What do you wish your local real estate club did differently?

Question

I was talking to some folks who had issue with their local real estate clubs and I thought it would be a great topic to discuss here on the forums. Ultimately, I hope we can share some of the things that we think our local clubs can do differently to better these meetings.

So . . . what do you think your local club could do better? Do you have any ideas that might improve the meetings?

So . . . what do you think your local club could do better?  Do you have any ideas that might improve the meetings?

Jason Fraser · Answer

Great topic. Full disclosure: I am a board member of my local REIA  here in Utah (SLREIA Salt Lake Real Estate Investors Association).

Here's a few things that we do.

Pro's corner - this is where people can pose questions to a local real estate investors for 30 minute prior to the monthly meeting.

Luncheons - we have one in Salt Lake City and two others 30 minutes north and south of Salt Lake City. It's  a smaller group and about 1 hour long compared to the monthly meeting which us two hours.

We devote at least one meeting a year to just q and a. We have a panel of local real estate investors who take questions.

We're developing our blog as a way to stay connected to members and local investors in between our events.

We have a relationship with a REIA in  the county south of us. Since we're not directly competing with each other and often times many people are members of both. We tend to cross promote each other's events.

I think the biggest challenge is balancing delivering content to both new and experienced investors. If you focus too much on new investor content then you lose the interest of experienced investors  and they stop coming. If you focus too much on advanced level content, then you get the investors who come to a meeting and realize the content is way too advanced and they stop coming.

If people want to make their local REIA better, they should get involved (if they can). I started out with my REIA  taking notes and taking photos of the monthly meeting in lieu of having to pay for a membership. There wasn't a marketing position for the REIA so I became the marketing person ( I was getting my degree in marketing  at the time and had an interest in marketing anyway).  From there I took on managing the website, social media, and producing video content from the monthly meetings. I had experience in those areas as well.

Honestly leveraging my skills helped me with connected to a large number of the members over the years.

Account Closed · Answer

Deal Maker Q&A or Round Table the last hour of the meeting. Experienced deal maker volunteers with various skill niches to brainstorm on actual deals/offers that members are currently working on. By dealmakers I don't mean a rehabber or landlord that's bought 40 REOS off the MLS this last year (unless they have other deal making skills). I feel like most REI groups are already providing support to the newbie. There's plenty of info out there about how to work with agents and make offers on listed properties. Working directly with sellers/principals without agent representation is a totally different kind of deal making.

I'm talking about private and HML Lenders, foreclosure auction buyers, experienced RE agents that work with investors, RE attorneys, at least one investor experienced with small commercial. Everyone says how they would structure it, how they would present the offer, etc. There is no replacement for that kind of brainstorming.

I'm talking about private and HML Lenders, foreclosure auction buyers, experienced RE agents that work with investors, RE attorneys, at least one investor experienced with small commercial.  Everyone says how they would structure it, how they would present the offer, etc.  There is no replacement for that kind of brainstorming.

Joshua Dorkin · Answer

@Philip Williams & Kristine Marie Poe - Great suggestions.  I think adding sessions like these to any real estate club would be an asset.

Keep 'em coming, guys!

Will Barnard · Answer

Love the Q&A between local experts where newbies can pick their brain for 15-30 minutes before or after meeting. One thing I miss at most meetings, if not all, is for the experienced pro, most of the time, it is us giving out to newbies, it would be great to have a brainstorming session between just the pros. In addition to that, it would be great to have some speakers that give presentations in advanced mode, skipping the newbie explanations and digging deep into meat and potatoes advanced content.

Jamane Y. · Answer

I'm glad you started this forum Josh. I've been thinking about my local REIT investment club and have reservations. I went to my first meeting and I had to pay $15.00 because I wasn't a member. The program was ok but as a newbie, I felt stranded. I wasn't allow to even say anything about my purpose, what I trying to do or anything. I felt like I had to pay my $99 before I could say anything. But I did listen to a lot of the other investors make announcements about what they needed and wanted. I live a good 45 minutes to an hour drive away from the meeting, so I can't justify me going back yet. I'm really considering starting a meetup for real estate investors closer to the center of town, which is easier to get to.

Joshua Dorkin · Answer

Hey @Wes Brumit - That's definitely a problem that can't be solved through any change at your local club beyond opening a new chapter.  I suppose you can always use Meetup or BP to summon other local investors to connect since there aren't other closer/better options for you.

Wes Brumit · Answer

Closer to where I live. The closest two around here are an hour and 1 1/2 hours away.

What do you wish your local real estate club did differently?

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