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Please Review our Group Rules

This might be longer than you’re used to from a group. But don’t worry, it’s not like we’re dictators around here. It’s just that context is king, and you deserve to know the WHY behind the WHAT.

1. THE LIST OF DON’Ts:

1. DON’T be a jackwagon.

Act as if we’re all at a cocktail party and you’re mingling in person instead of behind a keyboard. We usually act with a higher sense of decorum in person, right? Be that version of yourself.

In other words, be polite. Debate civilly all you want, but comments that are personal, abrasive, defamatory, rude, indecent, harassing, offensive, or unnecessarily divisive are not tolerated and will be promptly deleted if deemed inappropriate by the admins.

We don’t want to stop you from discussing issues you’re passionate about, but we do ask that you find ways of sharing your views that don’t feel alienating, threatening, or toxic to other members.

2. DON’T post support-related issues or suggestions for membership improvements.

Rest assured we WANT to hear from you, but there are three reasons we ask you to not post this sorta stuff in the group:

• Topics like this typically don’t benefit the majority (and we want to keep the group feed as relevant to as many members as possible).
• it’s very difficult for us to keep track of these types of posts in a group environment, and...
• We have a full-time support team devoted to giving members one-on-one help. The place to let us know about membership related issues and suggestions is helpdesk@lightersideofrealestate.com

3. DON’T post your own listings / services / companies / events / causes / webinars in this group unless pre-approved by an admin. This includes affiliate links and “vote for me” type links.
4. DON’T discuss consumer-side commissions. This is for your protection, as doing so could be construed as collusion to price-fix. No bueno. Better safe than sorry.

Commission splits with your broker are ok to discuss.

5. DON’T debate religion or politics because… well, duh— there’s nothing more inflammatory & divisive than those topics. We’re all about celebrating our one true common goal: growing our real estate businesses!

(The only exception is if the discussion is in the context of laws or regulations which affect real estate. But still don’t state your opinions about political figures or parties.)

6. DON’T openly gripe if you have an issue with another member, the group itself, or with any other aspect of your membership. Doing so is toxic to others. Rest assured, we’re eager to hear your concerns, so please email us at helpdesk@lightersideofrealestate.com instead of creating a post in the group.
7. DON’T recruit.
8. DON'T ask for referrals. DO post if you have a referral to give. Members post referral opportunities all the time in this group (which is awesome!). In other words: Give, don't seek.
9. DON’T vent or rant* outside of our designated vent / rant thread, which is located here: https://bit.ly/rant_thread

*Definition of venting or ranting: Airing your problems, anger, or frustrations *WITHOUT* soliciting constructive feedback from the group, so that others may benefit from your post.

• Example #1 (BAD): “My buyer can’t make up his mind! I’m so drained!”
• Example #2 (GOOD): ““My buyer can’t make up his mind! I’m so drained! How many showings do you feel is excessive? Also, any tips for getting a buyer off the fence?”

10. DON'T use the "Invite" feature of this group to invite friends to join. This group is NOT open to non-paying members, so when you invite people at random, it places an unnecessary administrative burden on us. If you want someone to join this service, just as you did, that's great — just please forward them the sales page link that you signed up from instead of inviting them to the group.

2. THE LIST OF DOs

1. DO come from a place of contribution. When posting, ask yourself, "How can other members benefit from this?" Also, asking questions is considered a way of generating value because we have lots of smart members who love to help. When this happens, everybody wins
2. DO keep discussions at least loosely relevant to real estate. The more focused the better, though. Group conversations tend to cover a variety of topics (which is great). But if you post something that’s super off-target, it might be removed in order to keep discussions on track and members not having to see stuff they didn’t come here for.
3. DO use the group’s “Files” feature as a way of delivering files/documents that you’d like to share. Asking members to PM or email you not only creates more work for yourself, it makes us suspicious that you have an ulterior motive (see Rule #3 below).

In general, the admins aren’t “delete-happy,” but we do reserve the right to remove posts and comments at our sole discretion. If your post or comment gets deleted, that means you’ve broken a rule. We might not contact you directly (unless you’re a repeat offender), because frankly that’s time-consuming and we’re not here to babysit. If something gets deleted and you’re curious why, ask us at helpdesk@lightersideofrealestate.com.

(The following rule doesn’t apply to 99.99% of members. If you’re someone who does NOT sell or promote to agents, then feel free to skip it. You’re finished! Otherwise, make sure to read it.) 🙂

3. NO POACHING

If you notice a harsher tone in the language of this particular rule, there’s a reason.

People with ulterior motives can kill the quality of a group in a New York minute. Even worse, they can imply a false affiliation with the Inner Circle and the Lighter Side of Real Estate. We don’t want that, so we have zero tolerance for it.

This group is all about agents helping agents, NOT members poaching leads from this group. Hidden agendas can be smelled a mile away, and rest assured we’re sniffin’.

So if you sell something to agents—even if you ARE an agent—don’t even think about using this group as a lead pool. As fertile ground as this group may be for someone like you, you’re not welcome here if you can’t leave your ulterior motives at the doorstep. In other words:

1. Don’t even state what you sell / provide to agents (even if you do it for free or think you’re “adding value”). We get it, you’re “tactful” about it, not pushy. Don’t care. You’re simply baiting, and you need to delete yourself from this group if your motivation is to network with agents in hopes of pushing your product or service. If you don’t delete yourself, and you’re an obvious pest, we’ll do it for you.

(The only exception is mortgage lenders—they’re allowed to identify themselves in conversation so long as they’re not overtly soliciting. We do have a handful of great ones in the group, as the content we provide does overlap into their world.)

2. Don’t openly offer members anything (free or otherwise), if your agenda is to get people on a list or to upsell them any other products or services. If we get notified of this activity, we’ll look into it and likely revoke your membership .
3. Don’t block admins. We can still see you, and if we catch you, you’ll be banned immediately and your membership will be revoked.
4. Don’t private message members with your solicitations. If we get notified of this, we’ll evaluate the situation and likely revoke your membership if we see fit.
5. Don’t comment “Inbox me” or “I’ll inbox you” to get around any of this. This is a classic strategy of poachers, and it’s not allowed. If you’ve got something legitimately worth sharing, do it in the open.

(Btw, if you’re a member without a hidden agenda, of course you can inbox others or request that they inbox you, as in the case of a referral for example. This rule applies only to poachers… which fortunately there hasn’t been many of. It’s just that we have zero tolerance for them if you couldn’t tell.) 🙂

REMINDER: Per Section 8 of our Terms of Service (which you agreed to before signing up), you may not “use the Service [including the content we provide] to advertise or publish to, or otherwise reach, a target audience consisting of real estate agents or other related real estate professionals.”

PRO TIP: If you DO sell something to agents, do it from your own profile. Become such a valued member that others will WANT to friend you. At least then they can choose to unfriend you if they so choose.

(Btw, “valued members” get that reputation from QUALITY of posts, not QUANTITY).

There are a handful of members who happen to sell stuff to agents, and they’re stellar members who’ve gained several Facebook friends / followers this way.

BOTTOM LINE: Do not alter the vibe in our group with ulterior motives.