Meet Up? Topics, Timing, and Location

Hi Folks,

Following Josh Dorkin's discussion thread from earlier this week, I started chatting with John Rubino about getting a group going in the Washington DC metro area, including Northern Virginia and Maryland. We thought it would be worthwhile to gauge interest of BP members for joining in and to propose some topics, the timing of the meetup, and a possible location. If you're interested, please feel free to PM me, John, or just leave a comment below.

As for initial topics, we discussed:

• Starting out best practices;
• Networking for deals;
• Hot spots for rentals, wholesales, and flips;
• How to find deals out of town - and where to look;
• Financing strategies;
• Financial modeling - tools and tips;
• Managing property managers;
• Planning exit strategies;
• Systematizing business operations; and
• Q & A.

What other topics come to mind? Please add to the list in the comments section -- any and all topics are fair game, though the group may address them based on majority interest in one topic over another.

Regarding timing, we thought it would make sense to start in either September or October. My initial vote would be for a regular monthly, or even twice-monthly meeting time on the weekend (preferably Saturday mornings so I can get home in time for college football). We discussed starting the meetings in September or October, and further timing issues can be ironed out as more people show their interest.

Lastly, we talked about getting together down at National Harbor. It's a huge space and right off the I-495 Beltway, so hopefully it would be accessible to most folks in the DC-metro area. But we can adjust the locale as well.

So to wrap up, if you're interested in joining, please leave a comment or send a PM to John or me -- and please include any thoughts you might have about topics, timing, or the location of the meetup. The virtual world is great for initial connections, but I'm looking forward to making some real-world BP contacts as well!

Best,

Mike