in answer to your questions in order.
1. No
2. Yes...a TIF or just spend some time down there for a part of a day, see what the atmosphere is like.
3. No, they don't have to be some member of a quality organisation, I have been to one such FS and their quality was pretty average!
I say again, don't pay any lump sum.
Oh and yonks means A LONG TIME.