build relationships within your recruiting space
LinkedIn offers you the tools necessary to build those relationships with individuals who are from the industry vertical that you're a part of. The best way to strike a chord with potential candidates as well as with your peers in the industry would be through LinkedIn Answers. For e.g. there are three broad categories under Hiring and Human Resources where you can share & learn best practices in the recruiting space.
And, just as in the real-world, you have to make the effort to build those relationships and LinkedIn is a great place to start having those online watercooler conversations.
2. Seek and you shall find - the right candidate on LinkedIn
As Lenny mentions at the start of the video, accurately finding individuals with the right combination of skillsets may be more difficult than you think. The best way to find those individuals on LinkedIn is using advanced search.
And, did you know there's advanced search for People, Jobs and Answers as well as the invaluable Name search and Reference search.
Five flavors of LinkedIn's Advanced Search
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Lucian Beebe May 12, 2008
These past few months LinkedIn has been building a platform that lets you use your LinkedIn network both on and off LinkedIn. We’ve talked about taking your network with you as you navigate the web and using it to get work done, advance your career, and discover connections.
We facilitate this in two ways:
• Deep partnership integrations: APIs allow select partners such as APEC, SimplyHired, and IDG’s CIO.com to access LinkedIn data and build deep, rich integrations. And we will be announcing the next handful of well-recognized partners shortly. This is not a public program at this time. We have carefully built relationships to ensure the privacy of your profile and your connections. We want to make sure that every partner treats your privacy as carefully as we do.
We review dozens of partnership requests each week and will grant access to those partners who have a clear value proposition to LinkedIn users and can demonstrate that they will ensure your privacy. We are particularly interested in supporting jobs and career sites, news providers, and conference and events sites because we believe that these are excellent places where your LinkedIn network is very valuable to you.
• Broadly available integrations: Widgets allow us to provide integration to the thousands of sites and applications that want quick and easy integrations that respect user’s privacy settings. This week we will announce how to implement LinkedIn widgets on your own site. Other widgets will follow very shortly. Stay tuned to the blog. Feel free to also see the existing widgets on BusinessWeek.com and CIO.com today.
Google Friend Connect
With this as a backdrop, where does Google Friend Connect fit in? Google announced Friend Connect tonight (see my presentation at Google Campfire yesterday - video above) and we are one of the launch partners. You can see that Google Friend Connect fits well with our model. LinkedIn's a part of Friend Connect since we believe that your data will be treated with the same care we administer. More details are available on the Google site.
When we started our Intelligent Applications platform, we outlined several examples of what we expected people would be able to do: see who you know at a conference, see who you know at a hiring company where you want to work, and see profiles of people you encounter in applications and on the web. With Friend Connect, we look forward to seeing the great new integrations that allows you to take your LinkedIn network to any site.
Putting it all together for developers
If you are developing a web site and have a compelling integration you’d like to talk about with us, let us know at developers@linkedin.com. Consider using the widgets we produce because they are quick and easy to implement and give great integration opportunities. And as Google Friend Connect comes along, take a close look and see whether that is the right technology for your integrations. Either way, your site stands to benefit with deeper functionality and the advantage of bringing LinkedIn's professionals network to your site.
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Mario Sundar May 12, 2008
Yes, we're getting older but the spirit of fun and craziness with which we started lives on. Last week's Wednesday lunch session was a trip down memory lane as Jean-Luc Vaillant, Yan Pujante, Chris Saccheri, Candy Mielke, Sarah Imbach and Dan Nye walked us through some of the milestones we've covered in five short years!
In case you missed Chris Saccheri's post last Monday, here's a brief recap: LinkedIn emerged five years ago on the pre-web 2.0 scene on Cinco de Mayo. Since then we’ve added value to the growing number of professionals turning to our site for social networking, jobs, answers, and the list goes on.
Just last week, we welcomed our 22 millionth professional (and as is tradition) we took a picture of our team right after our Cinco de LinkedIn celebrations. Also, check out a slideshow of the LinkedIn team through the years!
Here are some more pictures from the celebration and a couple of videos as well. Also, check out the entire 5th birthday photo album on Flickr, which has more than 100 pictures and a couple of videos.
