Why don't you start by wholesaling:Find a great deal, shop it around to other investors in your area (local REIA, Craigslist, calling signs, etc), and then assign your interest for a finders fee.Do this a few times and you'll have your own cash for your own deals...

-Don't be afraid to shop around for a Realtor...95% of them aren't going to have a clue about effectively helping you buy/sell investment property.

Jewelry shops, Craigs list and pawn shops.

Also, many times a list broker can give you phone numbers with the list, which is a good way to find leads.One final tip: put business cards about buying houses in local cafes, diners, Denny's, or barber shops, etc...

How much time will the seller give you to shop it to your buyers and is that enough time to reasonably sell it?

When bringing in a contractor I was gonna get a bid for fixing up to renting standards and fixing up to sell and then shop him in with the whole deal letting the end buyers know if they were interested the particular contractor was already familiar with the property and was ready to go if they were interested in him doing the work.

I think my friend is concerned because though it is in a nice area, great schools and some shopping, the immediate area is more single family with just a few duplexes (though there are no vacancies in any of them).

s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1328745898&sr=1-5)I have a regular keyed entry for the main door, this one is almost a no-brainer as I don't want ex-tenants to have access to the common area after they move out and with 6 units, there could be a lot of rekeying.I'm thinking of setting it up as follows:Main door-8 unique codes -1 for each unit -1 "master code" that only I have -1 "maintenance code" that I can give out to contractorsEach apartment-3 unique codes -1 code matches tenants front door code -1 code is my master (this is on all doors) -1 code is maintenance code (also on all doors)Without doing much shopping around, this would cost me about $700 up front, $100 per lock.Here's my list of pros/cons...I'd love for somebody to add to itCons-High up-front cost $100 per lockPros-No lockouts-No rekey fees-No hassle for me to get in or give code to contractor-NO KEYSWhat do you think?

Today, it is a marketable asset as it can go to almost any pawn shop, but the value is very volitile and people off the street don't get any where near market per penny weight.

The purchase price, however, can be quite high so you will want to make sure that you have bank pre-approval before you start shopping around.If you get approved for a commercial loan, another option is to try to find a company looking for a long term lease and try to back into a property with them in tow.