If I Were 22 Again… A Dad Explains Real Estate Investing to His Son

My twenty-two year old son asked me a question last night. He said, “Dad, if you were just starting out, like me, and you wanted to get going in real estate, what would you do?”

What a great question, and I really had to think about it before I answered him. What I told him isn’t original with me. These ideas have been expressed much better by other authors before now, but since the essence of creativity is selective borrowing, here’s the advice I gave him.

I said that the first thing I would do is become an expert in my target market.

“How long will that take?” he asked.

Ah, youth- always in such a hurry.

“Depends on how much time each week you can devote to it,” I answered, giving him another of the vague responses he has grown so used to.

Predictably, he groaned.

I went on to explain to him that, if he really committed himself to following my advice, and if he committed to a minimum of 15 hours each week, he should become both competent and confident in about 3 months, which doesn’t seem like such a long time. The key is looking at tons of houses, and asking tons of questions of the right people.

I told him, if I were just starting out, I would also find the right Realtor to work with. The right Realtor will be able to put you in touch with a boatload of opportunity you can’t find by yourself, and provide you a list of foreclosures and vacant properties to look at every day.”

“What would you do next?” he asked.

I said that I would work on building a buyer’s list at the same time I was learning my market.

“How would you do that?”

“I would find and join my local REIA (Real Estate Investors Association) group, and attend every meeting. If my area didn’t have a REIA group, I would start one. This is the place to start finding, meeting, and networking with the people in your area who invest in property. I would also read the newspaper classifieds for “Buy Houses” or “Buy Property” ads. These people are active buyers, and should be added to your buyer’s list. Your goal is to have as long a buyer’s list as possible, at least 50-100 names depending on the size of your area.”

“Why?” he asked me

“I’ll explain that in a minute.” I said

He rolled his eyes. Talking with your son is like chatting with a nuclear physicist- every time you try to impress them with your knowledge, they make you feel like they can’t believe how long it took you to come to your childish conclusions.

I pressed on, determined to give my son the advice he was seeking.

“Next,” I said, “Armed with an in-depth knowledge of my market area, and my active buyer’s list, I would start making low offers on every foreclosure and vacant property I looked at.”

“Every one?” I could see the doubt in his eyes.

“Well, close to every one. Every house that your confidence level allows you to make an offer on.” I could see the next question coming.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked. So predictable.

“What I mean,” I continued, “is that the market knowledge you gather during your market research will give you a certain level of confidence. The more knowledge you have, the more your confidence will increase. When you first start making offers there will be a lot of properties that will appear to be beyond your skill level, and if they seem to be, they probably are. You simply won’t have enough confidence to make offers on those properties.

“As time goes on, though, and your knowledge grows, so will your confidence. Then those properties that intimidated you at first will become less frightening. Instead of seeing hazards, you will see opportunity. Don’t stress about this, because it’s a natural progression. As long as you’re putting in the time learning your trade the knowledge will come, and so will the confidence. One follows the other like the summer follows the spring.”

Next, my son asked, “But how do you determine how much to offer?”

I went on to explain to him my method for determining the right amount to offer. See my article titled "Real Estate Investing- Is There One Magic Rule?"

“I get it,” my son said, head bobbing up and down knowingly. “What comes next?”

“OK,” I said. “What happens next is, most of your offers are rejected completely, a few might be countered, and one out of every twenty to fifty will be accepted.”

“Is that all?” he asked, perplexed.

“That’s all, but that’s alright,” I said. You can’t handle a whole bunch at once right at the beginning anyway. One or two is enough to get you started. What you do next is very important.”

“What’s that?” my son asked.

“Start marketing your fool head off.” I replied. “You know that list of buyer’s you’ve been developing? You call every one of them and tell them about the great deal you’ve got, and see who’s interested. Put ads in the paper, signs on the property, and signs anywhere in the neighborhood you can get away with. Create a flyer to pass around at your REIA meeting. Sell, sell, sell is the name of the game. Whatever it takes, find a buyer for that property BEFORE you close and take possession of it.”

“What about the title work and all the legal stuff you have to do when you buy a house?” he asked. He’s smarter than I give him credit for.

