Naive Questions from Landlords?

Naive Questions from Landlords?

9:11 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago 63

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I was always taught that there are no daft questions and that being concious of ones own naivety is a step towards wisdom.

Mark Alexander

Last night I received an email from an established landlord who said he no longer wanted to receive our Newsletters as he felt the questions raised by forum members were naive, below his level of intellect, and that he felt Property118 was no longer for him.

This made me very sad because Property118 was created to share experiences and best practice so that we could all learn from each other. Nobody knows everything and by helping others and sharing experiences we can all learn something new and useful.

I’ve been in this business for 25 years and I still learn something new every day from comments posted on Property118 by other landlords. Some people have more experience than I do but I still learn things from the fresh thinking of newbies because they challenge my thought processes and keep my mind fresh. There are always new ways to deal with things and as the property market is ever changing and evolving, so is best practice.

This is an extract of what he said …..

“I also consider myself a professional Landlord and find some of the questions posted by some of your readers very naive and showing a very amateurish and cavalier attitude to the job that carries a great number of responsibilities. I simply do not feel I have much in common.”

He also said …….

“I feel that a lot of the responses go in the sense of pushing some various services (such as letting agents/ legal services such as Landlords Action) etc. This may be necessary for a number of amateur Landlords or people who cannot commit the time into the research and learning their job properly.”

I would be very interested to read the thoughts of other members on this.


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Comments

All BankersAreBarstewards Smith

9:19 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

What an arrogant old duffer ..... we all have to learn a new business... s/he was a new landlord at some stage and no doubt got help from someone.....

I learnt a huge amount from property forums - and, like Mark - I still do....

We are better off without the likes of him......

This is a free site for our use... and the introduction of information about useful services helps pay for Mark's time and effort - and none of us have to use them if we don't want to.

Cheerio selfish duffer

Adrian Jones

9:24 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

There are some naive questions but far more which raise interesting issues which attract a number of comments and usually solutions

Mark, I would be amazed if any LL who follows your website hasn't increased their knowledge.

I would be interested to know what sort of social life the established LL has given his level of intellect.

Alan Loughlin

9:27 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

just a plonker, take no notice.

Sanjay Patel

9:27 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

Epitome of arrogance.

I am (relatively) new and have a small portfolio and this free site has been absolutely informative and the input by fellow members has been extremely insightful.

Let this man use a professional paid for consultancy rather than this "amateur"

This site is one of my most visited site.

Mark Alexander you have created a wonderful community here!

Karen Lupton

9:28 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

Wow! It must be nice to know everything. I would consider myself to be somewhere between amateur landlord and professional, having got a modest portfolio and ten years experience at it. I also have a successful professional career in addition to this, and a raft of academic qualifications - I do not, however, consider ANY question or topic to be beneath my intellectual level. To do so would be arrogant and misguided. We all have something to learn from others, as well as something to teach!

I think this site is marvellous. There are questions posted that have answers that are obvious to some, and also a number of issues that have had even the most experienced landlords flummoxed.
We should all be sharing our experience and knowledge with each other, with the common goal of raising the reputation and quality of the profession.

That said, if he (I assume he) feels its not for him then that's up to him and I certainly wouldn't lose sleep over it - you are doing a fabulous job!!

Finally, is he saying that the forum is being used for agents and the like to plug their wares? I am not quite sure what his parting comment means? It's not something that I have particularly noticed, and certainly not felt pressured by?

Mike T

9:31 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

I am sure that we are all on a learning curve. I have been a LL of four properties for only ten years and look forward to reading the posts almost every day. Of course some are from newbies asking the questions I asked 10 years ago. Its easy to just skip those if I wish, but mostly I still read them in case there is some new thoughts/experience/info. For me I shall never know it all. Far better the LL in question just opted out rather than make the comments he did. Perhaps he won't be missed - unless of course he has some worthy import to post that will help us folk who don't know it all. Kind regards, Mike

Julie Dawson

9:33 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

What a !! They appear to know everything then ... yeh right. In this ever changing industry I'm sure they'll look back on their email at some point in the future when they need advice and wonder where to turn too, and realise that they should have kept their mouth shut ......

DAVID BREWSTER

9:36 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

Somebody asked me yesterday how to bank a Postal Order. Pretty naive I suppose but the person concerned is not naive anymore on that subject.

Paul Edwards

9:36 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

Don't get disheartened Mark.
Every business man/woman knows there is always somebody out there that thinks they know it all , some do ,most don't . In my experience the ones that think they know it all are the first to come running in a crisis.
Well that's got that off my chest . I personally and I expect a great deal of others think you do a marvellous job for very little reward.
Keep up the good work

Jamie M

9:37 AM, 13th August 2014, About 10 years ago

Oh to be so superior! gafaw gafaw harrump harrump.
The whole point is to help each other with experiences and solutions. All new landlords are naive, its how life works. No one is born knowing how to boil an egg.

Why even mention this irrelevant post and this irrelevant know it all arse?
Surely if he was so superior he would be educating us all, but I suppose its beneath him.

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