Archive for July, 2008
Being Creative – No Money Down Investment Strategies!
Posted by: | CommentsThere are lots of good books and expensive programs that talk about doing real estate with “no money down“, but it is important to understand what they are talking about. If someone says nothing down strategies don’t work, it just means they don’t truly understand what nothing down means or how to go about doing it.
The term “no money down” doesn’t mean “no money is transacted”, it just means that someone else’s money
is being used. It doesn’t come out of your pocket, piggy bank, or savings account.
In fact, people without a lot of personal cash or savings are sometimes better off because they have to approach the real estate investing business differently. They start off on the right foot to making money faster than those that use conventional methods such as a traditional bank loan and/or putting down a large chunk of their own money simply because they have to.
When you are first starting out and don’t have a lot of investment capital, you will need to target properties that you can buy without having to get a loan in your own name. As a creative real estate investor you will want to look for motivated sellers so they are willing to work with you using creative financing methods so you don’t have to get a loan or put up a large down payment.
Sometimes having a lot of money is a detriment because those who aren’t forced to be creative miss out on some of the best creative real estate deals. Even if you have a lot of money start being creative. No matter how much you have, if you keep tying it up in real estate purchases you will eventually run out. This is why you will sometimes hear about seemingly successful investors that are “equity rich” but still “cash poor”. They have all these assets on paper and are still living check to check.
In addition to creative ways of getting money there are many creative real estate strategies that are essentially no money down methods. Some examples are real estate assignments including flipping and wholesaling, Subject to arrangements, and certain lease options strategies.
Especially when you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of cash to work with, one of the best ways to make cash quickly is by learning to wholesale real estate. This will allow you to eliminate a lot of inherent risks since none of your own money or credit is at risk and you never take ownership of property. With current real estate trends this is also one of the best routes to take and no matter how you define it, when done the correct way it is a very solid and creative no money down real estate solution.