“That’s just mechanics, and I can teach you mechanics as you’re going through each deal. What we’re talking about here is strategy. If you get this strategy down, you can learn the mechanics.

“OK,” he said, “how do I make money?” A very astute question.

“Simple- the same way you make money on any product you sell. You sell it for more than you paid for it. For instance, let’s say you get a house under contract for $40,000 that you determined beforehand has an After Repaired Value (ARV) of $97,000 and needs repairs of about $12,000. If it were me, I would try to find a buyer in the $48,000 to $53,000 range. That way, your buyer would still have room to make his repairs and make a tidy profit, and you would walk away with somewhere around $5,000 to $8,000 after taxes and fees.”

“Fees and taxes?” my son asked. A rude awakening.

“Yes, paid to your attorney, the Realtor, the title company and the government. Of course you could do a simultaneous closing, and there are other ways to eliminate some or all of those fees, like making your offers in the name of an LLC and then selling the LLC instead of the property, but again we’re talking about mechanics, and that’s the subject for another discussion.” (And another article)

“How much would it be reasonable to earn doing this full-time?” he asked. A light going on.

“There’s no reason a full time wholesaler (wholesaling is really what we’re talking about here) couldn’t make $5,000 to $10,000 per month, or more. Not at first, of course, but after a few months or a year of consistent effort, the sky’s the limit.”

“Wow,” my son said, “I never though about it like that before. I never understood so clearly what wholesaling is all about. I think I could do that.”

I think he could, too. For that matter, so can you. In fact, what’s stopping you?

Now, go make more offers!

How To Get Private Money For Real Estate Investing - Step Two

If you spend much time online, you?ve most likely read or heard about the law of attraction. Essentially, this law states that you tend to attract into your life whatever you focus on. I personally think the philosophy that?s risen up surrounding this so-called ?law? is just so much drivel, but there is truth to the central idea. Which brings us to step two for getting private money for real estate investing.

As in most other areas of life, if you don?t know what you?re looking for, neither will anyone else. That?s why it?s important to think carefully about what you?ll be expecting from your lenders once you sign them up. Ask some pertinent questions, write down the answers, and develop a ?Lender Fact Sheet? to give to your prospective private money lenders. Here are some of the questions you should be asking.

1. What size loans will you be looking for? This will be dictated by the type of property you normally buy. If you focus on single family homes in the $75,000 to $150,000 range, then loans up to $150,000 are what you?ll be seeking.

2. What will the terms be? Think carefully about how you will want to pay your loans back. This will, of course, change as you get into the mechanics of each individual loan and each individual property, but your prospective lenders will want to know what your intentions are. Do you plan to use the money for three years, five years, ten years? Will you make interest only payments with a balloon at the end of the term? The terms are limited only by your own creativity, but think about them now, and add them to your outline.

3. What rate will you be paying? A good rate of return compared with what they can earn elsewhere is what will attract your potential private money for real estate investing lenders. The rate you choose is up to you, and will be negotiable based on market conditions, but you should give your prospects a starting figure. Ten percent, eleven percent, twelve percent? Be prepared to make adjustments, but have a place to start.

4. How often? What will be your approximate frequency of use? Lenders want to know that they have a reasonable expectation of return. Don?t sign them up if you can?t use their money, because you?ll just be setting them up for disappointment. Only sign up as many lenders as you can reasonably expect to actually use.

As you think through these questions, others may occur to you. Write them down, along with the answers. Then, use your outline to develop your Lender Fact Sheet. Give this sheet to your prospective private money lenders at your seminars or one-on-one presentations, and be prepared to explain your terms.

If you want more on how to get private money for real estate investing, visit http://www.private-money-real-estate-investing.com for tips, techniques, and strategies.

If I Were 22 Again… A Dad Explains Real Estate Investing to His Son

My twenty-two year old son asked me a question last night. He said, “Dad, if you were just starting out, like me, and you wanted to get going in real estate, what would you do?”

What a great question, and I really had to think about it before I answered him. What I told him isn’t original with me. These ideas have been expressed much better by other authors before now, but since the essence of creativity is selective borrowing, here’s the advice I gave him.

