Finding a Good REI Meeting- Harder Than You Think!!

This business comes down to 2 things: Finding Deals and Finding Money for those deals. When you are a newbie and you don’t have money to do deals, you need to connect with other trusted investors in your area that you can either sell deals to OR to team up with on deals. (They bring the funds, you bring the project and manage it). In order to do this and stay connected with other serious investors in your area you need to be attending local Real Estate Investment Meetings.

This is easier said than done. When I was new, I was VERY discouraged by the meetings in my local market. Lackluster. No one was helpful. Everyone wanted to keep to themselves. No education was given. I actually don’t even know why the meetings were occurring. They should have just had a closed breakfast club or something. Anyway, I ended up driving 45 minutes to 1.5 hours away to attend decent real estate investment meetings where I could actually LEARN something and grow as an investor.

Finding a good real estate investment meeting can be challenging. There are LOTS of them out there… all with different agendas. Here are some examples of what you will come across:

1. The Sales Pitch Meetings: A different speaker at every meeting that gives 10% content and 90% sales pitch to get you to buy their program. You feel like every month you are being lured into another boot camp or course.

1. The Coaching Meetings: Meetings run by a real estate coach that delivers some content, but just enough to leave you hanging so that you HAVE to sign up for their coaching program. The sole purpose of them organizing the meeting is to draw in potential newbie students.

1. The Good ‘Ol Boys Club: Meetings run by people that say: “I’ve been doing this for 15 years! My way is awesome! I am awesome!”… And…. They don’t help you if you are new. They are rude, and short with you and will not take time to discuss anything or explain anything. Their way is the only way and they are annoyed you even come to the meeting because they just want to have their club meeting with the same old people they have always known in their investing circle.

1. The Political Meetings: Meetings that consist of investors bitching about code inspectors, Landlord Tenant Law, Tenant complaints and everything and anything related to changing the political world of real estate investing. They are basically a total snore fest full of negativity.

1. The Unicorn Meeting: The meeting you want to attend. Meetings where people passionate about real estate help other people learn to grow wealth with real estate. You have a good mix of experienced investors and newbie investors. People are friendly, answer your questions, and take time to explain and guide you and share helpful resources. You will learn something at every meeting and make great connections with others to get deals done. The people at these meetings will be full of great resources they are willing to share including: lenders, contractors, etc. Different speakers on a different topic every month with time to network before and after the meeting.

The unicorn meetings do exist. Once I found one or two within a 1.5 hour drive of my local market, and once I learned enough about real estate investing… I started my own unicorn meeting. This has since spawned other unicorn meetings within a 45 minute drive of my area. I want newbies to know that they should NOT give up, or get discouraged if they feel unwelcomed or have a bad experience at a REIA meeting. KEEP LOOKING until you find a meeting that is the perfect match for what you are looking for. Keep going until you find your unicorn. You can learn a bit of something at all different types of meetings, but you REALLY want your presence to be regular and known once you find your unicorn meeting. You hear it over and over that your network determines your net worth. So get out and network!