REI - Prince William County KICK-OFF MEETING

EventMontclair, Virginia
Real Estate Events & Meetups
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REI - Prince William County KICK-OFF MEETING

When:

Where:Group Study Room #4, 5049 Waterway Dr Montclair, Virginia 22025

Cost:Free

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Barb F.
Northern Virginia · Member since 2019 · 59 posts · 22 votes

Greetings, BP Family! This will be the first meeting of REI - Prince William County (aka Real Estate Investors in Prince William County). My main goals for this group are for it to be education-oriented, welcoming to all no matter where they are in their journey, and useful for networking.

I (Barb) am a newbie and would love to see this group be a welcoming mix of folks from the new to the experienced. Let's make this a rewarding experience for anyone and everyone who turns up. Maybe we won't know everything, but we'll put you in touch with someone who can help with what you're trying to learn about.

As for how we use the time, I think there's benefits to both general socializing as well as a more structured discussion group. Let's plan on this first one being meet & greet, getting to know each other, what our goals are, what our expertise is in, what we're looking to get out of such meetings, etc. Maybe we can plan discussions on a topic for some months, or we can stick to people discussing what's on their plates at the moment and get everyone's input. Let's turn this group into what we need it to be. For example, I myself am looking for a mentor, with a few successful buy-and-hold rental properties, for accountability with good rapport and a similar philosophy to mine.

Logistically speaking, my / our goal is to meet on a Monday or Thursday in approximately the third week of every month. Right now we're looking at a 6:30 - 8:30 time frame and using libraries in Eastern Prince William County to keep these cost-accessible to everyone. For this first meeting we'll be in a small group study room but in May (and hopefully in the future) we'll be in the larger Community Room.

Logistics: Beverages, but not food, are allowed in the Group Study Room. (In the future, beverages AND food are permissible in the Community Room).

Next meeting: Monday, May 13 from 6:30 - 8:30 at Montclair Community Library in the larger Community Room.

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Maurice G.
Investor · Manassas, VA · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 2 votes
7y

I'm not a newbie but always up for learning and networking.  Looking forward to the meeting.

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  • Maurice G.
    Investor · Manassas, VA · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 2 votes
    7y

    I'm not a newbie but always up for learning and networking.  Looking forward to the meeting.

    1Reply
  • Leo GonzalezPro Member
    Alexandria, VA · Member since 2017 · 43 posts · 14 votes
    7y

    @Robert Rodriguez

    0Reply
  • Barb F.
    OP
    Northern Virginia · Member since 2019 · 59 posts · 22 votes
    7y

    Hello, all! Tax Day and the first meet up at the Montclair Library are upon us tomorrow evening! I hope to see you there. As a reminder, beverages are permitted but food is not.

    If you know of other locations that might be able to host us, please do get in touch. While we are still all set for tomorrow, unfortunately to use the larger community room, a group needs to be a registered 501(c) organization. I'm trying to avoid places that require spending money such as meeting at restaurants. If someone knows of a community center or even a place of worship that might allow us to use their premises, please reach out so that we can find a regular meeting space. The Montclair Library will be fine as long as we're under 8 people. I do hope we grow past that, and quickly! So let's see if we can't come up with an alternative for May and all future months!

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  • Barb F.
    OP
    Northern Virginia · Member since 2019 · 59 posts · 22 votes
    7y

    Good morning, all!

    Thank you SO much to those who attended last night's first meeting! The turnout, quality of conversation, and friendly tone in the room blew away my hopes for what this group would be on the first day. We had a wonderful mix of the more and less experienced which creates wonderful opportunities to learn from hard-earned lessons as well as stimulate new ways of thinking about ideas that perhaps we take for granted.