I said that the first thing I would do is become an expert in my target market.

“How long will that take?” he asked.

Ah, youth- always in such a hurry.

“Depends on how much time each week you can devote to it,” I answered, giving him another of the vague responses he has grown so used to.

Predictably, he groaned.

I went on to explain to him that, if he really committed himself to following my advice, and if he committed to a minimum of 15 hours each week, he should become both competent and confident in about 3 months, which doesn’t seem like such a long time. The key is looking at tons of houses, and asking tons of questions of the right people.

I told him, if I were just starting out, I would also find the right Realtor to work with. The right Realtor will be able to put you in touch with a boatload of opportunity you can’t find by yourself, and provide you a list of foreclosures and vacant properties to look at every day.”

“What would you do next?” he asked.

I said that I would work on building a buyer’s list at the same time I was learning my market.

“How would you do that?”

“I would find and join my local REIA (Real Estate Investors Association) group, and attend every meeting. If my area didn’t have a REIA group, I would start one. This is the place to start finding, meeting, and networking with the people in your area who invest in property. I would also read the newspaper classifieds for “Buy Houses” or “Buy Property” ads. These people are active buyers, and should be added to your buyer’s list. Your goal is to have as long a buyer’s list as possible, at least 50-100 names depending on the size of your area.”

“Why?” he asked me

“I’ll explain that in a minute.” I said

He rolled his eyes. Talking with your son is like chatting with a nuclear physicist- every time you try to impress them with your knowledge, they make you feel like they can’t believe how long it took you to come to your childish conclusions.

I pressed on, determined to give my son the advice he was seeking.

“Next,” I said, “Armed with an in-depth knowledge of my market area, and my active buyer’s list, I would start making low offers on every foreclosure and vacant property I looked at.”

“Every one?” I could see the doubt in his eyes.

“Well, close to every one. Every house that your confidence level allows you to make an offer on.” I could see the next question coming.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked. So predictable.

“What I mean,” I continued, “is that the market knowledge you gather during your market research will give you a certain level of confidence. The more knowledge you have, the more your confidence will increase. When you first start making offers there will be a lot of properties that will appear to be beyond your skill level, and if they seem to be, they probably are. You simply won’t have enough confidence to make offers on those properties.

“As time goes on, though, and your knowledge grows, so will your confidence. Then those properties that intimidated you at first will become less frightening. Instead of seeing hazards, you will see opportunity. Don’t stress about this, because it’s a natural progression. As long as you’re putting in the time learning your trade the knowledge will come, and so will the confidence. One follows the other like the summer follows the spring.”

Next, my son asked, “But how do you determine how much to offer?”

I went on to explain to him my method for determining the right amount to offer. See my article titled "Real Estate Investing- Is There One Magic Rule?"

“I get it,” my son said, head bobbing up and down knowingly. “What comes next?”

“OK,” I said. “What happens next is, most of your offers are rejected completely, a few might be countered, and one out of every twenty to fifty will be accepted.”

“Is that all?” he asked, perplexed.

“That’s all, but that’s alright,” I said. You can’t handle a whole bunch at once right at the beginning anyway. One or two is enough to get you started. What you do next is very important.”

“What’s that?” my son asked.

“Start marketing your fool head off.” I replied. “You know that list of buyer’s you’ve been developing? You call every one of them and tell them about the great deal you’ve got, and see who’s interested. Put ads in the paper, signs on the property, and signs anywhere in the neighborhood you can get away with. Create a flyer to pass around at your REIA meeting. Sell, sell, sell is the name of the game. Whatever it takes, find a buyer for that property BEFORE you close and take possession of it.”

“What about the title work and all the legal stuff you have to do when you buy a house?” he asked. He’s smarter than I give him credit for.

“That’s just mechanics, and I can teach you mechanics as you’re going through each deal. What we’re talking about here is strategy. If you get this strategy down, you can learn the mechanics.

“OK,” he said, “how do I make money?” A very astute question.

