Best Area to Get Started In?

[Chris Coughlan]

With the current mortgage crisis and hearing all of the foreclosure opportunites on the radio I decided to look in to it a few months ago. After doing a bunch of research it appears that there is great potential in the short sale/preforeclusure market. I've kind of been turned off from foreclosure/auction/sherrif sales due to the long process and the inability to inspect the property etc.

Besides getting the "balls" to actually approach people in preforeclosure situations, the main thing holding me back is financing, I simply do not have the money for a downpayment.

My plan was to buy properties, hold on to and rent them until the market turns, and then eventually sell, but that may not be the best option at this point.

Reading this forum the last few days I've been hearing some new terms:

bird dogging - http://www.biggerpockets.com/articles/bird-dogging101rb.html
wholesaling - http://www.biggerpockets.com/articles/wholesaling-properties-lg.html

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what the main difference is. It seems like bird dogging is just finding properties below value for a buyer to rehab and sell/flip, and wholesaling is just finding properties below value for the buyer to sell/flip. The key to both is that you are using the buyers money?

subject-to / lease-to > I've read this term a few times on this forum and it has been related to "little money required". I guess I'm looking for what this really means.

I need some direction on what people think is the best avenue for me to start with. Are there options for me to get started where I don't need a lot of money? How can I get in touch with investors/buyers if I did want to bird dog or wholesale?

I'm sure I'll have many more questions, but that's it for now.

Thanks