Which comes first, money or the deal?

[Zac Davis]

i have heard and read that if you find a deal the money will come. I have been working with real estate agents, and sending out letters to home owners, with pretty good results, however after i put an offer on a few places and got turned down my agent said my offers need to show proof of funds to be considered stronger. Can anyone who started out with almost nothing let me know how they got over this hill?

[Andrew Cushman]

@Zac Davis and @Account Closed  The answer is both.  You should be working on finding deals while at the same time finding sources of private money, hard money, partners with money, etc.

With that said, proof of funds (POF) is NOT needed, even in a hyper competitive market. Sounds like you're sourcing deals from the wrong places and working with the wrong agent (keep in mind 95% of agents aren't investors themselves and don't really know how to work with investors. Doesn't mean they are bad agents, just not what you are looking for). Before moving into apartments, I flipped full time here in Southern California for 5 years. Not once did I show POF. POF is for retail, competitive deals, the vast majority of which aren't deals in this market. A smart wholesaler might ask you for POF. You need to be finding your own deals by getting directly in touch with the owners through direct mail, door knocking, etc. (there are many excellent posts throughout BP on how to do this). When you do that, proof of funds won't even come up. I talked with thousands and thousands of homeowners, and I never had a single one ask for POF! Be confident, know your terms and numbers, and they won't even question whether or not you have the money. I mean, if you don't have the money, why would you even be talking to them in the first place, right?

Get a deal with great numbers that way and you can wholesale it out - no money needed on your part.

Andrew