I believe so. I pay yearly for my REIA, and I've seen others where it's $20 per visit or so to pay for the room and coffee/food etc...
Being apart of your local REIA is a GREAT and one of the best ways to network with other people in your own back yard.
There is a tremendous amount of information on BP but you need to find out what's going on in your local market.
Many of these clubs will charge to offset costs because it can be expensive to run meetings. One that I belong to charges $25 per meeting but that includes dinner.
We pay $50 a year. And I must say, that it is well worth the money. The education is great, but the networking is worth way more than the membership fee.
Gold member - $250
Platinum member - $500
Elite member - $15,000
or guest $20 per visit
What does the platinum and elite membership entitle you to? Seems a bit steep, but price is all relative to what is given. Dinner with Buffet and Trump maybe?
I got to tell you that I can give you a perspective from the other side of the REIA. I play a pretty significant role in the workings of our Minnesota REIA and it's not something you would necessarly do for the membership fees because a lot of that goes right into the club.
We charge $25 after two freebies for a door fee and $24.95 month/$249.50 for the year and from there same pattern with $29.95 for couples and $39.95 for a business (four pack).
But compared to the $25 monthly subscription that I have to a lot of educational sites I would have to say that the benefits of a REIA is definately worth more and provides an environment of pure real estate. Aside from a REIA you'll be hard press to find places where you can network with so many investors in one place who are in your market. You really want to network with these investors most of all!
There are a lot of costs that go into a REIA and the successful ones are the ones that are run by people who do it to build a community and not so much the money. But altogether it is definately money well spent.