“Simple- the same way you make money on any product you sell. You sell it for more than you paid for it. For instance, let’s say you get a house under contract for $40,000 that you determined beforehand has an After Repaired Value (ARV) of $97,000 and needs repairs of about $12,000. If it were me, I would try to find a buyer in the $48,000 to $53,000 range. That way, your buyer would still have room to make his repairs and make a tidy profit, and you would walk away with somewhere around $5,000 to $8,000 after taxes and fees.”

“Fees and taxes?” my son asked. A rude awakening.

“Yes, paid to your attorney, the Realtor, the title company and the government. Of course you could do a simultaneous closing, and there are other ways to eliminate some or all of those fees, like making your offers in the name of an LLC and then selling the LLC instead of the property, but again we’re talking about mechanics, and that’s the subject for another discussion.” (And another article)

“How much would it be reasonable to earn doing this full-time?” he asked. A light going on.

“There’s no reason a full time wholesaler (wholesaling is really what we’re talking about here) couldn’t make $5,000 to $10,000 per month, or more. Not at first, of course, but after a few months or a year of consistent effort, the sky’s the limit.”

“Wow,” my son said, “I never though about it like that before. I never understood so clearly what wholesaling is all about. I think I could do that.”

I think he could, too. For that matter, so can you. In fact, what’s stopping you?

Now, go make more offers!

How To Get Private Money For Real Estate Investing - Step Two

If you spend much time online, you?ve most likely read or heard about the law of attraction. Essentially, this law states that you tend to attract into your life whatever you focus on. I personally think the philosophy that?s risen up surrounding this so-called ?law? is just so much drivel, but there is truth to the central idea. Which brings us to step two for getting private money for real estate investing.

As in most other areas of life, if you don?t know what you?re looking for, neither will anyone else. That?s why it?s important to think carefully about what you?ll be expecting from your lenders once you sign them up. Ask some pertinent questions, write down the answers, and develop a ?Lender Fact Sheet? to give to your prospective private money lenders. Here are some of the questions you should be asking.

1. What size loans will you be looking for? This will be dictated by the type of property you normally buy. If you focus on single family homes in the $75,000 to $150,000 range, then loans up to $150,000 are what you?ll be seeking.

2. What will the terms be? Think carefully about how you will want to pay your loans back. This will, of course, change as you get into the mechanics of each individual loan and each individual property, but your prospective lenders will want to know what your intentions are. Do you plan to use the money for three years, five years, ten years? Will you make interest only payments with a balloon at the end of the term? The terms are limited only by your own creativity, but think about them now, and add them to your outline.

3. What rate will you be paying? A good rate of return compared with what they can earn elsewhere is what will attract your potential private money for real estate investing lenders. The rate you choose is up to you, and will be negotiable based on market conditions, but you should give your prospects a starting figure. Ten percent, eleven percent, twelve percent? Be prepared to make adjustments, but have a place to start.

4. How often? What will be your approximate frequency of use? Lenders want to know that they have a reasonable expectation of return. Don?t sign them up if you can?t use their money, because you?ll just be setting them up for disappointment. Only sign up as many lenders as you can reasonably expect to actually use.

As you think through these questions, others may occur to you. Write them down, along with the answers. Then, use your outline to develop your Lender Fact Sheet. Give this sheet to your prospective private money lenders at your seminars or one-on-one presentations, and be prepared to explain your terms.

If you want more on how to get private money for real estate investing, visit http://www.private-money-real-estate-investing.com for tips, techniques, and strategies.

If I Were 22 Again… A Dad Explains Real Estate Investing to His Son

My twenty-two year old son asked me a question last night. He said, “Dad, if you were just starting out, like me, and you wanted to get going in real estate, what would you do?”

What a great question, and I really had to think about it before I answered him. What I told him isn’t original with me. These ideas have been expressed much better by other authors before now, but since the essence of creativity is selective borrowing, here’s the advice I gave him.

I said that the first thing I would do is become an expert in my target market.

“How long will that take?” he asked.

Ah, youth- always in such a hurry.

“Depends on how much time each week you can devote to it,” I answered, giving him another of the vague responses he has grown so used to.

Predictably, he groaned.

I went on to explain to him that, if he really committed himself to following my advice, and if he committed to a minimum of 15 hours each week, he should become both competent and confident in about 3 months, which doesn’t seem like such a long time. The key is looking at tons of houses, and asking tons of questions of the right people.

