I’ve been to a few real estate investment clubs. One meeting in particular always comes to mind.  The room was pretty full but nice because I like to blend in with the crowd. Outside the meeting room was what they called vendor tables. Vendors are individuals or companies who sell useful products to investors (i.e. mortgage brokers, contractors, inspectors, etc.). You have to have a vendor membership in order to market your product at the club. The speaker that day was Bryan Ellis. His talk was about a certain kind of motivated sellers that I never heard of, called expired listings. Expired listings are people who have tried to sell their house through a realtor on the multiple listing systems (MLS) for a period of time (usually 6 months). If the house does not sell within the designated time frame, it will be marked as expired. The only way to get this information is through a realtor because they are the only ones who can get access. Bryan also spoke about “Subject-To” financing. This is when you purchase a house subject to the existing financing. Essentially, you just take over the current mortgage payments and can apply for conventional financing for the home at a future date (depending on your agreement). All of this was very fascinating for me to hear because real estate investing was more involved than I thought. There are so many creative ways you can invest and what I knew was the very tip of the iceberg. It was great and that meeting was exactly what I needed to get started in real estate investing. Bryan Ellis was a good sales person and that’s what you have to be as a real estate investor. You need to know how to talk to people and how to be convincing. Needless to say, that day he was selling three packages and I bought them all (Hard Core Marketing, Hard Core Lease Options, and Hard Core Subject-To Financing). But I promised myself that I would not buy another package or another speaker’s material until I put the one I bought into action and made a real estate deal happen. I kept that promise! I also joined the club that day and continued to go to meetings.

I think real estate investment clubs are great for beginners. They definitely give you what you need to get started, especially if you do not have a clue about real estate. They are also good for networking with other investors. But, I also think investment clubs can be a place you get stuck and waste your time and money. For instance, I met a young lady at the club who also bought Bryan Ellis’s packages. The next meeting, she bought another national speaker’s package and through conversing with her, I found out she attended a $2000 real estate boot camp with another national speaker about a year prior. When I asked if she had bought real estate or invested in a deal, she said no. She also proceeded to tell me, she did not like Bryan Ellis package because she found that it was not helpful. My thought about this particular lady is that it is not the package, it’s HER. People can tell you the “secrets” to making millions but nothing will ever happen unless you follow the instructions and that is the bottom line. Most investment clubs have speakers who show up all the time to sell something to “want-to-be” investors. All of those speakers and club leaders know that most will not do anything with the information except waste their money. But they do not care. They are in it to make money and they convince you that their package is the best way to go. Stay focus and do not buy everything because it sounds good. At this point in my investment adventures, I do not attend many meetings. I get tired of them trying to sell me stuff. But again, I’m not saying these clubs are all bad, I’m just saying you really need to measure your own motivation and talents pertaining to real estate investing. Do not waste your money, time, and energy on something if you will not follow through with it. Before you know it, time will fly by and you would have spent thousands of dollars and have nothing to show for it. So don’t just talk real estate investing, do real estate investing!

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