Calgary Canada Benefits from joining REIN?

[Cole Felske]

Hello all! I'm new to REI, and I'm from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I've been poking my nose around in books, BiggerPockets, and a couple other Canadian forums/webinars. I currently don't have enough for a down payment, but within 2-3 years time I should have enough saved up to drop 20% on a down payment. I recently received a call from someone trying to recruit me to REIN.

I'm wondering if the membership cost is worth it? It's ~$3,000/yr, which seems very expensive, but obviously it's hard to put an ROI or a price on knowledge and networking. The main upside would definitely be the networking, but perhaps there are other cheaper alternatives available in Calgary?

In addition the caller mentioned I could look for a JV where someone would lend me the money, and I put in all the time and effort. But considering that I have virtually no experience, I was highly skeptical that anyone would want to partner up with me. Thoughts?