THE "NO MONEY DOWN" STRATEGIES UNCOVERED

[#1investor]

HEY CLUB!  I AM A BEGINNING INVESTOR AND I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION I HAVE JUST GOT TO ASK. I HAVE A FICO IN THE LOW 600s.  I make a good amount of money to provide for my family.  I see and hear alot about grants, and ways people acquire properties with no money down but it seems that I cant get any to work for me.  Maybe i am doing something wrong.  I dont have 15 or 10, let alone 5 thousand dollars sitting around to begin my career.  

I am desiring my career as an investor so that I can give my nonprofit organization, Big Brothers, more time instead of working 50+ hours weekly as a chef and doing it part time.  My question is "ARE THERE ANY REAL PROGRAMS OR STRATEGIES THAT ARE REALLY NO MONEY DOWN!?" HONESTLY I AM THINKING THAT I CAN PURCHASE THE FIRST PROPERTY AND USE THE EQUITY IN IT TO PURCHASE OTHERS USING THE HELOC METHOD BUT DANG- ARE THERE REALLY NO MONEY DOWN METHODS OR WHAT?

[ElephantNest]

Well, I'm new also. But I can tell you how I did my first house, just this past December.  Zero down.

I bought a damaged home, and used a bank that only required 5% down of the purchase price, as opposed to 5% of the total amount needed to buy AND repair it.

But since the purchase price was so low ( 23K ), and the repairs needed totaled no more than 55K, and the home was appraised at 132K fixed, they covered my 5% down and my closing costs into the loan, so all I need at closing was a pen and my ID.

Just how I did it, not even sure how well I did, but I took the plunge, and am about 2 weeks away from it being rentable. *Crosses fingers*

Good luck,

Steve

[Rick_prcll]

Your Score is a bit low. Research credit, and start cleaning it up. It's amazing what some letters will do.

"No Money Down" is possible, but I don't know what you've tried. If you truly are new to this start by bird-dogging properties for other investors. It will give you experience with little or no risk.

Good Luck,
       Rick

[propertymanager]

derlamtay,

The TRUTH is that it is relatively easy to buy a property no-money down.  There are a lot of techniques to accomplish this:  sub-2, lease-option, owner financing, etc.  The problem is that it is nearly impossible to run a business without a reserve of either money or credit.  To do so, EVERYTHING must go perfectly  -  which rarely happens in the real world.  

I would suggest getting an extra job or two.  Fix your credit and build up your cash BEFORE you start investing.

Good Luck,

Mike

[TMCG]

okay...this:

*Crosses fingers*

IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO when you invest.

[i'm sighing]...

okay to begin - no money down is possible.  anything is possible.  is it realistic? sure it is.  there are people out there doing it.  

if you put your mind to it - you can accomplish it.  if you say that you want to begin investing in real estate using "no money down" - then you must learn how to do it.

NOW, this is important - let's say you buy a house with no money down - the seller is in a tough spot selling it to you for 30% below market and the mortgage company is willing to allow you to take over the sellers payments  -  so now you've got a house, you own real estate -  what do you want to do with this real estate?  fix and sell? or rent?

okay - for either exit strategy (goal of purchase) - YOU NEED MONEY.

or you need credit - if you use credit to fix it, you better be able to make those CC payments - if it's interest and payments deferred (home depot CC), then fine, when that time frame is up - you'd better have the money to pay that CC.

if you're renting it - and say it has a monthly cash flow of 350 a month - and that's the real deal actual monthly CASH return after all expenses...

what money will you use WHEN you lose a tenant, or a tenant doesn't pay or repairs are needed, etc..

you have to consider MANY things.  you MUST just start learning about real estate basics first.

[#1investor]

Thanks everyone for your help.  I have been looking at real estate for the past few years.  I have improved my credit dramatically.  I have looked at Carlton sheets, went to real estate investment classes in my city, and talked to many people but I guess it seems like the deals that people acquire using that method dont appear in my searching; and I have searched NC, GA, and TX. I guess according to you I need to do a better job searching.  Thanks so much for telling me the truth!!!

[ElephantNest]

When I said "*Crosses fingers*" I meant in hopes of it being rent-ready in two weeks.