This is how you start investing from scratch

[Jeff McCaskey]

YOU MUST TAKE ACTION - ANY KIND OF ACTION, IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER WHICH KIND..........

Here is the key - nobody has all the answers and nobody can do it for you. You have to take action and do it for yourself, because no two paths are the same.

It's almost 2 am so I'm not going to write a book here, but.......

BEFORE I started, I had had an interest in real estate for a long long time and some family background (dad and grandpa were real estate agents). Over time my interest helped me gather tid bits of information I would use later.

WHEN I started it was October 2008 - the crash!!!!!

I just came back from grad school which didn't go well. Didn't have a job, was living at home and wasn't sure what to do. I spent a couple months out hunting and trying to figure things out. Real estate was as popular on cable news as ISIS is today, it was all negative news about real estate.

The Chinese have a saying "chaos brings opportunity" so if your'e new and life feels chaotic or tattered, look for the opportunity before you.

I did some work for a farmer close by, it was part time but hey, it was something. There weren't any jobs really. You can't really farm frozen soil so this guy bought and renovated a new rental house each winter, so I helped. Now I learned some new skills and made a wage. Maybe I was in the right place at the right time, or maybe I was looking for the opportunity in the chaos........

Spring came, weather warmed up enough to paint the outside of the house. I'm on a ladder and far from done with the exterior paint job. A lady shows up, goes inside, looks around and leaves. Later I asked the boss "how did it go", he says "we rented the house".......... But I'm not even done painting the house I thought to myself!! Hmmmmm...

Pieces were starting to come together for me, only because I was curious and observant. NOTE: So that is what a strong rental market looks like.

I spent 10 months on average of about 4 hours a day educating myself with everything I could get my hands on related to real estate, books, tv, news, online, driving around etc etc.

I made a decision - I was going to do this.......... PERIOD

So a bank statement came, it told me I had 36 cents in the account. That was it - no savings, no full time employment, living at home................

I started looking at houses with an agent in town. I had told him I was looking to buy rental property. I just said I had all of 36 cents so how was that going to work???? I didn't care, I had decided this was what I was going to do, so I would figure it out. After all, I had just spent hundreds of hours learning about "how" to get started with nothing. See, its not just a question that you can ask someone, "how to I get started"? There is a lot to know to get anything done. But nothing will ever get done if you never start. It's not get rich quick, it's not easy - or everyone would be doing it, it's hard, it's a commitment (to yourself and your future) and it can be plain hard and frustrating.

So what happened??? Well the agent knew someone moving out of state and they needed someone to manage their house way out in the country since they were going to rent it out. I called them up and we talked about it. I knew what I should charge because I just did all this research and knew what management companies charge to manage rentals. We made an agreement and now I was a property manager!!

Hey, it's a start right.

It was several months later (June 2011) before I ended up buying my first property using a lease option and borrowed money from a cousin. Needed $5,000 down. NONE of my own money, not a dime. I guess they call this no money down eh........... Now I have a tri-plex that makes $1,200/mo and a payment of $650 (notice a relationship, 50% rule). Why buy a tri-plex for my first deal???? Because, if one unit is empty I can still make the payment. I only had 36 cents not long ago remember......