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Most clubs have dues and you get discounts on RE training offered to the club. The reason these clubs are truly worthwhile is contacts. Where do you find contractors who work with real estate investors??? Where do you find real estate agents who work with investors??? Where do you find mentors??? Where do you find people to flip deals to??? Where do you find bird dogs??? At real estate investor clubs!!!
Not all real estate clubs are created equal, though!!!
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If you can’t afford it, don’t go; keep being poor!!!
The dues are nominal, usually annual and are purely for the purpose of covering expenses associated with maintainging an organization. Of course, I’m sure if you set up a club, you would freely give your time and money to coordinate events, set up websites, and create ways for people to share deals; all so others could make money at your expense. And if you would, there’s nothing stopping you from doing it today. Happy hunting and in the future, try not to criticise those people who are more than willing to help you at no profit to themselves.
P.S. You need to get rid of your poverty mentality. Try replacing the word “can’t” in your post with the word “won’t.”
Hello Swirlaze, The club that I go to charges $15.00 a month or $100.00 a year. There is a wealth of information there that more than pays for the dues.
Money is always going to be needed to be paid or received on anything you do. But this is an investment in your RE business. It’s a tax writeoff. And it will benefit you more than you know. You would be crazy not to find the time and money to go.
Some clubs are better than others…If you can get in one DO IT!!!
If they have monthly dues pay for a couple of months and go…
You will be surprised at how much you’ll learn at the better clubs…
Like Mike says, Change CAN’T for WON’T…
Took me a little time to realize that and it’s starting to pay off now after looking at this business for several years.
Stop stepping over the dollars worrying about the dimes…Make a LITTLE sacrafice now to make a lot of money in the near future…
Kevin
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Swirlaze,
I dont think they are trying to bash you, though it may have come across in a harsh way. Why dont you speak to the RE club leader and tell them your situation. Maybe they will understand it. Either way, dont give up…aim high and work hard.
Good luck!
Herschel
Swirlaze,
It was never my intent to insult you. If you want people to pat you on the back and tell you what you want to hear, then you want to stay where you are in life. If you want to improve your situation, you need someone to challenge you and tell you the truth, regardless of what you want to hear. If you are looking for pity, you won't get it from me. You said you live in Brooklyn, NY, so I'm certain you live in America, which means you have no excuses. Whatever my level of success, don't think I achieved it without any struggles. My first year in real estate, I lost everything I owned; my home, my vehicle, sold everything I owned on ebay to pay bills and still wound up homeless with a wife and four children. I've been through the fire and seen days where $4.91 would have felt like a lot. I'm sorry you didn't have a mother, my father disappeared when I was a toddler. The reality is that life can be hard, but you are in control of your future. The things that have happened to you will never change. The way I see it, you have two options; be a victim, or be an overcomer. Feeling sorry for yourself is self-defeating, but anyone who has ever had to fight for their place in life has done it; except for One. Keep your head up. Refuse to be a victim. Refuse to feel sorry for yourself. Just find a way to make your dreams become your reality.
As for practical advice on how to create the cash you need, sell your radio, sell your TV, sell your stuffed animal collection; just find a way. Pull an extra shift, wash your neighbor’s car, clean someone’s garage, do whatever it takes. If you come up with the dues, agree to bird dog for someone with more experience. When you get your first check for refering someone to a property, reinvest it into your business. You may know enough about real estate to teach a graduate course at Wharton on the subject, but until you take action on what you know, you will remain broke. Learn to be your own boss. Your boss at your JOB wouldn’t care if you didn’t feel like doing the work and you’d get the job done because you have to. Now that you have the chance to make millions, you’re finding excuses??? Does that make sense to you??? I hope you make a way to succeed.
Swirlaze,
There was NEVER any intent to insult you in any way. This forum is just like any other on the net, people ask questions, give opinions, give free advice, and mostly to the benefit of all. Sometimes an incident like this happens. I apologize for any inference you may have taken. People take things all different ways, and sometimes it’s the wrong way from what was intended.
