I just received a phone call from the President of MY local REIA group, telling me that the exact same thing happened in OUR group meeting last Thursday. I missed all the fireworks because I was helping a few people out with their own deals. Is that a coincidence or what???
My suggestion to him was to respond with a letter to all of the members, explaining that there was apparently an agenda tied to the walk-out, and for our members not to take any drastic action without fully investigating the circumstances.
I know in my club, the past presidents and the long time board members have been doing transactions in our area for many, many years. These guys are the ones who freely give of their time and their knowledge. They teach classes for new beginners. They are available for phone calls from people looking for advice. They are always the first ones to volunteer when a job needs to be done. As far as I’m concerned, they are above suspicion. As long as they have been doing it, if they were cheating others, it would have caught up to them by now.
These guys never try to solicit business for themselves (like others do). They never monopolize the meetings with their thinly veiled promotions of their own for profit services (like the same others do). They don’t start up private groups claiming to be “mentors” just to sway other non-assuming members away from the group.
Hopefully you realize that there are usually at least two sides to every story, and more than that when accusations are flung about. My advice to you is to talk with the remaining board members and to other long-time members of the group, in order to get the full story. Once you have all the facts, then you can make a rational decision.
If you would like to discuss my particular club situation and compare it to yours, e-mail me and I’ll get with you.
Last Thursday was the weekly meeting for my real estate investment club. The President, at the beginning the of the meeting, normaly informs to group of club news and gives members to opportunity to speak directly to the audience of over 200 club members. It was during this time that one of the board members grabs the microphone, with the audacity of a young Mahammed Ali, and annouces that he is resigning as a board member and invites anyone to join the new real estate investors club that is forming. Then two other board members, one of which was the past president, annouced that they are resigning as well. Furthermore, they told the audience that they had a table setup outside with information about the new REI club they are starting. Next, the three resignators as well as about a dozen or more other people stood up and walked out. The rest of the club was a bit stunned.
I personnaly feel that if the resignators had beef with how the club was run they are well within their rights to start a new club. But, they should start from scratch in trying to get members. It was inappropriate to orchestrate to coup d’etat so to speak. However, the people who publicly resigned are people who I respect and are trustworthy. This has lead me to believe that there maybe is something going so bad that they felt they had to resigned.
Nonetheless, I looked over the information about the new REI Club and I must say that I was inpressed. Unfortuantely, the meetings are going to be held at the same time as the old club meetings. This means I will have to choose one or the other.
Trustworthy…,hmmmm…what exactly does that mean? After reading your posting I really felt the need to reply. I just so happen to be a member of the same club you are but, I know all the insights of the events you refer tO. I won’t go into them. What I will do is tell you about my situation. Four years ago I joined this club after seeing their ad in the newspaper. I went through the training they offered,( for a measly $35)and learned a few techniques to get started. I was a member for only three months before I had my first deal. I made more money on that deal than a whole year at a job I hated. I quit the next day and am still a full time investor. The point is that on my first deal, several members VOLUNTARILY helped walk me trough. Oh, they could have easily taken my deal but they didn’t.>>>> I think that what you call trustworthy. What trust isn’t is interrupting a professional organization with your own hidden agendas. If there were no other agendas then you would think that the interruprtor… which has been President for the past TWO years… would have found a more…professional… way to conduct himself. Anyway, the purpose of the investors association is to network, share new ideas and just plain meet other investors. Many people volunter their help with the sole purpose of hopeing to gain the help of others so we all can enjoy the club.