Frustrated in Houston

[Chris Johnson]

Hello everyone. I'm a new full time investor in Houston. I've made connections with a team of people so that I can start doing single family flip deals. The problem is I'm having a lot of difficulty finding that first property to do. I don't have the money yet to do a marketing campaign myself, so my only option is to talk to wholesaler companies. Each deal they've sent me so far, once I run the numbers through a spreadsheet, there isn't enough profit available after paying their markup, my hard money costs, etc. I've read the books on investing with no money, but in reality that seems impossible to do. I don't have a proven track record so no private money lenders will consider me. And with hard money lenders only loaning 70% LTV, each deal I've looked at so far would have me bringing $20-50k in cash to closing! Anyway, just curious if anyone has advice for a newbie to get started, maybe I'm missing something. Thanks!

[Jeff Rabinowitz]

How can someone who has not yet done a deal be a full time investor? The way you represent yourself is important if you wish people to take you seriously.