how does the new guy witbh the deals,gift of gab,knowledge but no money make it to the top in the real estate investing busienss?

[Melvin Estrict]

my name is melvin estrict and i live in alabama although i grew up on the east coast (go giants!) and i have been in the real estate finance business since 1995. i have owned a mortgage brokerage as well as a property management business. i have worked on wall street in sales as an investment consultant, but now i am here in alabama (by choice) but with no money. i am able to come across attractive deals, but often face huge obstacles when attempting to close with no dough! my goals are to become successful (extremely) in the real estate business but i am starting from zero armed only with knowledge and ambition while lacking money and credit. i represent the usual story of expensive divorce and loss of a business.
so now what?

[Jon Holdman]

You're talking about a money partner. Typical terms for a first time deal are that the money partner provides all the funding and you do all the work. When you sell, the money partner takes 50% of the profit on the sale.

A decent fix and flip (I think that's what you're proposing) would be to have the purchase plus rehab costs at 70% of ARV (the selling price). The profit on a deal like that, after all the costs of purchasing it, holding it (insurance, taxes, utilities, etc.) and selling it, but not including any money costs, could be up around 20% of ARV, maybe a little higher IF, and its a big IF, you stick to your refi budget, sell it at the expected ARV, and sell it within six months. More realistically, you'll go over budget, over time, and sell for less than you expect, and you'll be doing good to make a 15% of ARV profit.

A cheaper alternative may be hard money. However, if the HML will go 70% of ARV, you'll still need about 10% of ARV for other costs. Closing costs, points, interest payments, and holding costs would have to be covered on your own.

Many HMLs are only doing 80% or maybe 90% of purchase plus rehab.

Wholesaling may be a way to do it. It work, and I think a lot of people try with little success. But some folks seem to make it work.

Do you have a job where you could scrimp and save up $10K? If you can do relatively low priced deals, that might be enough to get started. How about a second job? Anything personal you can sell, or bills you can eliminate.

You can also try for creative deals with the owner. Find a desparate owner with a junker property and offer to fix their place and then get a share of the profit. You want to get a deed up front so you don't do a bunch of work and have them flake out. Split the net profit on the sale 50/50, then have them reimburse all your costs out of their half. That would mean you would need to be able to come up with the fix up cash, but it avoids money costs on the property itself.