I told him, if I were just starting out, I would also find the right Realtor to work with. The right Realtor will be able to put you in touch with a boatload of opportunity you can’t find by yourself, and provide you a list of foreclosures and vacant properties to look at every day.”

“What would you do next?” he asked.

I said that I would work on building a buyer’s list at the same time I was learning my market.

“How would you do that?”

“I would find and join my local REIA (Real Estate Investors Association) group, and attend every meeting. If my area didn’t have a REIA group, I would start one. This is the place to start finding, meeting, and networking with the people in your area who invest in property. I would also read the newspaper classifieds for “Buy Houses” or “Buy Property” ads. These people are active buyers, and should be added to your buyer’s list. Your goal is to have as long a buyer’s list as possible, at least 50-100 names depending on the size of your area.”

“Why?” he asked me

“I’ll explain that in a minute.” I said

He rolled his eyes. Talking with your son is like chatting with a nuclear physicist- every time you try to impress them with your knowledge, they make you feel like they can’t believe how long it took you to come to your childish conclusions.

I pressed on, determined to give my son the advice he was seeking.

“Next,” I said, “Armed with an in-depth knowledge of my market area, and my active buyer’s list, I would start making low offers on every foreclosure and vacant property I looked at.”

“Every one?” I could see the doubt in his eyes.

“Well, close to every one. Every house that your confidence level allows you to make an offer on.” I could see the next question coming.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked. So predictable.

“What I mean,” I continued, “is that the market knowledge you gather during your market research will give you a certain level of confidence. The more knowledge you have, the more your confidence will increase. When you first start making offers there will be a lot of properties that will appear to be beyond your skill level, and if they seem to be, they probably are. You simply won’t have enough confidence to make offers on those properties.

“As time goes on, though, and your knowledge grows, so will your confidence. Then those properties that intimidated you at first will become less frightening. Instead of seeing hazards, you will see opportunity. Don’t stress about this, because it’s a natural progression. As long as you’re putting in the time learning your trade the knowledge will come, and so will the confidence. One follows the other like the summer follows the spring.”

Next, my son asked, “But how do you determine how much to offer?”

I went on to explain to him my method for determining the right amount to offer. See my article titled "Real Estate Investing- Is There One Magic Rule?"

“I get it,” my son said, head bobbing up and down knowingly. “What comes next?”

“OK,” I said. “What happens next is, most of your offers are rejected completely, a few might be countered, and one out of every twenty to fifty will be accepted.”

“Is that all?” he asked, perplexed.

“That’s all, but that’s alright,” I said. You can’t handle a whole bunch at once right at the beginning anyway. One or two is enough to get you started. What you do next is very important.”

“What’s that?” my son asked.

“Start marketing your fool head off.” I replied. “You know that list of buyer’s you’ve been developing? You call every one of them and tell them about the great deal you’ve got, and see who’s interested. Put ads in the paper, signs on the property, and signs anywhere in the neighborhood you can get away with. Create a flyer to pass around at your REIA meeting. Sell, sell, sell is the name of the game. Whatever it takes, find a buyer for that property BEFORE you close and take possession of it.”

“What about the title work and all the legal stuff you have to do when you buy a house?” he asked. He’s smarter than I give him credit for.

“That’s just mechanics, and I can teach you mechanics as you’re going through each deal. What we’re talking about here is strategy. If you get this strategy down, you can learn the mechanics.

“OK,” he said, “how do I make money?” A very astute question.

“Simple- the same way you make money on any product you sell. You sell it for more than you paid for it. For instance, let’s say you get a house under contract for $40,000 that you determined beforehand has an After Repaired Value (ARV) of $97,000 and needs repairs of about $12,000. If it were me, I would try to find a buyer in the $48,000 to $53,000 range. That way, your buyer would still have room to make his repairs and make a tidy profit, and you would walk away with somewhere around $5,000 to $8,000 after taxes and fees.”

“Fees and taxes?” my son asked. A rude awakening.

