Newbie Climbing Mt. Everest - Am I Hopeless?

[William Kilburn]

Hey y’all! I am the definition of newbie. I’ve been interested in real estate for years but never got serious. I belong to the bad credit/no money group. I want to start off with buy and hold investing, but I’m worried about financing. I’ve had a few ideas on how to do some creative things to come up with down payments, but I don’t see any bank around financing me right now.

So I guess my ultimate question is should I concentrate solely on raising my credit score and getting back in the good graces BEFORE I start looking for deals? Am I wasting time looking at properties right now?