Three types of people in the Real Estate Investing world.

So, a little background... 

Hi I am Mike, my wife is Rachel, and we are new to this thing called real estate investing. We are both disable navy veterans (as I type that I realize that the picture of that in most minds are older folks, however, we are still in our 30's). Our goals are to buy and hold single family homes, in a military town and lease to military families. That said, I have spent, oh I don't know, a year or so, lurking around in BP. I have been to a few web seminars, the wife has read a few real estate investment books, and for the past year we have just been trying to educate ourselves before jumping in.

Fast forward a little bit to present day, and in one of the last few BP Podcast, there was a mention of Noobs investing into real estate, making the effort to go to a local area's real estate investors meeting (most cities have these), to get to know people, the area, etc. And so I thought that would be great, as the wife and I are opting to invest in an out of state/town area. So here we are this past weekend, sitting down to breakfast, with a group of 20 other real estate investors. Some with only a few properties, some with hundreds. Here is a list of the three types of people that I found at the meeting, and any info I have that I can share about them. Keep in mind that, I HAD NO CLUE WHAT I WAS DOING ... heck, I still don't. I showed up to this thing, with absolutely no clue as to what was going to happen, or anything ... it was great!

Here are the three types of people you can expect to find at your first real estate meeting.

1. The Dealers - We showed up to this breakfast, the wife and I being the 6th and 7th person to sit down, immediately I notice two guys, at the end of the table. These guys are making money. These guys are already dealing right there, when everyone else is chatting, placing their drink orders, getting up for food, these two, they were making money like a Pro. Unfortunately they had little time for the likes of little ole me. These guys were the big fish in the pond. They did take enough time out to introduce themselves (which I promptly forgot their names lol), explain that they had many many properties, more than I could count, even went so far as to tell us they were doing deals, then they went back to doing-da-work. I think they ignored us for the rest of the meeting, which was OK with me.

2. The Competition - These guys ... wow. OK, so when you sit down, don't do what I did. I sat down next to the competition and it was promptly implied that I was "Persona non grata" ... or not welcome. You see for these guys, we (the noobs) are the competition. We are the people who are looking for deals, who could in theory, steal a good deal from them... Needless to say, me being a big (and intimidating looking) guy, I just put on my angry face and sat in silence for a few moments... two can play this game. This group quickly went from brushing me off, to, if not out right ignoring me, at least not treating me like crap... so I call that an improvement. The funny thing is, the wife is the one they need to watch out for, I am a, albeit big, teddy bear.

3. The Helpers - This group. This is why you show up to a meeting. I met two or three people there, and the wife met a few herself. This group are the ones that say, hey, your new, let us show you how we did it, who we talk to, who's the best at what they do, and let us help you get started. We made a few good contacts at this breakfast, and all of them came from this group right here. My suggestion, bring a notebook, make up some crappy contact cards to hand out, and write down everyone's info. There's going to be lots of it.

4. Bonus group - The Pusher - Yea yea I know, I said there was only three groups, and there are... but there is going to be this one guy, and he will let you know who he is so don't worry, you will meet him no less than three times, shake his hand, explain what your doing there, what your goals are, how you could use some help, etc, etc, etc. And each time you meet him, he will, every single time, try to get you to call him later, so that he can give you a "free hour consultation" (that was my favorite line) or "show you around the area", or "talk with you about your goals" anything this guy can do, to make you choose him as your primary contact for the area, he will do. So be prepared for the pusher. He is in a group all his own.

Well this was my take on this past weekend. We met a lot of good people. Already looking at a few properties and planning another trip in 2-3 weeks. I don't think I have missed anything, and if I have then ask. If I have info,  I will post it and If I don't... well then, I will ask lol.

~Mike