Hi Everyone,
Hope you are all doing well.
Today I am going to tell you what I think about real estate clubs. I am going to tell you whether I like them, or whether I think that they are a waste of time.
My feelings on real estate clubs are mixed, and I will tell you why.
Lots of aspiring real estate investors looking to buy their first rental property are faced with the same decision. This decision is whether or not they should join a real estate club.
Real estate clubs can be both good and bad.
Here is one of the reasons that I think real estate clubs can be ‘bad’…
- 1) Real Estate Clubs try to sell you something
Most if not all real estate clubs will try to sell you something. The sale is usually a product, service or membership.
Memberships
Most large real estate clubs will charge membership fees. Many of the smaller less establish real estate clubs will charge a very small fee. In addition, lots of small real estate clubs will not charge a fee to their members. In the case of ‘membership fees’, the clubs that charge these fees are obviously selling to you a membership and that is how they make money.
Products
Some of the larger real estate clubs and even the smaller real estate clubs will try to sell you a product. The products for sale come in many different forms. The product could be a book or even perhaps some DVDs on real estate and real estate investing.
Sometimes the products for sale are tickets to a more exclusive seminar being held by the real estate group itself.
This is a classic case of ‘up selling’!
Service
Real Estate clubs can also sell you services. Often these services are sold indirectly to you as the member. Real estate clubs may co-operate with Realtors, Property Managers or Mortgage Brokers. The Realtors, Property Managers and Mortgage Brokers all have services to sell to you as the consumer.
My Assessment of Real Estate Clubs: Are they worth joining?
One thing that all new real estate investors need to realize is that, real estate clubs sell stuff! If real estate clubs pretend that they are not selling things to you, they are lying.
An Important Distinction to make…
Just because real estate clubs sell you things, this should not prevent you from joining these clubs.
Real estate clubs are a great place to learn about real estate investing because experienced investors and eager new investors attend these clubs. As such, new or aspiring investors are exposed to many other people who have bought real estate as an investment or who have just purchased their first rental property. Learning from people who have accomplished something that you yourself are trying to accomplish is the only way to go. Far too often, aspiring real estate investors become discouraged after listening to the advice of non-real estate investors. These non real estate investors can sometimes be close friends or family of the aspiring investor. The aspiring investor my be told that buying a rental property is “too much work” or that “all tenants are terrible”. This of course is not true.
Further, the Realtors, Property Managers and Mortgage Brokers that hang out at real estate clubs are generally very knowledgeable when it comes to investment real estate. More often than not, these are professionals who are real estate investors as well. As such, they are not only able to provide you with their specific services, but they can also provide you with first hand information on the do’s and don’ts of real estate investing.
In Summary
In regards to my previous comment above, I do not feel that real estate clubs are ‘bad’. Rather, these clubs are sometimes perceived as being bad because of the fact that they ‘sell something’.
Just because real estate clubs sell something does not make them ‘bad’ at all. On the contrary, real estate clubs (good real estate clubs) that sell products, memberships or services to their members are doing their members a favour. They are doing their members a favour because they are educating their members with the products, memberships or services.
Every new real estate investor needs to learn how to become a successful real estate investor and landlord. You can only learn this by speaking to and learning the best practices from already successful real estate investors.
So the next time you are on the fence about joining a real estate club. Remember…
Just Do It!
Best Regards,
Neil Uttamsingh
