Attending my first Real Estate Investors Meeting tomorrow night

[AIR]

So I am attending my first meeting tomorrow night, j/w if you all have any advice, tips, questions, I should be asking or looking for...

[Debbie]

So I am attending my first meeting tomorrow night, j/w if you all have any advice, tips, questions, I should be asking or looking for...

I would advise you to say as little as possible.

If it was a Landlord Association, that's the place to ask bunch of questions.
Since it's not and it's REI Club, that is the place to listen hard and say very little. Of course, introduce yourself. Answer any questions but keep it brief. Don't brag about anything. Don't mention what you're aiming for. All of the things you want to learn specifically will come after you have a few meetings under your belt.

Just remember, RE investors dislikes "wanna be" people. Once they notice that you're keeping a low profile and listening hard, they will open up to you. Some may "test" you during the first few meetings just to see if you're highly motivated to take actions, not words, to be RE investor. Still, say little as possible. You can tell them that you're there to learn before you ask questions. They'll remember you and your response.

In other words, if you want them to take you seriously--take them seriously.

Good luck and you will be amazed at what you will learn! Have fun!

Debbie

[Aldo]

Ya know what I like to do when I go to a meeting of a new (to me) REI group? I like to pretend that I'm reading something provided by one of the ever-present vendors while listening carefully to the REI vets chatting nearby. If those folks don't interest me, I move to the next little group of chatting, savvy investors.

If you really want to learn, you'll interrupt their conversation by saying, "I'm sorry, but I overheard you talking about (whatever) and I'd like to ask a question." Beleive me, you'll be amazed at how quickly they will turn their conversation into a help-session for you. Truthfully, I'd suggest having a notepad at hand because you'll never remember all of the help that is offered to you.

[Dan Auito]

Hand out business cards, get names and gather as much info as your brain can handle, Oh ya, tell people to visit www.magicbullets.com (http://www.magicbullets.com) TOO! Heh Heh Heh Have a good time.

[AIR]

Dan, LOL, I actually intend to tell people about all the information I found on the site and that is the reason I am going to attend this meeting.

[Dan Auito]

:praise: :praise: :praise: Me, Myself and I all salute your efforts and wish you great success my friend.

[Bernie (WV)]

Good luck on the REI meeting.

Anyways, I have told many people at the courthouse, (where I work) about MB.

I don't know how many have signed up, but they will.

I'm no longer working nights. I am now a day shift supervisor at my job after being on nights for over 17 years!

I lost my shift differential but being on days wasn't my only motivation for going to days.

I interviewed for a Asst Manager position in the Probate Records Dept a few months back. I found out,from a good source, that the reason that I wasn't given the position because, I needed to be on days because days was a "different animal".

So far I am thriving on days and run a tight ship.

Wish me luck!! I still have my finger on the REI trigger and hope to give it a "shot" real soon.

[Debbie]

Hey!
Congrats Bernie!

I know what it's like to be working on night shift---for Illinois state Lottery. That's all I'll say....:SM108:

Keep doing a great job! And, back to being "normal"

I tell plenty of people about MB too....so far, they're just guests with one who actually joined in (DanD)---at least, that I'm aware of.

[AIR]

well first meeting was really good, I have to say I was pretty skeptical going into this meeting but it turned out to provide a lot of great information, they had a national speaker whos name I cannot think of at the moment, they werent bad but I kept feeling like they were trying to scam me into buying there product, I will post some of the info I thought was useful about short sales

[TommyOH]

Well, I'm glad the meeting went well AIR. It's a great place to meet others in the RE field and network. Just remember that most of the "speakers" will have something to sell, but you don't have to buy anything.

[Aldo]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the meeting even if the speaker was hawking his/her wares. National speakers tend to do that. I recall seeing a national speaker sell $8K worth of his books and tapes at a local REI meeting. That's a nice return on about $500 for travel-related expenses and less than a day of his time.

It's relatively uncommon for REI groups to have national speakers on a regular basis, so it's probably coincidental that one happened to be speaking at the meeting you attended. Of the four groups I'm in, one always has a speaker, one sometimes has a speaker and the other two never have a speaker. But, the speakers usually shouldn't be your reason for attending. The networking before and after the meeting is where you'll share and learn the most. If there is no speaker, the entire meeting will probably be a networking session.

If you like the group, be sure to become a member. If you don't like the group, join anyway. The minimal cost will easily be offset by one good piece of advice and many groups offer great member-benefits.

[SPIVALAW]

I go to REIAs for the free food.

