All Forum Posts by: Ontwon Smith

Like the rest of us investors, it's training. I too was not thrilled with the mundane 9-5 existence. Been there. Words can't express the excitement of looking at (and xeroxing before depositing) my first check from flipping a property. I'll never look back. I know there are hundreds of "gurus" out there who'll sell you a course to learn from (a bunch of manuals and CD's) that truthfully, most people never finish. I  know, I was one of them who ordered this stuff and much more. People simple get bored too easily. In addition, they want and need answers to their questions in a timely manner, not some e-mail address to send to that will get back to them in 24 to 48 hours! Really? That just doesn't work and some just walk way. Back to the cubicle. When I made a decision to help others, I realized people wanted more doing than reading. Also great to earn while you learn instead of waiting. You're young and enthusiastic. A powerful combination, Use it. Profit from it. Energy & knowledge = $$$. Where ever you learn from *(it doesn't have to be me). The most important thing is to apply it. I can tell you that marketing is the single most important thing you can do and master as an investor. 

The simple answer has already been put forth by a member and it's something I've done dozens of times. It's called "subject-to" investing. Admittedly, you have to learn the nuances of it, especially the paperwork but you get to buy houses with no credit, no banks and in many cases very little or nothing down. The most I've offered was a thousand dollars but it was a multi-family I decided not to keep because of the repair cost. I flipped it for 17K as-is without touching it and moved on to my next project after coming back from the Bahamas. (Gotta spend it on something!) Another deal a seller wanted moving money so I offered $500. She wanted more but I resisted because I found out she had a place to go to already and really wasn't broke. I gave it her because I knew the return would be much better. Although she had lived in the house, it needed a bunch of things. I considered it as a rental but said well, maybe not because taxes were super high in that county. I flipped it for 11k without touching it but instead of going on vacation, I did a few upgrades around my house. I know 11k is an odd number and I asked for 15 but the buyer wanted to negotiate to death and I had things to do so I took the 11k offered. After all, since my investment was just $500, that wasn't so bad as a return on investment. I mean, I don't know and I'm not sure but I think that beats CD rates. 

It might be easier just to fire away your 50 questions on that stuff rather than me trying to type all the answers here. There's a bunch if nuances that could be missed in a typed response. I do have a lot of experience and don't mind helping other folks from time to time. Let's face it, we've all been there. You can look me up over at LinkedIn/ or FB for starters since you can't put e-mail addresses or phone numbers in these messages.

Ontwon Smith