Ready to invest

[N/A N/A]

I am in a unique position. I have been studing real estate investing for 3 years and my husband is just now starting to see the potential. My problem is this, I am ready and the only thing that stops me is I am not the one with the money, but I have the drive and knowledge. What sort of ways can I buy real estate without any money to put down or pay points?

I want to get going on this ~

Nightowl

[Ryan Webber]

Nightowl, there are several strategies to make money in real estate with little or no money out of your pocket. Wholesaling, subject to's, lease optioning, and seller financing are a couple I can think of off the top of my head that have some strong possibilities. There are also ways to get creative in financing that can get you into a property for little or no money out of your pocket, which I am sure Nothing Down will discuss.

I am personally biased to recommend wholesaling to a new investor with little starting capital. In my opinion it provides the lowest risk for the highest return that I have seen in real estate. It does require a strong ambition level and work ethic, but it can pay very well.

Actually one of my partners in my wholesaling company is married to a very conservative man who is not personally interested in real estate at all. She wanted to get involved with real estate but had to minimize her risk involvement because her husband's well paying government job did credit checks every year. If something went wrong financially, he could and probably would lose his job. She used very little money to start finding properties to wholesale and completely minimized her risks by focusing on assignments of contracts. If she couldn't assign it, she would walk from the deal through a contingency in the contract (she never had to walk, that's one of the reasons why we brought her on board). On a side note when she started her wholesaling business she also had 2 year old triplets and was a stay at home mom. Don't get me wrong she is extremely ambitious and well motivated (I would actually describe her as a tiger/pit bull) but my point is that she started with low capital and worked through an avenue with low risk and still made a very respectable income doing it.

All Cash, you seem to have a very conservative perspective on investing. I started investing with very little to my name, no 401K, no personal mortgage, and WITH credit card debt. I started investing with my tax return because I had no savings. Now I did understand that becoming more financially responsible and living below my means was absolutely necessary to be successful in real estate or in business in general, but I saw real estate investing as my way to break through my income ceiling. In the beginning of my investing career, I had to take some proportionally large risks to start moving forward financially.

I like to play poker occasionally, and I relate it to a good general poker strategy. When you are the short stack (not many chips) at the table, you have to be overly aggressive and take some risks if you are going to grow your chips. Now you calculate those risks. You analyze the other players, you calculate the size of the pot, you factor the chances of making your hand, you factor in 15 different things, but when you gauge your risk tolerance it needs to be HIGHER than normal if you are going to overcome your low funds. Now when you are the big stack (lots of chips) at the table, being more conservative is always a more solid strategy. You factor all the same things but when it comes to your risk tolerance it needs to be LOWER than normal.

Initially in my investing career I had a strong tolerance for risk. I took some big risks, and honestly some of them almost took me down. But instead of destroying my business, by overcoming and working through those extremely challenging and financially risky situations, my business was catapulted to a whole new level in a relatively short amount of time. Now that I have established my business at this level my risk tolerance has dramatically decreased. Not that I don't still take financial risks, but proportionally to the size of my business none of them are going to jeopardize my business' ability to grow and sustain itself.

For some people, real estate investing may be the only chance they have to get ahead. Investing can offer someone the opportunity to make large amounts of money with relatively little experience or education. Now developing increased financial responsibility with what they currently have and with what they will have, will insure that this increased income will not leave just as quickly as it came, but I am just not sure that topping out a 401K or paying off all your debts is the most efficient and effective way for everyone to get ahead. All Cash, I understand that your method is solid and sound, but I am just not sure how practical it is for the majority of newbie investors.

Mine is just another perspective. :D

I appreciate your remarks, All Cash, and the time you put into helping others find the way to the top.