Many people know that education is an integral key to real estate investing. However, beyond books and home study courses, there is a greater tool that an investor can add to their arsenal – the local Real Estate Investor's Group, or REIA. Did you know that your local REIA can literally change your life and help jumpstart your real estate investing career?
When I was first getting started in Memphis, Tennessee, I decided to attend my local REIA, which was called Memphis Investor's Group, or MIG for short. When I went to the group, they had a national speaker there who was talking about how to get houses under contract and resell them for quick cash, which is also known as wholesaling. Now, what was really interesting is that the speaker talked about how, the following Saturday, he was giving a workshop on the topic where you could buy his course and learn about every angle that wholesaling entails. $89 later, I was in the workshop on Saturday morning, eating a pastry and taking copious notes.
A week later, I had bought my first wholesale house for 10k and resold it for 15k, a 5k net profit. While this may seem like a small payday, it was ALL the money in the world to me, a schoolteacher at the time. It was, literally, almost 2 months of pay for me.
More importantly, it showed me that I didn't have to work in a job I hated for 30 years living paycheck to paycheck. Important stuff, you know – building belief.
Now, as you may know, my partner and I are full – time wholesalers of real estate, and we spend some time writing and speaking about the topic and how we have been able to succeed, so we are involved in the education side of things as well. However, there isn't a day that I don't think about going to Memphis Investor's Group and getting the foundation lain for my success as a real estate investor.
Now, joining your local REIA should not be a painful experience, if done properly. As such, you shouldn't be afraid or fearful of going to the group, and you should not be wary of the other investors who are there. Sometimes I think the fear factor of other investors being 'better' than you or 'richer' than you can be a deterrent to someone attending their local REIA, but that is simply pride talking. Swallow your pride and go to the meeting, plan on taking notes, and plan on making some new friends as well as professional relationships.
I think back to that one pivotal meeting that changed my life, and in doing so encourage all real estate investors, regardless of experience level, to take advantage of the rich experience that your local REIA has to offer.