No, not at all. My stance is don't get caught up thinking REI meetings are going to be the best way to find deals. It's more of a comfort thing in my opinion. I'm sure every group has a small core group of people within it that benefit the most...80/20 rule in a sense. For the 1.5 hours you can spend at a meeting, you could be banging out 20 letters to owners, 20 phone calls, a meeting with a seller, etc. Now if you just want to relax, get together with some friends, have a few beers, and talk shop, that's great.
Learn by doing. Learn by making mistakes.
You make valid points, I personally don't believe the same as you but I also don't think you're wrong. I don't believe anyone's opinion is ever wrong even though it may differ from mine. That being said, I think it is more beneficial to learn from others' mistakes than repeat them myself. A network of people will always get me further than going by myself. As the quote goes "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
And the most important part when someone is starting out; they don't know what they don't know. One meet up could give someone insight or perspective that could propel their success further than they knew was possible. Those are a few things that are the flip side of the coin to your perspective. Neither one is right nor wrong, just two different perspectives.
