It’s Just a Meeting. Why Bother?

    I attended a real estate investor meeting last night. (This is an unusual meeting as there is no speaker—it is just a networking event.) It is one of several meetings I put on my calendar. (This one was started by a couple Bigger Pockets members). It is a rare month that I don’t attend at least one meeting. Why bother?

    To answer that question I am going to describe what I saw when I looked around the room last night. There were seasoned investors, all local but who lived and invested in several counties. There were many people who still had day jobs and several who were full time investors. There were a couple who derived most of their income from real estate or real estate related activities but hardly worked what one might call full time. There were people trained in a variety of professions and industries: real estate (of course), construction, aviation, automotive, health care, etc. (There tend to be a lot of engineers or former engineers at my local REIAs. I am not sure if that is because engineers are attracted to real estate or just that there are a lot of engineers around metro Detroit.) There were landlords, lenders, builders, rehabbers and wholesalers. There were some eager kids who had big plans, were asking good questions and making connections. There were a couple people who were neophytes. They were just exploring, listening, soaking up the positive vibes.

     Many of those who attended were quite active investors. One wholesaler had several properties under contract and available now. One investor recently had a contract accepted for a 50 unit apartment building, was sharing his plans and making connections for back-up financing, if necessary (he probably wouldn’t need it.) A builder had recently put a home under contract (he found it by mailing yellow letters) in a hot area but instead of tearing this one down and building himself he was selling the lot to another builder—that contract was already signed. There were some who had recently purchased rental homes and were looking to buy more. There were some who had recently sold rental homes and would consider selling more.

     I knew most of the people in attendance. I think of several of the attendees as friends. I know what almost all of the people in the room invested in or wished to invest in. I wouldn’t hesitate to reach out to some of them if I needed assistance and hope they would feel as comfortable reaching out to me. There were a few people in the room I hadn’t met and wished to but the conversations I was fortunate to be part of were quite interesting and I didn’t get around to meeting them.

     I have done business with 3 or 4 people in the room and am ready to do business with a couple more. I knew others in the room who had done business with each other and were likely to do so again. Were these deals the result of attending this meeting? I don’t know. I have never been able to tie any deals to a particular meeting but I have met most of my partners at real estate meetings and would have been unlikely to have come in contact with most of them if it were not for REIA meetings or events. I think the knowledge we share, the willingness to help each other, is evident in these settings. One can identify people you would like to work with at meetings like this. You can also identify people who would not be good partners for you. Fortunately, I usually find many more of the former.

     Why bother attending? It makes me a better investor. I learn what deals are working and which are problematic. I learn what areas are hot and which may be cooling. I get the opportunity to show what I can bring to a deal. I share in the success of my friends—enjoy the company of positive people who take steps to improve their situations and those of the people around them. Maybe, I plant the seed for my next deal or meet my next partner. I consider this a very good use of my time.