They are only going to try to sell you on going to a more extensive seminar and they use the guru's name to get you there and many think that "guru" will be in attendance when in fact they are not, they are just using their name. 

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info.

I'm interested in attending.

It's in January though.DMI, and The Real Alliance in Addison have free informational events weekly(or they did I haven't lived in Dallas in a couple years).

I plan to attend the appraisal and use that time to make a material list for the smoke detectors.

Looking to do a mix And mingle event in Houston.

Currently our home has 150k-180k in equity (depending on an additional legal addition of property to the backyard) and im not yet sure as to what method to pursue.I dont intend to dive completely into real estate investing as my sole career but do wish to acquire enough passive income to work as little as possible while attending graduate school a year from now.

After attending a free workshop from Fortune Builders and hearing how a few deals can be done creatively my partner and I were ready to jump in.

I'm pretty sure I was the only guy in the country that offered loan servicing with a guarantee to purchase at a stated price in the event of default and advanced payments to the note holder, then collected amounts due.

I'd guess that folks also involved in the various REI groups would also happen to attend this meetup, so folks would know at least one person when they attend their next local REI meeting.