    I'd like to summarize some of the take-homes about the group format:

    1. We're going to aim for meeting on the third Monday of the month from 6:30 - 8:30... and I noticed I already have a deviation from that for the month of May, when we'll be meeting on May 13. Apologies for any confusion.
    2. General structure of meetings:
      1. 15 minutes to mingle, catch up, network, and get settled
      2. 45 minutes for a Focused Discussion on a particular aspect of real estate investing. Sometimes this will involve someone (a member or a guest we've invited) stepping up to give a short presentation and Q&A, other times we may try a panel discussion, other times we will do a less structured flow of questions and answers similar to last night's discussion.
      3. 20 minutes in the Hot Seat: Someone will get a chance to present their current dilemma to the group and we will focus on their situation to help them as best we can.
      4. Another 20 minute Hot Seat round.
      5. A final 20 minutes to mingle, catch up, network, and say goodbyes.
      • This structure is subject to change to accommodate our needs!
    3. For Focused Discussions to be successful, we need attendees to step up and volunteer to prepare a short (maybe 15 minute) presentation on a topic with which they are experienced. Perhaps you're telling us about nightmares you found after closing, tips on what made a deal go very smoothly, or just a general info session on how you approach presentations for lenders. If you are less experienced, talk to us about what you've recently been learning, because teaching material is a great way to ensure you've learned it well yourself.
      • We'll ask that you spend a little time outside of meetings preparing your remarks. You don't need a powerpoint or handout, but if we settle on a meeting location with reliable A/V equipment it may be an option. Preparing your discussion is a form of respect and an investment in the other attendees, who are choosing to spend their evening learning from you. Let's set the tone for these to be high quality discussions.
    4. Meeting location: The Montclair Library worked wonderfully last night, but we had 12 people (hooray!) in a room zoned for 8 people (boo fire code restrictions). I will look into using the Bungalow Ale House in Woodbridge (about 20 minutes north of where we met last night) in the future, but I would honestly be appreciative if anyone else might be willing to reach out and reserve their room for us (delegation for the win). If you're willing to do that, get in touch!

    Those are my main logistical takeaways from last night's kick off meeting. I wrote down interests that people wanted to learn about as well as have some of my own to add. If you are willing to prepare a 15 minute presentation on any of these, please reach out.

    • Getting back in the game when you've been out for a while
    • Overcoming analysis paralysis: How to prepare appropriately for a decision so you can just do it already
    • Financing strategies (I feel like various financing strategies could be their own discussions for entire meetings, but perhaps we could do deep dives into one or two strategies and compare / contrast, pro / con discussions too.)
    • Bank notes (@Account Closed I'm looking at you to talk about this when you get back from your workshop in San Fran!)
    • Tutorials on how to use various cost estimate calculators (Bigger Pockets calculators, Rehab Evaluator, ROI Signal, etc)
    • Coordinated watching of a webinar together, or perhaps a YouTube video where we discuss the content afterwards (e.g. Rehabber Pro in Baltimore)
    • Insurance: Which do you need and why?
    • How to put together an offer
    • How to look up permit history of a property
    • Business ethics
    • How to check licenses of contractors and subcontractors
    • How to put together a presentation for a bank
    • How to find motivated sellers
    • Discussion of a relevant book you've read to present what you learned
    • Real case scenarios you've worked (I think this will be popular!)

    Please reach out if you want to put together a presentation for our May Focused Discussion (I'll have something as a backup just in case) OR if you volunteer to be in one of next month's Hot Seats!

    1Reply
  • Account Closed
    Investor · Surprise, AZ · Member since 2018 · 156 posts · 110 votes
    7y

    @Barb F., I'll definitely be up to give a brief summary of what I learned at my workshop! Will be very fundamental as I am still learning, but would be happy to speak for a few at the next meeting for those interested. :)

    0Reply
  • Barb F.
    OP
    Northern Virginia · Member since 2019 · 59 posts · 22 votes
    7y

    Check out the link for our next meeting, tomorrow from 6:30 - 8:30 PM! Same location as last month.

    https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/693045-bp-rei-prince-william-county-may-2019?page=1#p4168281

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