No money down dumb question..

[Andrew Hansinger]

Okay, I've been on the site for a few weeks, so please pardon my ignorance, but I feel like I'm missing a crucial piece of information that is likely so obvious its not really brought up when people talk about no money down.

I don't understand how one can profit with no money down in a flip, or buy and hold deal. If a lender is covering 80% and OPM is putting down the other 20%... how are you entitled to any return? How can you claim equity/cash flow?  Is this something you negotiate with the private investor supplying the OPM?  If you could point me to a blogpost that explains this, that would be helpful.

Thanks!