I've found some groups that don't require paid membership so I am checking those out first.

Get the membership, attend all the general meetings, and the subgroups that interest you.

No membership necessary...it looks to be a good chance to rub elbows and meet people.

This, along with our sponsors and membership expenses help us grow the platform and bring you the best tools possible to help your business.

And, if you document a deal done from their site during the year, they will refund you membership fee!

Any other reasons that you would recorded PRO membership? 

We have some family friends that own about 50 of them and have been in the business for over 40 years.If you were in a subdivision with an HOA they would absolutely fight this as it would hurt there values and look and feel of the neighborhood and is probably already outlined in their CC and R's.Typically here we call these lots "pipe farms".You might have 40 homes built and another 60 empty lots from the market crash.Now the builders won't buy the lots even if free because they can't build and sell a new house for what a bank is selling a 2 year old foreclosure for.Also even if you want to do septic on a lot they might require you to connect sewer at the street which can get expensive.Some lots here have a bunch of rock in the soil and would require extensive excavation and costs to put a home on it.During the boom times the developers thought every lot would sell no matter what.Some lots here are for sale for 2,000 but have property taxes of 150 a month and HOA of 175 a month.So 325 a month carrying cost which is 3,900 annually.In the boom times these lots sold for 18,000.So if the market recovered some in 3 years to say 14,000 for the lot.It would look like this before resale costs with commissions and closing.3,900 times 3 equals 11,700 plus 2,000 original purchase is 13,700.With resale costs I would lose on this deal.So I don't buy these even if free because of the holding costs.Sometimes the neighbor will want the land and other times they don't want to pay taxes on it.I sold a lot for a seller in a lake community but did not have a lake view.he sold it for next to nothing about 1,500 just to get rid of the HOA 95 a month fee and property taxes on it.The buyer bought it because it came with an almost free golf membership for the community and was a big yearly value if you played a bunch of golf up there.As far as lots in cities on old streets we have these in Atlanta.If I was rehabbing the house next door I might buy for a larger lot as a selling feature.If not the house has been torn down on the empty lot but the city still has taxes of thousands a year on it.You can file an appeal but they are backed up for 6 months to 1 year before rendering a decision.So I am saying you can make money with lots but there are tons of landmines.I prefer cash flowing properties I can turn around much more.Now commercial lots is a whole other ball game.

Also there are two paid membership rei groups in jax including Reif and Reia.

I've read a little about an online site called connectrealty.com that lets new agents keep 70% of the commission for a 200 dollar annual membership.

By the way I canceled my membership there is no way I would pay for that where what he's offering for $800 you can learn here for free.