Why I No Longer Attend My Local REIA Meetings

To tell you the truth, I think REIA meetings are wonderful and every new investor should attend them. These meetings are one of the best ways to surround yourself with successful investors and to learn from them.

Not only that, the meetings are also a fantastic place to build up your power team. You can find Realtors, loan officers, handymen, lawyers, accountants and other people that you’ll need to help grow your real estate business.

Perhaps most importantly, when you network you’ll end up getting a lot of deals from referrals. (At least I do.) For instance, my favorite type of deal to close right now is a sub-2. But for one reason or another, not many investors specialize in sub-2’s, therefore they give all their sub-2 leads to me, which I certainly don’t mind.

However, I’ll admit that it’s been a long time since I attended a REIA meeting.

Why? Because there comes a point where you plateau in your career and just don’t get enough value from them. And as fun as getting “pitched” month after month to buy the latest and greatest course is, you need to find a better way to invest your time.

So what’s the better way? It’s forming a mastermind group with the most successful members of your local REIA. For example, there’s a group of about 10 of us who try and get together about once a month. These 10 people are “movers and shakers” and each one of us brings something to the table.

Also, we specialize in different areas…

Wholesaling, lease options, sub-2, and rehabs – that way we can wholesale deals to each other, or give each other leads and complement one another.

Now, the important thing to remember, is that when it comes to a mastermind you want to surround yourself with highly successful people. (If you’re the smartest person in the room you need to find a new mastermind group.)

Also, if you’re a new investor, realize that the perfect mastermind group is not going to form overnight. It took me a few years before I found a like-minded group of successful people but it was well worth the effort.

The bottom line is, if you’re a new investor, try and suck all the information you can out of your local REIA. But when the time comes when you’re no longer learning enough, seek out successful REIA members and invite them to join a private mastermind group with you.