“Yes, paid to your attorney, the Realtor, the title company and the government. Of course you could do a simultaneous closing, and there are other ways to eliminate some or all of those fees, like making your offers in the name of an LLC and then selling the LLC instead of the property, but again we’re talking about mechanics, and that’s the subject for another discussion.” (And another article)

“How much would it be reasonable to earn doing this full-time?” he asked. A light going on.

“There’s no reason a full time wholesaler (wholesaling is really what we’re talking about here) couldn’t make $5,000 to $10,000 per month, or more. Not at first, of course, but after a few months or a year of consistent effort, the sky’s the limit.”

“Wow,” my son said, “I never though about it like that before. I never understood so clearly what wholesaling is all about. I think I could do that.”

I think he could, too. For that matter, so can you. In fact, what’s stopping you?

Now, go make more offers!

Real Estate Investing Skills

No matter how you go about becoming involved in real estate, there is one skill that must be mastered in order to become successful. Now measuring success is a subjective matter. This means that it is open to opinion and individual evaluation. Objectivity is the opposite of subjectivity. For instance, I might measure ?success? as having a passive income of $25,000 a month, whereas another person might consider that number to be complete failure.

Having said this, whatever way you measure success, there is one skill that will literally hunt you down and let you know that you have a long way to go towards achieving success. It?s not salesmanship. It?s not tenacity. It?s not creativity. It?s not knowledge of the subject matter.

For instance, let?s say you?re a real estate agent. You could be omnipotent, meaning you know all there is to know in the universe about real estate. However, this will not make you more successful if you have not mastered, or at least recognized the need to improve, this all-important skill.

If this skill were an animal, it would be a predator and the most feared! It?s a predator because it is constantly eating away at you. When you sleep, it gains on you and you can never out run it, ever. It requires the utmost respect and in order to tame it, you must practice skilled management of it.

No, it?s not an actual animal, but it sounds scary doesn?t it? Time. Time management is the skill. The absence of it or a lack of skill will certainly spell doom for your investment and business goals.

So, how do we manage it? First of all, no learning process is sufficient unless you?re involved in it. No words written in this article will provide you with the necessary respect you must have for time. All this article can accomplish is to plant the seed in your brain.

Having said this, first you will need to experience how out of control your business affairs are without being organized. This will teach you a valuable lesson. Secondly, if you come to respect the need for time management, you will realize that steps are needed to develop time management skills. On the other hand, if you don?t come to respect time and treat it as you would say, money, you will undoubtedly lose interest in your business/investing endeavors and say, ?Forget about it?.It?s too hard.?

How To Get Private Money For Real Estate Investing - Step Two

If you spend much time online, you?ve most likely read or heard about the law of attraction. Essentially, this law states that you tend to attract into your life whatever you focus on. I personally think the philosophy that?s risen up surrounding this so-called ?law? is just so much drivel, but there is truth to the central idea. Which brings us to step two for getting private money for real estate investing.

As in most other areas of life, if you don?t know what you?re looking for, neither will anyone else. That?s why it?s important to think carefully about what you?ll be expecting from your lenders once you sign them up. Ask some pertinent questions, write down the answers, and develop a ?Lender Fact Sheet? to give to your prospective private money lenders. Here are some of the questions you should be asking.

1. What size loans will you be looking for? This will be dictated by the type of property you normally buy. If you focus on single family homes in the $75,000 to $150,000 range, then loans up to $150,000 are what you?ll be seeking.

2. What will the terms be? Think carefully about how you will want to pay your loans back. This will, of course, change as you get into the mechanics of each individual loan and each individual property, but your prospective lenders will want to know what your intentions are. Do you plan to use the money for three years, five years, ten years? Will you make interest only payments with a balloon at the end of the term? The terms are limited only by your own creativity, but think about them now, and add them to your outline.

3. What rate will you be paying? A good rate of return compared with what they can earn elsewhere is what will attract your potential private money for real estate investing lenders. The rate you choose is up to you, and will be negotiable based on market conditions, but you should give your prospects a starting figure. Ten percent, eleven percent, twelve percent? Be prepared to make adjustments, but have a place to start.

