The Georgia Real Estate Investors Association (GaREIA) is the longest running Real Estate Investor Association (REIA) in the United States. It is a not-for-profit trade association for real estate investors and a member of the National Real Estate Investors Association. National REIA is an association of associations; it provides resources and member benefits for REIA member associations around the country.
GaREIA began in the 1970’s as a group of real estate investors in Atlanta and was called the RAND group (RAND = Robert Allen Nothing Down). Robert Allen is a best-selling author and real estate coach who began his real estate investment career after graduating with an MBA from Brigham Young University in 1974. Allen turned his successful experiences into the colossal bestselling book, Nothing Down, which ran on the New York Times bestseller list for 58 weeks. He had many coaching students across the country. The for-profit RAND group met at the Waverly Hotel in Atlanta for several years, filling the room with 1,000+ people every month.
In 1982 several members of the RAND group formed the Georgia Real Estate Investors Association (GaREIA), and incorporated it as a non-profit Georgia corporation in 1986. The group continued to meet at the Waverly and the Board of Directors began a noble tradition at GaREIA: volunteering your time for a worthy cause; something you believe in – in this case, to have a group of real estate investors to network with and learn from. The Board held their Board meetings at a Denny’s Restaurant and created a newsletter for the association with xeroxed copies. Monthly educational and networking meetings for the members continued.
In 1991 the Board decided office space was needed and the first GaREIA office opened at the Perimeter Park office complex. The Board hired an office manager. The growth of the Association really took off once there was office space to hold seminars and meetings.
By early 1993, the membership had grown to 300 and GaREIA became one of the largest REIA groups in the country. The President asked everyone to bring an associate to the next month’s meeting. By the end of 1993, the membership had grown to 450, a 150% increase! Although membership was growing, there was one-third non-renewal rate after members’ first year of membership. Surveys revealed the biggest reason for members not renewing was that they had not learned enough in their first year to buy a piece of property. For that reason, the Board and other volunteers developed the “GaREIA Quick Start Boot Camp’. Almost three decades later, this weekend Boot Camp continues to be held at GaREIA, helping new investors learn basic fundamentals required for success in real estate investing.
By 1999, membership had grown to 1,750 and a staff of four!
In 2000, the Board hired an Executive Director and there was a staff of six to service the growing Association. The Association moved to a larger office space in 2001 to accommodate the additional programming and events for the membership. The first annual Southeastern Convention & Trade Show was held over three days with many national speakers and vendors participating. More member benefits, seminars and Subgroups were added. Office hours expanded to 9 am – 9 pm daily. The larger office space allowed for multiple seminar rooms and a lending library that was created. The Board began to move from a working Board to a governing Board. The Association’s By-Laws were re-structured and work began on a Policies and Procedures manual for the Association. Membership totaled 2,500 in 2001 and by the end of 2002, GaREIA had grown to 3,000 Regular and 75 Business Associate members. It was the largest REIA group in the country. This was done with no advertising!
During 2003-4, the GaREIA Institute of Education was formed to provide specialized curriculums of real estate investing education for investors and Georgia Real Estate Commission approved Continuing Education credits for real estate agents.
GaREIA:
An Institution, Our History
by Karen Yaap, Executive Director
18 we are GaREIA Jan/Feb 2015