And, thanks for the many kind wishes you sent in.
Have a story?
Leave a comment if you have a LinkedIn story to share and we may feature it along with your profile. Check out recent user stories that we have featured on the blog thus far.
Join our team
We've grown rapidly since we started five years ago, and our rapid pace of user acquisition has been outdone only by our hiring spree. Check out some of the job openings we have currently. We'd love for you to join the ride!
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Krista Canfield May 08, 2008
I'm currently down in Los Angeles at the Digital Hollywood Conference and one thing I keep hearing over and over from people that I've met down here is, "How do I take LinkedIn to the next level?" Luckily for me I have four terrific recent customer stories that I've been able to share with folks I've met.
Alison Doyle at About.com just recently wrote an article about how four LinkedIn users were able to use our site in different ways to find their dream jobs. I love this article because it showcases the fact that there is more than one way to find jobs on LinkedIn.
This article tells how Evan Gotlib found his job at TravelZoo by doing a random job search on LinkedIn. Liz Manning found her job at Benevia by looking through her connections on LinkedIn to find someone she might know at the company she wanted to work for. Steve Weinstein found his by getting contacted directly by a Cooper Power System's HR personnel and Chuck Hester found his job at iContact by expanding his network organically. The article is a terrific read and definitely showcases the power of LinkedIn.
And more importantly, feel free to leave a comment on any success you've had using LinkedIn, right here at the bottom of the post.
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Chris Saccheri May 05, 2008
Cinco de Mayo holds a special place in our hearts here at LinkedIn. In addition to being an excuse to down margaritas and tacos, it marks the fifth anniversary of the day we launched LinkedIn: May 5, 2003. The web was a different place back then; Friendster was the hottest site around, terms like "Web 2.0" and "AJAX" hadn't yet been coined, web pages were still in black and white... Okay, maybe it wasn't that long ago.
As both a company and a tool, LinkedIn has changed dramatically. Here's a quick "then and now" comparison of LinkedIn '03 and LinkedIn '08:
| |
May 2003 |
May 2008 |
| Employees |
10 |
278 |
| Users |
4,800 |
22,000,000+ |
| Introductions Sent |
280 |
7,000,000+ |
| Recommendations Made |
0 |
4,500,000+ |
| Questions Answered |
0 |
1,000,000+ |
| Four Square Games Played |
0 |
6,394 |
Note that many of the features present in LinkedIn today -- including Recommendations, InMails, Groups Answers, and Jobs -- hadn't been built in May 2003. (But we were already thinking about most of them!)
I've also put together a small gallery of screenshots showing how LinkedIn has evolved through the years. What will LinkedIn look like 5 years from now? 10 years from now? Only time will tell...
LinkedIn through the years
And finally -- as a bonus to anybody who read this far -- here's an easter egg from the old days. Probably the last page I finished before the launch was our Founders page. It took forever to get everyone's bio together so, in the meantime, I wrote a few on my own. We didn't leave it this way for long, but here's a screenshot for posterity.
LinkedIn Founders Page, May 2003
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Mario Sundar Apr 29, 2008
Just a few hours ago, Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times (NYT) describes "American's confidence continuing to plunge this month, as their homes lose value at the fastest rate in two decades, according to reports released on Tuesday". (Read the entire article here, the 2nd most widely emailed article on NYT's website today)
Given the concerns around the housing slump, many users on LinkedIn have been asking these questions on LinkedIn Answers, which is our featured question for this week. Frank Sexton, Manager of Commerce & Development at National Hockey League and recent homeowner, wonders if he should look into refinancing given today's housing market.
While a few answers asked for more details, and a few other agents recommended refinancing, here are a couple of answers that highlighted the pros and cons of refinancing with regards to Frank's situation that may have helped him.
Paul Gruenther, a real estate agent at Vanguard Realty outlines a couple of options --
While, Brian Smith, Senior Loan Officer says --
--
Check out some of our more recent LinkedIn Answers' questions of the week in our Answers category within the blog.