4. How often? What will be your approximate frequency of use? Lenders want to know that they have a reasonable expectation of return. Don?t sign them up if you can?t use their money, because you?ll just be setting them up for disappointment. Only sign up as many lenders as you can reasonably expect to actually use.

As you think through these questions, others may occur to you. Write them down, along with the answers. Then, use your outline to develop your Lender Fact Sheet. Give this sheet to your prospective private money lenders at your seminars or one-on-one presentations, and be prepared to explain your terms.

If you want more on how to get private money for real estate investing, visit http://www.private-money-real-estate-investing.com for tips, techniques, and strategies.

Low-Money-Down Real Estate Investing

Is it really possible to make money from real estate without much starting money?

The answer is both yes and no.

Here’s the No part:
Investing with no money down is a popular topic at high-hype, low-information seminars. The truth is, when people say you can make money from real estate with little or no money down, they are being slightly misleading.

Indeed, they are right: you personally do not need any money to get started. BUT, you have to get the money from somewhere. Speakers at these high-hype seminars mention OPM (Other People’s Money). The way to invest in real estate with no money down is to borrow from other people (family, friends, and investors) to get started.

This is perfectly true, it’s not YOUR money, therefore you’re starting with none of your own money down, but wouldn’t you agree “invest in real estate with no money down” is a misleading statement?

Even if it’s not your money, it is your responsibility. And it’s your debt if something goes wrong.

Here’s the Yes part:
There are ways that you can MINIMISE the amount of money down. I’ve found that there is an inverse relationship between start-up money and creativity. Generally, the less money you have, the more creative you have to be.

Here are a few creative strategies:
Note: These are by no means easy. They require a lot of work and a lot of explaining to people what you’re doing. There is also potential for investors to exploit their clients when doing strategy 2 or 3, so these strategies are for ethical investors only.

• 1. Negotiate terms.
  You can negotiate the settlement terms in a way that best suits you. For example, you could buy a cosmetically challenged house with a five month settlement period, and negotiate access to the house within those five months.

  In that time you could renovate the place and then sell it on the settlement day for more than you pay. Of course, you’d need the money for the renovations, but it’s not as much as you’d need to buy the house.

• 2. Sandwich Wrap.
  Find someone who will sell their house to you on terms instead of for a lump sum (i.e. wrap it for you). Instead of getting a loan and paying the seller the sale price in one go, you simply make weekly/fortnightly/monthly repayments to the seller until you’ve paid the sale price.

  Then you repeat this process for someone else - i.e. you sell the house to someone else on terms instead of for a lump sum.

  Because you want your client to be paying you more than you are paying the original seller, you need to increase the value of the house somehow (e.g. by renovating). You make a profit by receiving higher repayments from your client than you have to pay to the original seller.

• 3. Some now, some later.
  Find a house that has been on the market a while and is having difficulty selling. Go to the owner and tell them that you can sell the house for their asking price if they are willing to accept most of the money in a lump sum, but some of it in instalments. Then advertise the house as FOR SALE, NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED.

  The house will now quickly attract buyers. The buyer will get 80% finance from a bank and pay it to the seller. You then finance the other 20%. Pay it back to the seller in instalments, with a little bit of interest. And get the buyer to pay you back with a little more interest than what you are paying the seller.

  You can charge this extra margin because you are taking on the risk that the buyer might default on their payments and leave you stuck with the debt. The extra interest is essentially your charge for taking on this risk. You make a profit by receiving repayments that are higher than you make.

  I must stress once again that strategies 2 and 3 are hard work, especially because they involve specific legal paperwork. It is actually easier to just save up and use more traditional real estate investing strategies than to spend the money learning how to do these more obscure strategies.

The more traditional strategies I would recommend include positively geared rentals, wraps (simpler than sandwich wraps), and lease options. For more information about these highly profitable strategies, go to http://www.sustainable-wealth-creation.com/property-investing.html

About the Author

Nat has a passion for property and education. She is co-director of a property investing company and is the author of several high quality articles. To read more of what Nat has to say go to http://www.sustainable-wealth-creation.com/property-investing.html or if you would like to contact her directly go to http://www.sustainable-wealth-creation.com/contact-us.html.

