Hi @Kyle Foster
I am over here on the east coast so I will respectfully disagree with the sentiment I have read thus far on this forum. There are several investors who have begun their careers in your very situation (myself included) so do not think you have to sit on the sidelines until you have cash, that notion is ridiculous. You may have to put in more blood, sweat and tears but I will tell you about two no money down deals that I have done personally.
1) Flip - I put 0 into my first flip so here is how I leveraged the deal. I was just starting out and had no money to contribute nor did I have any experience. I chose to partner with a more experienced flipper and learn from them. To make up for my lack of funds and knowledge here is what I did.
I found the deal, negotiated the price with the seller, offered to do all of the manual labor, landscaping, offered to meet all contractors and handy men, etc. If there was any admin things I could handle or errands that took up time, I would offer my time. I spent many nights at that property pulling weeds until late in the night and fighting snow storms so I could shovel the walks. But I got my first deal, learned a ton, and walked away with 40k in my pocket.
2) Buy and Hold Apartment Building. A little more complicated than the first but here is how it went. I set up alerts on websites, social media, and also spread my information via word of mouth. One day one of my for sale by owner key work alerts triggered. I knew I did not have the funds for the project however I told the owner I would come see the property that day and had a contract in his hand within a few days. I got the owner to carry the note for the property so all I needed now was my down payment and closing costs. For the remaining money, I found a private lender that covered both the closing costs and down payment. Doing the numbers, I knew I would be cash flowing from the day of closing with room to raise rents.
This took a little more convincing and homework than the first option but the point is I now control an apartment building with 0 dollars down and no money out of pocket. It took a lot of time to find this deal and yes these are rare but they do exist.
For now, I believe creative strategies and hard work are a much better route than trying to convince a major lender why they should take a chance on you. These strategies can and do happen still. Think outside the box, stay vigilant and do what other people are not willing to do.
You can get in the game with no money as you save up funds if you work hard and leverage other peoples money and experience correctly.
If you want to talk more about these deals or strategies feel free to PM me anytime and let me know how I can help.
Best of Luck!
