The beauty of Meetups

I've been reading books and listening to Podcasts for a long time now.  They give me a ton of energy and get me all excited about real estate and investing in general.  I highly recommend this to everyone looking to get into a certain field or just learn more about something.  It's pretty safe to assume that there is a podcast about what you're interested in.  If not, maybe you should start one! 

At the beginning, podcasts and books (audio books included) filled 100% of my needs.  But now that I'm becoming more experienced, these shows only fulfill about 75% of my needs as an real estate investor/developer/professional.  Why, you ask?  It seems there are two main reasons for this: 1.) These podcasts or books only go so deep and it seems I'm getting to the same level of learning each and every time, and 2.) you can't ask that follow-up question when you're listening to a podcast or book. 

That's where Meetups come in.  I've been using Meetup.com with great success.  I've mostly done some local meetups here in the Twin Cities but I've also explored other cities in this manner too.  I'll get into that below.  Regarding real estate meetups, it's been so much fun.  It's refreshing to know that there are other people out there with LESS experience than you.  It's great to meet some people out there with MORE experience than you.  It's an ability to meet people you can help meet their goals.  Remember karma works in both directions.  I've also met people from banks and investment funds, people who syndicate deals, realtors who are also investors, etc.  It's also interesting to know that people are out there willing to pay commissions for you to find them deals.  There are also people out there who just look for deals for you (wholesalers). 

My biggest suggestion is to not be shy at these meetups.  I always feel like I'm putting myself WAY too far out there, but so far it's worked out well.  I've found an alternate lender for my deals, I've found a person who is, along with a few friends, looking for passive investments to invest in.  I've also listened to mortgage brokers talk about financing that I thought were only fairy tales.  I've also heard about a syndicator who brings deals to people who have money to invest. 

I've also attended a real estate meetup in Memphis, TN while on vacation and a running meetup in Madison, WI while in town on business.  I had been interested in learning about the Memphis market and this meetup was so helpful in understanding the market.  There were people with deals everywhere but in the end, I just didn't feel comfortable with the area in general.  There is no doubt money can be made in Memphis, I just had a hard time envisioning where I would invest.  Therefore, I've put it on the back burner.  Had I just jumped in and invested without visit the area and visiting with local folks, I probably would have made an investment I wasn't comfortable with.  I believe you can invest from afar, but you need to be comfortable with your decision. 

I'd say meetups are super valuable and if you are mildly interested in something, get out there and try a meetup.  I think you'll know pretty quickly whether this is your "thing" or not.  But if you don't try it, how are you going to know?