Real Estate Investing: Mobile Homes

Real estate investing has many facets to it. It offers a multitude of ways to make reasonable profits. Your own creativity can contribute a lot to the profitability of your enterprise. One way to do this is by investing in a mobile home and locating it on the land that you own. Alternately, you may buy land with a mobile home on it. Mobile homes are located in parks and you can make a regular income by selling the mobile home while at the same time renting out the lot on which it is parked.

Advantages of Investing in Mobile Homes with Land; Combining the mobile home and the land into a package deal adds considerable value to the offering. Some other advantages are: This being a comparatively unique type of investing with fewer investors, you face less competition than does a real estate agent. Generally, you will be able to buy both the mobile home and the land for about the same amount as a mobile home on someone else?s land. As mobile home properties are much more affordable, their demand is inelastic and remains high even during bad economic times. This ensures that your returns keep coming in during downturns in the economy. Mobile home properties are less expensive to maintain and you may well be able to handle most routine maintenance jobs on your own, with substantial cost savings. It is also easier to upgrade these properties at a much lower cost than conventional fixed homes. Owning the land where the home is parked gives greater control and you do not have to put up with the whims of the property owner. You can select the tenants you want to sell the home to and how long they stay. This also ensures that the tenant cannot leave the premises until clearing his dues.

Economics of a Mobile Home Park; One unique advantage of investing in mobile homes on land is the option of being able to sell the mobile home and rent the land. It is possible to earn a return of over 25 percent of your investments in this business. Some other financial aspects are: The best option is to buy on cash and sell on terms. It is possible to arrange the finances from lenders, even if it means paying a higher interest rate on the borrowing. Higher earnings will compensate this. A promissory note, secured by a first lien in the home being acquired and guaranteeing payments will convince the lenders to part with their money. Providing seller financing will give greater returns than profit from sale of the property. The returns are increased proportionately if the park has many vacancies that can be rented out. An attractive and well-kept park will allow you to get higher rentals.

Many americans are opting to stay in mobile homes since the costs are lower as compared to fixed properties and the homes are getting improved. At the same time, the higher demand for such properties presents a lucrative business opportunity that you can well cash on.

Real Estate Investing - start with getting your own finances under control

Real estate has been a driving force in world economies since the days of Babylon, one of the most fantastic developments the world has ever known, and the desire to create, not destroy, is alive and well.

To enter the realm of real estate development requires vision, direction, and risk acceptance, but a knowledgeable investor will take calculated risks that are in line with his or her overall investment goals. There are only four empirically supported ways to delve into the real estate market: actually build, buy an existing development, invest in some one else’s development, or buy into a Real Estate Investment Trust. All of these venues carry risk and reward, but they also have distinctive differences that set them apart from one another. The most lucrative would be to develop a property from square one, but these types of investments carry more risk and work. To develop a project from scratch enables investors to have more autonomy, which permits them to more openly express their creativity.

Buying an existing property requires investors to pay a premium for the property because the initial risk of failure has already been taken by another developer. To buy into another developer’s idea is also laden with risk as well as reward. Developers provide the insight, while investors, provide needed equity. This is for those who have multiple commas in their bank account but have little desire, other than making more money, to enter the real estate market. These people are usually professionals who are too involved with their own profession to spend the time that is necessary to nurture a project from its conception all the way through its evolution.

Whatever gateway is used, real estate offers an escape from the groupthink that often imprisons many conventional investors. There are many ways to enter the real estate market, but there is one prerequisite to all of these: personal fiscal responsibility. Before people can make their mark in this discipline, they must commit to personal finance reform. By this, it is said that potential developers must start somewhere, and that place is their own finances, in order to create adequate equity that can be invested without jeopardizing their future. A potential investor must search out the pivotal facets of his or her personal financial life and make an honest assessment of his or her susceptibility to a certain level of risk. Real estate must coincide with your long-term aspirations.

Developers therefore must incorporate the needs of the external environment in which they operate and preserve what little there is left by not misappropriating one of our most precious resources by releasing it to those who wish to impede sustainable development by promoting their delusions of grandeur. If not, the next major development will have to happen on Mars, and to be quite honest, the ambience there is not so bright.

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