The groups also go through seasons of highs and lows depending on the time of the year and the membership. 

Thats a good question, Just purchased Batchleads.io membership to give it ago, So far it has the Skip Trace feature and able to obtain mortgage and lien info of leads but, I though it was fine and dandy until I wanted to see how the current MLS data reflects on there.

I was not happy with the offering so I made a change back to propstream and they refuse to cancel my membership after 3 calls, 10 emails, so be careful there as I have become like a hostage to use the software. 

Would it be worth it to offer a gym membership as an amenity? 

Generally, a membership interest is an investment contract if members invest and expect to make a profit from the efforts of others.

Connect with local real estate professionals and consider upgrading to a BiggerPockets Pro Membership for more insights.Good luck!

Membership is cheap, networking is great, and sometimes the support resources are surprising.

In Florida, you have to be a licensed RE broker to manage property for property owners, which adds thousands of dollars a year just to stay licensed: state required license fees, CE, insurance, Realtor dues, listing memberships, public-access office, etc.Additionally, property owners expect much more from PM's than in past years.

Is this a way to force people to subscribe to a pro membership?

A Pro membership gives you the tools and resources you need to start, scale or manage your portfolio.