Is it worth my while and money to join the local REIA organization? I found one that has a membership fee of $72 per year. Should I join this organization and what benefits do I get out of it?
It depends on the club and what they do. I am a member of 3 of them here in Houston. I spend about $500/year on different memberships and subscriptions. I don’t really learn very much from them anymore. I think you should be around people in your industry to keep up on new developments etc.
To get started I think it was invaluable. I met my main mentor at a class at one of the clubs. He taught me most of my techniques. Also the people that advertise there and speak at the monthly meetings are the people that understand the industry. For example once you have 50 houses and try to buy a sports car the girl at the local Mercedes Benz dealership in the finance department is going to turn you down because your debt to income ration is way out of whack. That is because she has no idea how to factor in the income from the real estate. The insurance broker you find in the local news paper is going to quote insurance for your rent houses at twice what the insurance broker that you find at the club is going to quote you, etc.
The last thing I want to do is waste $72 at this REIA place and not get anything beneficial from it.
Sometimes you have to “spend money to make money”. You could try running an ad on Craigslist.
Yeah true enough.
I think it may really depend on what you want to get out of the association meetings. For instance, if you’re looking to network to meet fellow investors or potential partners or want to attend meetings to learn more about the local market and to learn from fellow investors, it can be a great resource if you can make it to most of the meetings. If you’re looking to network to promote a business you have, it can also be a good to attend the meetings or even become a vendor/partner on a yearly basis.
I’m in Charlotte and we have two REIA’s here and both have lots of members. Its a great place to network with others, find property deals and get educated from national speakers as well as from fellow investors and landlords.
You can likely attend as a guest for free for certain meetings too before paying for the annual membership.
Hope that helps…
I want to learn all I can about wholesaling property. If wholesale is not the right move to make, I want to learn other ways to make money in real estate for a newbie like me with no experience and no money to invest in real estate. I want to get connected to all the right people in the real estate profession who will be very beneficial to my real estate investing career.
I am president of our local REIA Here in Southwestern lower Michigan. Besides the chance to give back the following is what I have gotten out og it over the years.
3 Mentors on business and Real Estate
4 Private lenders
My property manager
Bought 5 properties
Sold several properties
Found almost all of my real estate team through referrals from members
Not bad but probably accounts for 50% or more of the deals that I do every year. Our fee is 75.00 Who wants to sign up?
Redhawk
I ran an ad for one of my houses that I had just rehabbed and lady called. She said she could tell by the ad that I was an investor and she wanted to be an investor too and asked if I would agree to meet with her so that she could ask me some questions. I met her at the house when I had an appointment to show it I agreed to stay behind and answer her questions. She asked me several questions about how to get started. You may want to do that. It if free and unlike 95% of the people at those meetings the person who agrees to meet with you is actually doing it.
I do, however, have a concern about your mental status when you don’t want to spend $72. Remember it is important to surround yourself with like minded people. I am a member of 3 of these clubs and I don’t learn anything from them per se. I use it to keep me current in ideas and to socialize with people that are in the lifestyle. The same reason I am on this site. If you are a golfer you need to have golfer friends, if you are a musician you need to hang out with people in music. Real estate is no different you need to socialize with people in real estate.
Concerned about my mental status? I was asking should I or should I not join the NAREIA. If it is worth the 72 bucks then I am all for it. No problem with that. But if it turns out to be a waste of money and time then count me out.
I am sorry I should not have called it mental state. What I mean with I say mental state is probably attitude or outlook on life or something else. To explain what I am talking about is that I look at life from the abundance mentality not the scarcity mentality. The scarcity mentality is like a zero sum game. For me to win somebody has to lose. The abundance mentality says that the more people are in the game the better the game is. I believe that nobody can waste my time or money except for me. Everything I do and everybody I talk to enhances my experience. I am always better because I go to a meeting or talk to a person than before I do it. I have realtors that say they waste time with anybody that does not buy a house from them. That is because they see everybody as a commission or not. But if you use the time with that person or that meeting to further your knowledge, contacts or attitude it is not a waste of time. My time is spent not wasted.
I meet with people all the time that have contacted me wanting to get information on how to do real estate. I go meet them at a Starbucks or someplace and tell them what I know and who to get in contact with. They don’t buy a house from me they don’t sell me a house. Some people believe that is wasting my time. It is not a waste of my time, I always leave better than when I got there.
If you go to the meeting and you don’t believe that you are better than before you went I will give you the $72 back…by the way if $72 is that important to you you probably should not be in real estate.
Hi,
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't NAREIA (National Real Estate Investor Association) and to my knowledge the National Real Estate Investor Association does not have monthly meetings or actually have any resources, but rather supports the local state "Real Estate Investor Associations" (REIA's) and may in fact sponsor a yearly conference supporting real estate?
I am almost thinking this poster wants to know if he should join his local REIA?
GR
Yes I meant joining the local REIA.
That is all I want is to get something out of it. And I know exactly what that is.