Members aim to make money by investing in real estate but don't necessarily have the capital available to buy whole properties.
The real estate investment clubs allow individuals to join together (which need to be distinguished from a formally established real estate investment trust, so that their money can be pooled together in order to purchase properties that they otherwise could not afford to buy.
Real estate investment clubs have been booming since the 1990s,[2] so much so that the National Real Estate Investors Association was formed in the United States late 1990s.
Membership is open to commercial real estate professionals with a minimum of two years experience in the industry.
For example, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported a story on October 18, 2005 about Communities Learning to Invest and Mobilize for Business (CLIMB), funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Forest County Potawatomi Community Foundation, in order to help minority communities accumulate as much as $100,000 in assets within a decade.,[5] There are two types of investment clubs - those that focus nationally, such as Commercial Real Estate Online and the National Real Estate Network, and those that focus on the local neighborhood.