Disappointing first local REIA meeting

[Sahegin Charolia]

I joined BP a few months ago but really started reading post and podcasts recently. I am new to real estate and am looking to learn and gather information on how to get started. After reading through lots of recommendations about starting out with local REIA I decided to attend a local Houston REIA meeting (houston RENC). Initially the topics to be covered in meeting seemed to be local updates in real estate market. But after attending the meeting, the information/lecture presented seemed very salesy. The presentation included basic terms in real estate and the guy was obviously a good...salesman. The presentation lasted for about two hours after which I couldn't stay but he kept pushing his 3 day course and other VIP group meeting throughout the lecture! The whole point of attending a local REIA meeting was to avoid the sales pitches about courses/materials that over promise and make real estate seem very easy money making deals! And that's exactly what the lecture was, no money no credit required wholesale deals. It was disappointing bc maybe they held off on the main content until after those 2 hours but it seemed a big waste of time to just hear someone promise big and easy money when it's not. So the question is, what do you expect from your local REIA Meetings and what does a typical good REIA meetings look like. Are there always these sales pitch about next course more material even at REias and I just have to get around it? And what are some good ones recommended in Houston? Im sorry if this posted twice, the app crashed while posting the first time.