One of the things that I now realize in this business is that you need to have an attitude about rejection. You are going to face that every day when you are starting in this business. When you don’t have a track record to show people, it’s hard to instill confidence in your client. BUt you just have to explain to people they didn’t know EVERYTHING about their present job the first day they were there. You can plan all the questions they will ask you, but you’ll never know the answers to the one that you never thought of.
I’ve been in a situation this year that’s given me new insight as to what it’s like to be in foreclosure. I’ve been a truck driver for the last 20 odd years. The last company I worked for I’ve been with since Nov of '94. The last few months of work, I lost a lot of time from work because of doctors visits. With the type of work I was doing it was hard for me to take partial days off, so I would lose a whole days pay. It becomes a drain when you lose anywhere from a $100 to $160 a day. And I worked 12 to 14 hours a day every day to earn it. When I started with the company, we were driving about 115K miles a year. It’s dropped down to about 90K now, since they’ve hired more drivers and trucks, and our pay hasn’t changed to much in those 10 years.
On June, 14th I went to the emergency room with a serious leg infection. I had to go to the ER because we don’t have any health insurance. Yes, the company did offer it to drivers about 4 years ago. We had it for 1 year and when the time came to renew it, the company decided not to do that. The premiums were going to increase almost 60%. At that time I was paying $400 a month for the insurance. That was for our family because my wife’s company doesn’t offer health insurance either. We could not afford it then, and with the increase, we would have dropped it anyway.
When I got to the hospital, they had to lance the infection and let it drain. The next night I went back to the ER doctor and he admitted me because the only way to fight this infection was with I/V antibiotics. The hospital stay and follow up visits have me with doctor and hospital bills of about $17,000 for the week stay. On the 3rd day in hospital, they found that I’ve got an irregular heartbeat. With the drugs I’m on for that and high blood pressure, I now can not drive commercial vehicle. There goes a job I’ve done for 20 years, and don’t have the schooling to do anything else.
Most people would have been down in the dumps about their predicament, but I was totally charged about the chance I was staring in the face to change my life.
Being behind on the house note and our van payment, we were on the verge of losing both. We were behind $1500 ( 3 months) on the van, and had a payoff of $7000. We settled with the finance company for $3000 cash. We had to go to my family and borrow the money. Our house was about 4 months in arrears, and we did a partial claim with HUD, and got a 2nd put on our house.
As I said, I haven’t worked a day since June 14, 2005. The only help we have been able to get so far is food stamps. My wife makes too much for me to get disability. And it’s only about $150 a month too much. She makes good money but not enough for us with only her pay. The only other bills we had any help with was the electric bills. We had help from the local church organiztions. That was $150 for each month they helped us with the bill, and that was 2 times.
On top of that, put 2 boys through college. My youngest son, Pete, is going to a very good junior college here in Texas for Pre-med. His 2 semesters loans came to $8600. That doesn’t include all the incidentals that came out of our pocket, that was about $1000. The middle son, Jason, he’s finishing up Computer classes and is working on getting all his certifications for the computer career he is seeking. He’s had all his monies in place, so he wasn’t too much of a problem.
I’m totally fired up about my future. I spent this time off learning as much as I could about this business, and have spent money I didn’t have to do it. When I told the wife that I bought a course off the Internet and spent what I did, she went through the roof. I did what I had to do to pay for it. I pawned most of the tools that I owned and still was short but we got through. Still haven’t heard the end of that one.
We all have problems in our life, its just how we deal with them. I went to a seminar in October, and have been charged up ever since. I can’t wait for the New Year!!! I KNOW it’s gonna be a lot better than last year. NO ONE or ANYTHING is goona slow down this train. I’m chuggin’ full steam ahead!!!
And now I am going to make you an offer in this forum, in full public view of all who care to look. FIND A CLUB IN YOUR AREA, AND I’LL PAY 3 MONTHS DUES. My email address is open to any who care to look, Shoot me an email, with particulars and contacts, and I’ll sponsor you for 3 months. That said, I’ll end this rather long post.