[Vegas711]

Aldo,

Do you think it is a good idea to join if you are brand new to the business? I'm still going through the education part, reading the ebooks I got from this site, but I was thinking about joing a real estate club, wasn't sure if I should wait untill I've learned a little about the businees.

Any comments are appreciated

[AIR]

well I am new as well and I think it is really the best thing you can do to learn more about the business.

[Aldo]

Vegas, if you are a new or aspiring investor, with due respect, you would be a fool to not join one or more REI groups. I firmly believe, and often say, that, aside from screening tenant-applicants, the single most important thing an investor can do to be successful is to join a REI group. Since you appear to have no tenant-applicants, joining tops the list.

You may or may not learn much at the meetings and that's okay. The time/place you will learn the most is immediately before and after the meetings. Please re-read my 10/28 post.

Let me add this. I humbly admit that I'm often sought out for investment advice. One of the reasons for that is because I regularly attend the meetings of the four 'REI groups' that I belong to. While others ponder their problems while watching TV, I'm networking at meetings with folks who, sometimes, make me feel like a newbie. Learning at meetings is probably more likely than tomorrow's sunrise.

If joining costs fifty bucks and you get just one tip that saves you one hundred bucks, you just got a 100% return on your investment. Someday we can talk about the tips I got at those meetings which saved me tens of thousands of dollars. Yesterday might be a great day to join.

[AIR]

ok, the speakers at my first meeting were Bill and Dwan Twyford from Colorado. They talked mostly about short selling, there plane was late so they only had a short time to talk. They did a segment about making offers to the bank on a short sale:
Build your case:

#1 offer: focus on distress of the homeowner & property. ie. divorce, illness, repairs. offer 40%-45% of market price.

#2 offer: focus on distress of the area or neighborhood ie. crime stats, boarded houses, new construction, age of house, registered sex offenders (www.registeredoffenders.org)

#3 offer: focus on the financial loss to the bank ie. time, bankruptcy, real estate taxes, LLR (cant recall what that is)

If they dont accept any of your offers ask them to keep you on file and if the house doesnt sell tell them to contact you.

They also talked about a flash card system that they sell, although I would never buy flashcards for $250 dollars it did seem like a good system. They had objectives that a homeowner or bank rep might ask you ie. can you have my house sold in 30 days? and they supplied you with an answer. the idea was to memorize these Q and A's so that you were able to overcome your customers objective. That seems like a great thread idea....???

[Jeffery (LCLA)]

That sounds like a great thread idea. Why don't you post it up in the SS or Foreclosure section.

[TommyOH]

I like Dwan. The very first exposure I got to wholesaling came from her course. Although I didn't personally agree with her method of doing it, I still got a much greater understanding of it.

And yes, that does sound like a great idea for a thread.

[AIR]

I like Dwan. The very first exposure I got to wholesaling came from her course. Although I didn't personally agree with her method of doing it, I still got a much greater understanding of it.

And yes, that does sound like a great idea for a thread.

shes pretty hot too

[AIR]

I am going to my second meeting tonight,any ideas on how I could meet some hard money lenders?

[SPIVALAW]

wear a SEXY OUTFIT.
:>)

[AIR]

oh wait, the meeting is canceled... so much for my sexy outfit

[Aldo]

The first thing you need to do at the next un-cancelled meeting is talk to someone on the REI group's staff to ask for a referral. If that doesn't work, HML's shouldn't be hard to find. Generally, their very reason for attending those meetings is to drum up some new business and they may be at the door offering their business cards. If not, it's usually not hard to pick out investors who have been around the block a few times. Approach one (preferrably more) and tell him/her that you have a deal that's tough to finance and wonder if they could suggest a HML.

[k6saunde]

ok, the speakers at my first meeting were Bill and Dwan Twyford from Colorado.

I actually bought the wholesale and shortsale courses from their infomercial. It was pretty informative, but the forms that they give you are more of a guideline than actual legal documents. Maybe in other states they are sufficient but here in PA they were mostly useless. I recommend if your planning on using any of the forms or contracts that they include in the course, that you have an lawyer look over them.

Thats what I did, and I was able to make a deal with the lawyer to create all my contracts for me free of charge if I promised to use his services in the future. Now all my contract are 100% legal in PA and taylored to my needs (IE exit clauses, provisions, etc.).

All in all I liked the courses and found them to be informative. One thing I did learn early in my REI education was just because its legal where the author lives doesn't mean it is legal where you live.

Keith

[AIR]

K6, hey I use to attend IUP for a semester right out near Pitt., probably some good opportunity there...