All Forum Posts by: Phu Le

Hi guys,

So to get it out of the way - I have zero experience in real estate and have no money. To circumvent this I have an idea. It comprises of a few steps.

Step 1: I will have you sign an Exclusivity Agreement with me which states that any potential deals or leads I bring you, you promise to work with me on the deal.

Step 2: I go out and find deals via MLS/DfD/Craigslist/Coldcall/etc.

Step 3: I talk to potential sellers and verbally give them a price. Once the seller verbally agrees on the price(this could take months and multiple contacts), I will then bring the deal to you to review.

Step 4: If you like the deal, we sign a JV contract in which we'll split the profits 80/20. You take 80, I take 20. However, you will provide the funding, contracting, rehabbing, and flipping/rental expertise.

Step 5: Then as a JV, we sign the P&S contract with the seller.

Step 6: Close, rehab, and profit.

Doing it this way, I won't be able to capitalize on deals where time is of the essence but I can avoid getting into a contract with a seller when I do not have enough funds to perform on the contract. This is great because wholesaling is fine but wholesaling without the actual ability to perform is frowned upon and slightly illegal. I don't want to give sellers false hope by tying them up with a contract while I shop for buyers.

This is also a bit different than wholesaling or bird-dogging because I will have skin in the game. If you don't profit, I don't profit. I'm not simply passing on deals/leads to you and collecting a check. I will be very much involved in the process if needed. I will follow-up with the seller, contractors, agents, etc, and work with you to make the deal successful.

Can anybody tell me if this has been done before or if it'll even work? I'd appreciate if you could point out any flaws or could help me make the process better.

Hi guys,

So to get it out of the way - I have zero experience in real estate and have no money. To circumvent this I have an idea. It comprises of a few steps.

Step 1: I will have you sign an Exclusivity Agreement with me which states that any potential deals or leads I bring you, you promise to work with me on the deal.

Step 2: I go out and find deals via MLS/DfD/Craigslist/Coldcall/etc.

Step 3: I talk to potential sellers and verbally give them a price. Once the seller verbally agrees on the price(this could take months and multiple contacts), I will then bring the deal to you to review.

Step 4: If you like the deal, we sign a JV contract in which we'll split the profits 80/20. You take 80, I take 20. However, you will provide the funding, contracting, rehabbing, and flipping/rental expertise.

Step 5: Then as a JV, we sign the P&S contract with the seller.

Step 6: Close, rehab, and profit.

Doing it this way, I won't be able to capitalize on deals where time is of the essence but I can avoid getting into a contract with a seller when I do not have enough funds to perform on the contract. This is great because wholesaling is fine but wholesaling without the actual ability to perform is frowned upon and slightly illegal. I don't want to give sellers false hope by tying them up with a contract while I shop for buyers.

This is also a bit different than wholesaling or bird-dogging because I will have skin in the game. If you don't profit, I don't profit. I'm not simply passing on deals/leads to you and collecting a check. I will be very much involved in the process if needed. I will follow-up with the seller, contractors, agents, etc, and work with you to make the deal successful. 

Can anybody tell me if this has been done before or if it'll even work? I'd appreciate if you could point out any flaws or could help me make the process better.

@Chad Hale Hi Chad, that's a great idea. Thanks!

@Ryan Talmadge Thanks for your input. I definitely looked into house hacking via FHA loans. I've never been a military type of guy but this is an option. I will join some local REIA's - hopefully they won't laugh at the kid with $0.00 and no experience haha.

@Doug Spence Thanks for your input. I'd prefer to stay in San Jose if I can as most of my friends and family are here. It would be fun to move somewhere new but just not at the moment.

@JD Martin Ouch, ouch, and ouch, dream killer indeed haha. True words though. Thanks for the wake-up call. Time to bust my chops to make this dream a reality.

@Yang Lu Hi Yang, thanks for the advice. This is what I figured, that I'd need to find some sort of funding first before going into contract. However, my issue is that by the time I negotiate price, then pitch it to an investor, then wait for them to accept, the deal would've been contracted to somebody else. I guess the game I have to play is to do this hundreds of times until everything lines up and I can get a deal closed with a partner.

Yea I'm definitely continuing to read and watch videos on how to do this correctly.

Best of luck to you.

@Remington Lyman Thanks for the advice! What would you say is the best way to go about finding leads from another state? I've been looking at FSBO listings on Redfin/Zillow/Craigslist and calling those owners asking about the property conditions to get my feet wet but haven't made an offer yet. I would first have to get the property under contract then I can find a buyer/partner on biggerpockets or elsewhere then maybe split the profits 50/50 right?

Hi everyone,

Long story short I lost most of my net worth in the stock market(please save your story about how stupid I was because I already know). I took about a year off of life to move back in with my parents and figure out what I really wanted to do. Real estate has always fascinated me but like most people I just never really took the leap. Over the past few months, I devoured any information I could on real estate investing and decided that this is what I want to partake in.

I pretty much have nothing in the bank to invest right now. However, I was able to find a full-time job and will be able to net about $1,000 per month after all expenses to invest. So after 2 months I will have about $2,000 saved up. I'm wondering if there are any strategies to put this money to work? I know $2,000 isn't much but it's something.

I live in San Jose, CA so $2,000 isn't even enough to cover closing costs let alone down payments. I'm thinking to look at cheaper markets like Ohio or Georgia and do deals virtually. I can maybe buy a distressed property for $20,000 and put $2,000 down using a hard money lender, fix it up, then sell it for maybe $40k-$50k. I know I will need to cough up more money for repairs but I'm hoping I can bake into the loan.

This is the best thing I can think of besides saving up money for decades in order to afford a down payment in San Jose. If anybody has any better ideas, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks and best of luck to all your endeavors.

@Nathan Zierer, I'm still very new, I have not done my first deal yet but am definitely looking to start soon. Building up my capital at the moment - it's a bit tough to get started in San Jose, CA when you have little funds. I'm thinking of doing things virtually in other markets like Ohio. If you have any tips I'd love to hear them!

Thank you everyone for the kind words.

After scouring the BP forums for months and reading all the helpful tips that people give out, I've finally made an account to interact with the all lovely people here! Excited to meet you all.