Are local REIA's (Real Estate Investor Association) a good idea?

[Jonathan Krompegal]

Hello All!  I live in CT and there is a local CTREIA in my area.  I'm curious what the opinions people have from being part of their local Reia organizations.  I attended a couple CTREIA meetings a few years ago, and I wasn't impressed with what was happening.  As someone who wasn't even sure about what real estate investing was about at the time, I had no less than 30 people just throw their business cards at me, barely even giving me their name or leaving a good impression.

Furthermore, after paying $30 to get in, there was a speaker for an hour and at the end it was a sales pitch to get us all to buy their $1200 Business in a box.

I have a friend who keeps forwarding me the CTREIA event invites because he wants to start going, but my time and money is way too valuable to spend on a sales pitch.

Can anyone shed some light on the actual benefits of joining a local REIA?

[Laniece Miller]

I've been lucky in that I've actually found a non-profit REIA in the Chicago area that isn't full of pitches, and it's been a good place to network. Several of the people I've met have even let me bounce ideas off them as I purchased my first primary residence (the only property I have so far). On the other hand, I know a lot of REIA's out there are designed to make money to the point I even listened to a podcast (not BP podcast) where the guest was indicating he 'owned' a REIA.

I guess my short answer is it depends on the specific group.