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Mario Sundar Apr 29, 2008
Cliches aside, I've always spoken about how a professional networking site like LinkedIn can help you find your dream job. I found mine, and so did Evan Gotlib from Travel Zoo. Evan is currently the Advertising Sales Director at Travel Zoo and stumbled upon his dream job through LinkedIn. In the below video he talks about the ease with which he found his current job while using LinkedIn.
After the jump, we've outlined three of Evan's favorite features sprinkled with some quotes from his interview on what he found most useful about LinkedIn.
3 Tips from Evan
1. With great connections come great utility!
I started to see the incredible power of LinkedIn, right after 50 connections! That was the tipping point!
As many of our users have highlighted, the power of LinkedIn isn't unleashed unless and until your LinkedIn network reflects your day to day professional network as closely as possible. We provide an easy way to import your connections from any mail client (Outlook or any of the popular webmail providers) you use. Click on image below to take you to the "Import Connections" page.
2. News I care about, from the people I care about
I can go to New York Times and see the Top 10 Most emailed articles, but on LinkedIn I can find what my people are reading. That's something I should be reading.
The best part of LinkedIn News is that you get to read, recommend, share news articles that you find most interesting with your colleagues within your company. Likewise, you'll find the articles that are most popular within your company. And, the best part is that they are private conversations.
3. Letting your dream job find you through LinkedIn
This was the first job I pro actively went after, and it would have obviously not happened without LinkedIn
And, finally the dream job that Evan found, couldn't have been made possible but through LinkedIn Jobs. Check it out by clicking the image below.
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If you have a story to share about LinkedIn, let us know by either leaving a comment here or email me at msundar@linkedin.com. Want to see similar stories that our users have shared with us thus far, check out the Users category within the blog.
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Mario Sundar Apr 27, 2008
And, finally a roundup of our most viewed videos, which include demos/ blooper reels/ and feature introduction from our product/design/engineering teams. Going through these videos is literally a trip through memory lane. Here are the Top 10 most popular videos we hosted on YouTube.
Click on any of the images below to take you to the video directly or the title links that will take you to the relevant blog posts.
#10: Feature Enhancements to Network Updates with Ruslan Belkin and Chris Richman
#9: Launch of LinkedIn News with demo by Jen Granito
#8: Launch of LinkedIn Status with demo by Chris Richman
#7: LinkedIn Users with Andy Cohen, CEO of Caring.com
#6: LinkedIn API Announcement with demo by Lucian Beebe
#5: Adam Nash introducing LinkedIn News
#4: Launch of LinkedIn Company Profiles with demo by Maisy Samuelson
#3: LinkedIn's redesigned homepage demo with Elliot Shmukler
#2: LinkedIn Mobile demo on the iPhone with Jerry Luk
#1: LinkedIn Answers Live! Event with Guy Kawasaki and Dan Lyons (a.k.a Fake Steve Jobs)
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Mario Sundar Apr 27, 2008
While we're on the topic of the blog's one year anniversary (check out our Top 10 posts from the past year here), why not go over the Top 10 photos viewed as well. Also, check out the LinkedIn photo pool we maintain in Flickr with over 555 photos (as of April 2008).
#10: Patrick Crane, Steve Sordello and Mike Lin (from l-r) at the Wednesday lunch
#9: Photo taken at our LinkedIn photo feature launch (read the related blog post here)
#8: Steve Ganz in the Zone
#7: The group behind LinkedIn Groups (read the related blog post here)
#6: Lunches at LinkedIn
#5: Aileen Brown and Brooke Watts (read an earlier blog post by Aileen)
#4: Well, that'd be Kay and me talking about our blog (at a Wed lunch meeting)
#3: Dan Nye, Kay Luo and David Multer who contributed the winning Webby acceptance speech
#2: Ryan Gustafson's contribution to our cube chic contest (read a post from Ryan)
#1: Moving to new digs - Jim Meyer and Jerry Luk at the expanded office space in Mountain View
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I'd like to thank some of the major contributors to the photo pool we currently have (555 photos and counting). A huge thanks to Jerry Luk, Steve Ganz and Brooke Watts for making this an interesting
resources for readers/users to check out what's the latest happening
within LinkedIn.
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