And IF I DON’T DO WHAT I SAY I AM GOING TO DO, YOU CAN EXPOSE ME TO THE WHOLE WORLD RIGHT HERE!!! I’m willing to take the chance, will you?
Good luck and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR, I KNOW I AM!!!
GO HORNS!!!
Kevin
Kevin Carr – You are a good, good man.
Bruce
It sounded to me to be more like a pep talk than an insult. Sometimes people say things one way and people hear things another way.
Might even be the time of day or year that affects how we take things.
There are some things about real estate investing that you really have to pay attention to when you father’s last name is not Trump.
Few people get to escape them. It’s credit score, employment, or ability to repay the loan and some form of documentable reserves, (real or not) to imply you have some backup.
HOW I GOT MY FIRST HOUSE. Kind of humorous story.
I didn’t own my first home till I was 40. And I still had to take on a roomate to help with the mortgage. I thought a divorced dad paying child support on 3 kids would never own property.
Then, I met these 2 people , a young couple. STUPID AS THE DAY IS LONG. After ten minutes of listenting to them talk you would want to cut your wrists to escape the conversation. One diet coke with Drano over here, please.
Then they mentioned that they refinanced their home and got a lower mortgage payment. I thought. These people own PROPERTY??? They can barely breathe without instruction. What’s up with that?
Well, if they can do it, Why the heck can’t I? And a few months later, I did.
One thing I will tell you is that AFTER I did my first investment property deal and started talking about it, I had all kinds of offers from people to lend me private money to buy property. I COULDN’T SQUEEZE A DIME OUT OF THEM FOR MY FIRST PROPERTY.
Go fugure… My first deal gave me credibility that people needed to trust thier money to me. 12 mortgages later, I haven’t missed a payment.
I guess where I’m going with this is trust that all are here trying to help not hinder. If something posted upsets you, ask for a more detailed explanation instead of considering it an accusation.
And keep at it.
JeffInCT
There are two clubs in my area. One is a little far and has 350 members. The other is closer and has 20 members. One would think that there will be more contacts and networking if I join the one with 350 members. What do you guys think? Which one should I join?
I would go to both as a visitor and see which you like…commonsense would tell you that the one with 350 members would have the odds in your favor but, as with any club, it is only as good as the participating members!
Keith
I would also try to make a meeting or two at both clubs. You may find contacts or contractors closer to home through the small club. You never know when you might run into that one wholesaler that might sell you his/her rehab property that would net you tens of thousands of dollars. Reverse that and you might meet someone who is looking for rehab properties who you can wholesale to.
Between the two clubs, see if you can find your contacts of realtors, wholesalers, inspectors, appraisers, private lenders, electricians, plumbers, general contractors, attorneys, title companies, property managers, etc…
Spend the $10 or $20 to go to a meeting at each club and take tons of business cards.
It’s been a full week and haven’t heard anything… I guess it wasn’t to important to take up an offer like that!!!
Oh well… I can’t do much more…
Later,
Kevin
There are talkers
and there are do-ers.
Or sometimes people are just too busy.
I would have taken you up on it, Kevin but my nearest club is in Dallas and that’s a 3-hour drive (each way)!
Keith
I thought I made it clear all he had to do was find a rei club in his area of New York. I guess he just didn’t have the time to take care of it, and I’m too busy to do it for him.
YEAH, it was meant to sound EXACTLY the way it did!!
HAVE to go to Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium (aka:DKR) Sunday night to celebrate our 2005 NATIONAL CHAMPION TEXAS LOGNHORNS!!!
Kind of bittersweet news this weekend, but we knew it was possible. Would have liked for him to stay for his final year, but like he said, he will ALWAYS bleed burnt orange. With Houston Texans having first pick, and Vince being from Houston, it would be even more sweet to have him QB’ing the Texans, if they pick him first.
4th and 5, :26 seconds to go, and Vince comes through again!!!
GO HORNS!!!
LATER,
Kevin