Commercial REIA meetings

[Robert Berganza]

Hi everyone I live in Lakeland, in Polk County, Florida. I have been going to our local REIA meetings in North Lakeland; however, I've found there's little to no involvement in commercial investing at that meeting. Are commercial REIA's less common, or am I just not looking in the right places? If not, how or where do the commercial investors network? I found an off market apartment building south of Lakeland, and was hoping to bounce some ideas off the other members at our REIA meeting only to find that no one I ran into owned any commercial property. Any thoughts or tips would be appreciated

[Marc C.]

I know! True in my area, too! It's all fix and flip. Wholesale. Fix and flip. Yawn. 

So, I started my own Meetup group, Apartment Investor Breakfast Club. We meet monthly; get 12-20 people showing up and paying $10 that is donated to charity. For speakers, we've so far had a broker, lender, property manager, and will next have someone from the local housing authority talk about Section 8. 

What has disappointed me is that even this group, almost no one owns a commercial property, and most of the interest is in 4plexes. As far as meeting possible investors for my future deals, I think I've met one.