Finding Investors to Work With

[Sheldon Alex]

Hi Everyone,

I'm fairly new to real estate and still looking to do my first deal. I'm located in the Sacramento, California area. I'm working with a broker now and have been analyzing multiple deals. The only thing missing now is having some investors to work with in funding the deals. I'm planning on doing fixer uppers, buy and hold, and wholesaling, and want to have a great long term working relationship with everyone I work with. 

I plan on attending two real estate investment events next month, and will probably attend 1-2 a month afterwards. But I have to wait a couple of weeks before the events take place, and I want to put in a offer on a property I'm looking at now. What are some other ways I can find investors to work with to get my first deal going? Thanks for any input I get.

Sheldon 

[Brian Baker]

Your challenge is a common one, Sheldon. I'm the VP of the largest non-profit REIA in the country (CFRI in Orlando, FL), and every month we see over 100 new investors come through our doors. The majority have the same question - "Where do I get the money and who can I trust to make a win-win deal and support my desired profit?"

I started my investing career very similarly. I've tried wholesaling, seller financing, and variety of other investing tactics. And I've used a variety of sources for deal money including hard, private, JV partnerships, and even conventional. I have also been through the process of building business credit and getting cash credit line funding, and that source has really worked out the best for us! Between my wife and I, we had, within 4 weeks of applying, over $300k at 0% for well over a year via several credit lines. And we've built up our business' credit, which has led to even more low rate funding - all of which we've used to enter into over 21 deals. We've also used these funds in conjunction with other sources of money (hard, private, etc.) for other deals. And, most importantly, the cash from our credit lines is accessible whenever we need it for whatever project we want, including surprise opportunities. In fact, I'm often surprised that more people haven't heard of doing this for their deals! You may want to check out 10BillionCash.com as a starting point if you're interested in learning more details.

Anyway, regardless of the source of your funding, the main thing is to always run your numbers and calculate what your latest deal will support, while still creating your desired level of profit.

I always remind our REIA members that successful investing always comes down to three main things:

1) knowing what you want,

2) having a great reason for wanting it,

3) and then letting everyone know both of those!

You can't market efficiently unless you know what you want. You won't take the effective actions necessary unless you know why you want it. And, unless you advertise and tell everyone what you're looking for, you may never find it!

The deals you want, the learning opportunities, and the money you need will always come to you at that point, in one form or another. And if the numbers don't work on a given deal, there are always plenty more properties out there, and many more opportunities to come!

Good luck and happy investing!