What Are They?
Have a question for your fellow REIA members?  Would you like to tap into the knowledge of almost 400 fellow investors?  If so, join one or more of REIA’s discussion groups.  REIA has groups forming around the following topics: Short Sales, Rehabbing, Landlording, Foreclosures, and City Government issues such as condemnation, inspections, and zoning.  You can join as many groups as you want.

To learn the difference between discussion groups and the discussion board, click here.

How Do They Work?
When you join a discussion group, you will be able to email questions to all of the group’s members.  Group members will receive your question via email.  The email message will contain your name as the author, but your email address will be hidden.  When someone responds to your question, everyone in the group will receive the response.  Discussion groups are a great way to communicate with members interested in the same investment topics.  It also allows you to keep your email address hidden to reduce the chance of spam.  Because discussion groups are meant to facilitate a free exchange of ideas and knowledge, and are not meant as advertising boards, there are a few rules that must be followed:

1.       No disrespectful conduct is allowed.  This includes profanity, defamation, etc.

2.       Commercial advertising must be avoided.  If you want to advertise please contact Larry Baker for pricing and availability of vendor ads and vendor tables.  Since this can be a gray area, a few examples of acceptable/not acceptable entries follow:

a.       Acceptable:

    i.      Q. Does anyone know of a good attorney that has experience with condemnation in Pontiac?  A. Yes, Bob Jones handled a case for me and is very good.

    ii.      Q. I am looking to rehab a home in Inkster and need advise on some contractors.  A. I have used ABC waterproofing and they are great.  CBS waterproofing quoted me twice as much and couldn’t start for 3 weeks.

    iii.      Q. Can someone give me some advise on how to deal with the inspectors in Sunnyvale city?

b.       Unacceptable:

     i.      Q.  I own ABC roofing and will give you the best deal ever.  Call me at 555-1212.

     ii.      Q.  I have a house in Ferndale for sale, a 3 bedroom beauty.  Call me at 333-3333.

3.       Everyone has differing opinions, and there can be more than one correct answer.  Be respectful if someone has a different opinion than you do about a discussion topic.

Please report offensive behavior or other violations of this policy to reia@reiaofoakland.com  Also, by signing up for a discussion group, you acknowledge that REIA of Oakland is not responsible for the content of any message and cannot and does not monitor messages submitted by members to the discussion groups.  Because messages are submitted by discussion group members, who are solely responsible for their content, you may be exposed to inappropriate language or content.

How Do I Sign Up? First, make sure that you have subscribed to the REIA of Oakland email system.  If you are a REIA member, you have already been subscribed.  If not, you can sign up by clicking here.  Once you are a REIA email subscriber, simply click on each group that you want to join.  Send the email that pops up, that's it!  You can join as many groups as you want.  Once you receive the confirmation that you have successsfully joined a group, you can start sending and receiving messages.   NOTE: You must be a REIA of Oakland member to send messages to a Discussion Group.	Join All Discussion Groups - Use this link for "one-stop" shopping Join General Discussion Group Join City Government Issues Discussion Group Join Foreclosures Discussion Group Join Have Want Discussion Group Join Landlording Discussion Group Join Rehabbing Discussion Group Join Short Sales Discussion Group  If the above links do not work with your email program, you can join discussion groups manually by sending an email to subscribe@reiaofoakland.com and putting the word "Subscribe" in the Subject line followed by the name(s) of the group(s) that you would like to join.  Multiple group names must be separated by a comma, and you must use an underscore "_" in place of spaces in the group name.  For example, to subscribe to Short Sales and Have Want, you would type the following in the Subject line: Subscribe Short_Sales, Have_Want
How Do I Send A Message To Other Group Members? It's simple.  First, make sure that you have joined the group.  Wait until you receive the confirmation.  Once you are a confirmed group member, you can start sending group messages.  Just send your message to subscribe@reiaofoakland.com .  In the Subject line of your email, type the group name enclosed in square brackets.  For example, to send a message to the "Foreclosures" group, you would type [Foreclosures] in the Subject line.  Please note that there are no spaces in group names, so "Short Sales" would be typed [Short_Sales].  See the list below for the proper format for all of the current groups.  You can copy and paste the appropriate group name into your email's Subject line if you wish.   [Foreclosures] [General_Discussion] [Have_Want] [Landlording] [Rehabbing] [Short_Sales] [City_Government_Issues] If you wish, you can just click on one of the groups to the right and a properly formatted email will pop up, ready to add your message.   NOTE: You must be a REIA of Oakland member to send messages to a Discussion Group.	Send a Message to the General Discussion Group Send a Message to the City Government Issues Discussion Group Send a Message to the Foreclosures Discussion Group Send a Message to the Have Want Discussion Group Send a Message to the Landlording Discussion Group Send a Message to the Rehabbing Discussion Group Send a Message to the Short Sales Discussion Group If the above links do not work with your email program, you can send messages to discussion groups manually by sending an email to subscribe@reiaofoakland.com and putting the group name in the Subject line as described to the left.
How Do I Leave A Group? Simply click on each group that you want to leave.  Send the email that pops up.  MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE USING THE EMAIL ACCOUNT THAT YOU WANT TO UNSUBSCRIBE.  If successful, you will receive a confirmation email, confirming that you have left the group.  If you do not receive a confirmation, your request was not processed properly.  Once you leave a group you will no longer recieve messages from that group and you will no longer be able to send messages to that group.	Leave the General Discussion Group Leave the City Government Issues Discussion Group Leave the Foreclosures Discussion Group Leave the Have Want Discussion Group Leave the Landlording Discussion Group Leave the Rehabbing Discussion Group Leave the Short Sales Discussion Group If the above links do not work with your email program, you can leave discussion groups manually by sending an email to subscribe@reiaofoakland.com and putting the word "Unsubscribe" in the Subject line followed by the name of the group that you would like to leave.  You must use an underscore "_" in place of spaces in the group name.  For example, to unsubscribe from Short Sales, type the following in the Subject line: Unsubscribe Short_Sales