Hey everyone, a while back I had done a search on local REIAs to attend; I live in Manatee County FL. I saw some suggestions but never saw any follow ups on whether they were worthwhile or not. So, I went and attended a couple. I just wanted to provide my experience thus far with the two that I have been to.

Sarasota REIA, http://sarasotareia.com/ (Manatee county area)

Suncoast REIA, http://www.sreia.com/ (Pinellas county area)

So, I have only attended one of the Suncoast meetings and didn't get a good feel for it but I will say the speaker that night was excellent. He was a CPA and investor and new his stuff! The crowd, which was small, seemed a bit aloof but it was the holiday season so there were not a lot of people there. I plan on attending a couple more meetings to get a better feel.

Now, I did attend two meetings for the Sarasota group. The first was a luncheon and the second was their monthly meeting. Again, the group was small since many were on vacation but the dynamic was different. It was clear that the group knew each other and it felt a bit more relaxed than the Suncoast group.  Both speakers for the luncheon and monthly meeting were very good but I did prefer the monthly meeting speaker, Larry Harbolt, much better. After the meeting I went to the bar across the street with Larry and several of the group and we had a great time just talking about multiple things that were real estate related and not real estate related. A very good group of people who genuinely seem to want to help everyone be successful. 

After I get another meeting under my belt with Suncoast I'll provide an update on my thoughts. If you are South of the Sunshine bridge and want a good group I highly recommend the Sarasota REIA. There is one in Bradenton as well but I haven't had a chance to attend their meeting yet. They were actually recommended to me by one of the Sarasota members so I will have to check them out and report back. Hope this is of help to people in my area!