4 Ways to Invest in Real Estate With Only $15,000

OK, so you’ve got $15,000, and you’re trying to figure out: how do I use this 15 grand to invest in real estate?

Here I’ll show you four different ways to get into the real estate investing game with just $15K.

Now here’s the thing, 15 grand is probably not going to be enough for you to just go put a down payment on a property. That’s the most traditional, boring, easy way to invest in real estate. But $15K’s probably not enough.

Why? Because you typically need 20 to 30 percent down. So, unless you’re buying a $30,000, $40,000, or $50,000 house, that’s going to be kind of tough.

However, don’t fear. There are a few ways you can get involved with real estate investing with just $15,000.

Alright, let’s get to it.

4 Ways to Invest in Real Estate With Just $15,000

1. Wholesaling

Let’s talk about wholesaling. Wholesaling is a real estate strategy where you find good deals and then you basically dump them into the lap of a house flipper or a rental property owner, and you make a fee for doing it.

Now, this is not the end all be all video about wholesaling, but essentially as a wholesaler, you’re finding great deals. Let’s say you got a deal under contract for $100,000. But you know a house flipper who would pay $110K for that same property.

So, you go to the flipper and say, “Hey, I have this property for $110,000. Would you like it?”

The flipper wants it. That’s great. Well, you got it for $100K and sold for $110K; now you get to keep the $10,000 difference.

Now, what does this have to do with the $15,000? Well, you’re going to need some money for marketing.

Sure, $15K is a lot of money for marketing to be able to find that $100,000 house. But don’t get caught up on the numbers. It’s irrelevant. I’m just giving an example.

So, that $15K could be used, for example, for direct mail marketing, where you go send out thousands of letters. I mean, if you sent a thousand letters every month, you could do that for 15 months on that $15K. You don’t think you’d maybe find a deal? You probably would.

2. Partner With Another Investor

Think about it. If you’ve got $15,000, couldn’t you go partner with somebody else who has $15K? Now you have $30,000, which is a 25 percent down payment plus closing costs on a $100,000 property.

Now, maybe you don’t live in an area where you can buy a $100,000 property. You probably should just sit on the couch and do nothing for the next 20 years then, because you can’t do it, you know, if you don’t live in a market where you can buy cheap houses.

Not true! If you don’t live in an area where you can buy a $100K property with a partner, maybe you should invest out of state. In fact, my buddy David Greene wrote a book called Long Distance Real Estate Investing; it’s all about how to do that.

There are plenty of markets across the country. So, partner with somebody, or maybe you’ve got to partner with three or four or five people and buy a more expensive property. The point is 15 grand gets you a lot when you partner.

I’ve even done numerous real estate deals in my life using no money out of pocket—not even 15 grand. You can take your $15K, go to Hawaii hang out with me in Maui for a week, and still get that real estate deal done.

3. Flip Houses

Let’s talk about flipping houses. So, with 15 grand, let’s say you got a 10 percent return. You’d be making $1,500 a year; that’s not very much.

Your goal with $15K should be: how do I multiply this into $100K, into $500K. Right?

And one good way to do that is flipping houses. You buy a nasty property, fix it up, and then sell it and make a good chunk. And 15 grand is definitely enough skin in the game. That means money that you’re putting down.

It’s definitely enough skin in the game to get out there to give it to a hard money lender as the down payment, and the hard money lender could fund the rest of the deal—maybe even the rehab costs. Now you’re going to have to nail a really good deal in order to do that, but 15 grand is more than enough to flip a house in most markets.

If not, go back to number two—maybe partner with somebody where you can flip that house for 15 grand.

I mean, imagine turning that $15K into $50K in three months or six months, and then turn that $50K into $150K. And in another six months, within a year, you might have 150 to 200 grand that you can now dump into rental properties. So, you make money in flipping, dump into rentals, or you could actually do the same thing with wholesaling (make money wholesaling, dump into rentals).

That’s how you create massive income and turn it into passive income.

4. Start a Non-Real Estate Side Hustle

This one’s a little bit outside the box, but I want to cover it anyway. Fifteen grand might be just the amount of money you need to actually start a non-real estate business, a side hustle.

I mean, think about it. If you’re going to start something new, would you rather start a new business that you know nothing about? If you’re just getting into real estate, you know nothing. Would you rather spend $15K on something you have no idea how to do or something you’re already a rock star at?

For example, let’s say you’re a dancer, and you’re awesome at dancing. You decide that you’re going to start a dancing consulting business or teach people how to ballroom dance or something. And you’re going to charge X amount of money. You need to reserve the room; you need to rent a studio for a little while. It’s going to be your side hustle.

Imagine taking that 15 grand, starting your side hustle, and turning it into a $100,000 a year business on the side. Totally doable, right?

So, now again, you’re taking that 15 grand and you’re multiplying it. You’re turning it into something that can generate massive profits that you can dump back into real estate as maybe a more passive investor—maybe even getting into syndication eventually, where you put money into somebody else’s deals to make money.

However you can best make money and then dump that money into the best investment on the planet—real estate—do that.

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.