I need advice... how to raise money to begin investing

[Jordan Noel]

How can I raise money for down payments on my first property? I live in Pittsburgh, PA 

[Jeremy Pace]

Man, there are so many fun answers to this question.

I'll assume that you don't have a job that provides a thousands-per-month surplus.

I'll assume that you don't have a RE salesperson license, and aren't a contractor.

I'll assume that you don't currently live in a multifamily property.

I'll assume that you don't have a credit score over 700.

I WILL assume that you live in a home that you do not rent.

I WILL assume that you own a vehicle.

If you're just looking for ways to make money appear from the air with minimum effort, clean out a spare room in your house and but that bad boy up on Air BnB.  Depending on where you live in the city, you can get compensated pretty well, I've seen listings as minimal as 'sleep on my couch' so there's definitely room to get in on that.

Another idea:

Try and meet some investors who are looking to buy.  Talk to them about what they want, and how much they'll pay for a lead (and qualify what they mean when they say lead, everyone is a little different) and then do driving and try to find it.  

For example: they want a multi-unit rental in the southside slopes?  Drive around in circles until you see a hand-written for rent sign on a building with more that one electrical meter visible, and make some cold calls.  This requires basically no monetary investment, and may not even require that you get out of your car.  (This is usually called bird-dogging)

For example II the sequel:  With a little bit of walking around downtown, and a little bit of money (~$50), you can get a CD/USB drive of every property in Allegheny county, who owns it, their mailing address, whether or not they pay their taxes, how much money the mortgage is on the property, etc. (Think the county assessment site, but in excel and with 150 more fields).  You can also look up lien information for free.  This is the basis of a variety of online list services that charge a considerable markup for this information.  You can use this to track down information about properties that interest you, or as the cornerstone of a broader marketing campaign.  (Direct/Targeted Marketing, Absentee Owner Marketing)