Investing in Real Estate part II

[The Captain]

So I went to the local REIA meeting last Saturday. Practically the entire meeting turned out to be a major pitch by two Sharks who were looking for investors to put their money into a multi-house deal.

Very disappointing.

I guess I'm a big skeptic, but if they were the big-deal rainmakers they were making themselves out to be why do they need to use OPM (other people's money).

I mean they were trying to talk people into setting up self-directed IRA's or calling their retired parents to hit them up for cash.

Just didn't seem to click with me.

I'll go to another few meetings to see if this was an anomaly or try to find another local REIA group.

[Sum Dum Gai]

That sucks, but I think you're right to keep checking out the meetings. The networking opportunities are worth dealing with the BS. If you have to, sit through the pitches and ignore them, and try to make contacts with the other members after the meeting. Even if just one or two of them are active investors in your area and willing to talk to you for a bit, it'll probably be worth your time.

[Deleted]

Or you can keep talking to us.

[Bob Ross]

Was one of them named Paul?

[2kids10horses]

At the REIA meetings I used to go to the agenda was something like this:

1) Minor Presentation. This could be someone pitching their IRA services, or mortgage loan business, etc. Maybe 30 minutes long.

2) THen 30 minutes on upcoming seminars and workshops. These seminars were usually 2 to 3 hours during the evening. They would cover landlording, buying/flipping, asset protection, wholesaling, lease/options, Prospecting, selling techniques. fix up techniques, etc. The persons giving the seminars were sometimes locals, sometimes "big name" national speakers.

Sometimes, they were weekend workshops. We had a boot camp over a weekend where they taught the basics of recognizing a "deal", fixup cost estimation, etc. The next day they chartered busses, and we went around the city looking at houses for sale. The next day, we calculated what we would "pay" for the house.

3) Members would "present" houses they owned as investment opportunities for other investores. Wholesalers would show pics of houses on the overhead, and pass out flyers. Sometime Buyers would get up and tell everyone what they were looking to buy.

4) Major Presentation: Often we'd have national speakers come. Such as a Zig Ziglar. One time Herman Cain spoke! (Back when he was president of the National Restaurant Association.) Often it would be someone like John Adams (a nationally syndicated writer on Real Estate.)

Meanwhile: Out in the lobby, we had dozens of wholesalers, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, appraisers, handymen, etc pitching their services. THere were usually about 500 to 800 people total at every monthly meeting.

The Major/Minor Presentations were the LEAST informative parts of the evening.

[The Captain]

Thanks for the post 2kids...I guess what you described would be the pipe dream of what I was hoping for.

Since I live in a major metro area there are several REIA groups within a 60-90 minute drive. I'll give the first one I went to another shot, and if it doesn't pan out, will try to find another group.

[2kids10horses]

I live in Georgia, and that was GAREIA that I went to.

They're pretty professional, and have contacts all over.

You might want to call them, and ask if they recommend a REIA near you.