Sometimes we have to kiss a lot of frogs to find our Princess/Prince;-)

@John Thies he is in St Charles, I pm'd you the contact information

You really do have kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince in this city, and if you do you can make it work.

To add on to Charles' thought, what helped get me over the fear factor was looking at each strategy as a process.

you take over their mortgage on an informal basis.control the building with a skinny contract offer subject to a private or public treatise (public auction), assign your contract for a profit before you have to go to settlementseller refinances, keeps the cash and you joint venture with seller to share the profits after you do your thing to the building (win-win for all)package your deal and present it to relative (with money), your dentist, funeral director, doctor or local bookie - get your private financing - heck with conventional lenders - most are predators anyhowoffer a "hybrid" contract - that is where you offer one price but give seller a percentage of your net profit when building is sold.ask for owner financing that is secured by other properties you own - this way you have anpotential free and clear property that you can pull cash from - and keepoffer the seller what they may want, a car, truck or other material items that are easy to finance (same as owner financing, but easier)Can you think of other ways to accomplish a profitable situation when buying - we'd love to hear themGood luck ---- Charles (he loves votes)

Are they a Nigerian prince, by chance?

I own 3 houses in Maryland (2 in Calvert where I live, and one in Prince Georges Cty) and 3 in Ocala Fl, managed by my son.In addition to  buy-and hold investments (which I'm really familiar with), I am interested in learning more about hard money:  what it is, how it works; how you create those connections, and plan to mine Bigger Pockets for all it's worth - I look forward to participating in the forums!

Understand and apply alternative creative financing and control and roll by public auctions.Wishing you good luck,Charles

Kiss on enough frogs and one is bound to be a prince......This week my partner and I are working on a home with a ballance of 397,000 on a first and second both not performing with a value of 620,000.  

Welcome charle to BP at your age you can start any were you like  lean as much as possible and maybe try to work at a property Development company even as a non paid intern what you will learn will go a long ways.