Went to first REIA meeting

[Whitney Moore]

So i went to my first REIA meeting on Saturday and honestly I still am a little confused..Let me give a rundown of how the day started...

I go in register and get my name tag.. And because there was not enough seats I missed the briefing for new members interested in joining.. I was able to see checks on the walls with various members who made money on different wholesale jobs so i figured they were going over how this to can become you.. Then we are all lead into a bigger room and we then get a presentation on how in 21 days we could also make from 5,000 and above on various transactions.. The ppt was about 1 hour long and towards the end there were various products with VALUED prices.. The last slide then calculated all the Value prices and it came up to around 9000.. Of course everyone was looking around like NO WAY!! lol so then they slashed the price and people still were kind of uneasy.. So then the presenter says well do you want to know how you can get it for free.. They then ask you to join the REIA and there are two prices one around 170 the other around 200 both per month...( I dont know what the typical REIA membership fee is monthly) So I saw people signing up and getting the started kit but there are other courses that you can get but you would also have to pay for... I then went over to see the application and I saw that it required that you have to have 2 cards on file (again i dont know if that is typical practice)

I guess my question to the BP community is this how most REIA operate? I left a little confused and wandered maybe this what happens.. Also they offered to show you how to market on Craiglist, facebook, use listingbook, and give you access to dealer analyzer software... I thought a lot of these things were offered for free online but I could be wrong.. I dont want to say this was a bad place but I will go attend others in my area to see how it goes...

Any thoughts?

[Brendan D.]

@whitney moore i was very suspicious of gurus and trainers for a litany of reasons we can discuss if you show up to a REIA meeting. Last year I blew 9k on an out of town gurus coaching program. I won't badmouth him as I don't think he's a crook, it's just a system I shouldn't have been in as wholesaling is the foundation of investing and it's best to learn from someone who's doing deals in your backyard. He had no interest in wholesaling and his market was totally different from mine. Lesson learned..............

Over the years I've watched DC REIA grow from meeting in the Bowie library to Florian hall, to owning their own building and I don't know if any other REIA in our area owns their own meeting facility. During that time of their growth i spun my wheels and did deals inconsistently. what i then realized was that i didn't need to reinvent the wheel and that i learn best by doing, NOT reading. Going it on my own I've gotten scammed by other investors, crooked wholesalers and idiot agents.

i'm currently in a 90 rehabbing class at DC REIA, taught by an active rehabber in PG County and agent. I'm learning a TON and will see a return on my investment in my education as I'm taking action. I'm personally working a short sale with the rehabbing instructor and have a contract on a fire damaged REO. During this rehabbing class we've had all day sessions and we've gone on alot of property tours where someone in the class was rehabbing the house or it was Stephanie's (the rehabbing instructor) project. There's 2 ways to learn, on your own or with a mentor. i prefer the mentor method as you learn from their mistakes and shorten your learning curve tremendously.

For example, I thought you had to pay all contractors to get started. Since being in this program I've been provided with multiple contractors who are adequately capitalized and can get paid off the 1st draw. That right there is worth the price of admission. No other REIA in this area offers as much as DC REIA and I know, I've looked at them all. It's not a slight to them as Baltimore has some good ones and I've heard good things about Traction REIA as well. But the resources I need have been and are being provided by DC REIA and I'm getting alot of value for the cost of the class. Once the class is over I will be joining and will happily pay $197/mo. And everytime the doors are open I will be in there whether it's for the Dealmaker's Workshop, the wholesaling subgroup or the rehabbing group. I'm there. Everytime I set foot in there I learn something new, and make a new connection that can help my business. Not to mention the fact that my future ambitions are in commercial real estate and I got to see the site where Sherman's building a 5 story 21 unit apt bldg near the harbor in Baltimore. If I can rub shoulders with him and his crowd, it's only a matter of time before I get to that level and I have no problem paying to be associated with such a powerful, in the trenches group of investors. The mastermind group principle is real. To quote a wise man richer than me: "you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with". I choose to spend my time with the active investors at DC REIA. I wish you the best with your investing whatever you decide to do.

[Sara Cunningham]

Wow that was quite a conversation. Very interesting. Sherman just wondered when your next monthly meeting was, and whether current investors are welcome to attend.

[Jon Holdman]

Folks, dates, times and locations of meetings cannot be published in ANY forum here on BiggerPockets EXCEPT the Real Estate Events and Happenings forum.

[Mark Cruse]

Wow, this was a hell of a convo. Actually, I'm attending the DC REIA this Saturday. I know multiple members and am finally going to see what's happening there. Also, that BWI meet up sounds great. Eventually, I will get to one that I heard focuses on southern MD. For me, I'm not the type to pay anyone thousands of dollars for anything like that aside from what I did in college. I know so many that have never paid a dime to anyone who are very successful. However, there are many many people that need that type of guidance. Personally I'm the type that listens to most while trying to pull something positive from any situation. I'm working on my first flip so networking has a high priority right now. I will keep you all updated on how it goes.

[Mark Cruse]

I checked it out this morning. Very impressive. It's a win win for newbies.