What are some ways to begin in real estate investing with little or no money? Can you start in real estate investing with no money?

Sawan

I suggest you go to one of the many investing sites on the web and start reading. We can't possibly respond because of having no idea of how things are done in India.

So read some of the ideas on these sites and see if its legally possible to do the same in India.

No you have to have money. Whether it's yours or borrowed, you have to have money. I suppose you could inherit something or try ownership through adverse possession.

You can start with the lottery. A couple in California just won the jackpot of 260+ Million dollars that I was planning on winning. Invest a few bucks in the lotto, thats sound advise!

The only way you can do no money is to use other peoples' money. Or you could be a bird dog and get paid on finding good deals. Until you build up a pot of gold, you can't invest with 100% leverage, no conventional lenders will allow that.

Cash is king.

I think you should consult a person who is in real estate business..

They are typically Classified or Ranked: Impossible; Very Hard; Difficult; Not So Good; Tiring; Hands Free; Moderate; Simple; More Simple; Auto Pilot; Easy; Easier; Easiest; and then you got your "Most Easiest" !

The "Most Easiest" is to take 10 Million Dollars, run an ad, give it to one of the respondents and tell him to give you a call in 10 or 12 years to tell you how you're doing.

Under no circumstances should you have to call him . . . . he should call you. Other wise, this wouldn't be the "Most Easiest" technique anymore.

You could try what I did. I looked through classified web sites such as craigslist.org, backpage.com etc. I went to the housing search, I typed in investor keywords like wholesale, bird dog, we buy houses, etc. and I went on each posting and copied all of the email addresses of all the local investors in my area. Then I created this huge mailing list and I sent out larger email blast for about 3 days straight stating that I was looking to breaking into the Real Estate Investor business then I when on to talking about myself and basically I said that I would help them in any way I can in exchange for some knowledge and direction. 1 day later I had 2 investors contact me. The 1st wanted me to do sales for him but he was really way to into him self for me to deal with and the other was real sincere about help me achieve my goals. We started to talk alot about the business and how he made the leap in this biz, he then said "OK what I could do for you is teach you how to find good wholesale deals and coach you through them or if your not confident enough you could pass them over to me and I'll pay you a referral fee and teach you how to work the deals" I decided to hunt down a deal for him and collect while I learn and guess what? 1 week later I found a great wholesale deal for him he closed it and made a little under $8,000.00 and payed me $1,150.00 (15%) for my referral fee and I learned a little in the process. He suggested that I take that money and buy some business cards and signs so that I could prepare to go out on my own once I felt ready, of coarse I won't be for quiet so time.

So my point is to get started with no money you have to reach out to people and create relationships, study up as much as possible,and genuinely have a passion for your work.


If you work doing what you love...
you will never work a day in your life...

Cirino,
Just curious here...are you able to take the referrals paid as net to you or does your broker still get a split off of that?

No broker involved at all. That was payed me as net. I have to say because I'm a new to this and I'm still learning, all of the proper paper was not in place for me to legally receive that money. We skipped the whole process of putting me on the assignment contract or a referral agreement. I just had to entrust that he would pay me and he did, plus I was working closely with him the whole time so I watched everything carefully. I guess you could call it foolish to trust him with out any type of written agreement in place but it was a great test to see what type of person I was dealing with.

You must have a very lax Broker for them to let you receive the full referral amount....my Broker still takes a split from my referrals.

Summers,
I'm not licensed yet this was strickley a wholesale deal. I don't have a broker. This was a deal done strickly between investors only from the wholesalers(me and my mentor) to an investor(landlord/rehabber in my town).

Cirino,
I don't believe that your position qualifies as a "Wholeseller" as you are not a principal in the transaction and are receiving a referral fee from the actual investor for putting the deal together.
http://www.flreia.com/clubportal/ClubStatic.cfm?clubID=2076&pubmenuoptID=24765

Your absolutely right the politically correct title for me would be bird dog not a wholesaler but as I stated before my mentor is showing me the ropes as to how to wholesale my own deals.

Is this legal to do without a real estate license?

Absolutely! I'm mean if I would of had all of the proper paper work done than yeah of coarse. Technically My mentor didn't have to pay me if he didn't want to. There"s a bunch of lope holes that allow this to be done but if I slipped and made a mistake it could cause me alot of trouble that I can't really afford that's why I'm taking out the time to learn everything first.

The whole idea of wholesaling is simple and great. You find someone selling a house usually an F.S.B.O in financial trouble,pre-foreclosure, divorce, or the best ones are the one selling because there house has to many repair issues they don't want to deal with. I then get them to sign a contract stating that they will only sell this property exclusively to me, usually with in a 30 day time period and I pay them there earnest money. I then market the property to other investors,wholesalers and sometimes buyers. telling them I am selling the property at a wholesale price(usually about half to 2/3 the retail value) and once they decide to buy I do not really selling them the house, I am really selling them the rights to my exclusive contract. The contracts are built with clauses allowing me to back out of the deal at any time but don't allow the seller to sell to anyone else until the expiration date. If they do I can sue them! sometimes you can tell the seller what you are doing and sometimes you just make them think you are really buying the house,usually they don't care as long as they sell. The basic idea of wholesaling it changes once you get into short sales, REO, rehabbing, etc..

Only In America!

There are a number of reputable real estate investment companies across the globe. I suggest doing some online research, find a local real estate investment company and go in to have a conversation with them. Real estate investment can be relatively easy and safe if you use an established company. Going into it alone is more difficult and requires significant funds.

Are there any good books to start with?

Here's a link to a video that referred me to some books and the rest are links that helped me get a basic grasp of the investing industry


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQQZlrm64hM


http://www.youtube.com/user/uglyhousedepot

http://www.youtube.com/user/TeachMeFlipping#p/a/u/0/Dl2nt6HQruU

http://www.youtube.com/user/jimmyvreed

thats just a few enjoy!

You won't be able to invest like you would have been able to only a couple of years ago. Then, all you needed was a pulse. Now, unless you're trying to move into a house for at least 12 months (at which point you could qualify for a 3.5% downpayment with the FHA) then you won't be able to get anything for less than 20% down - even then it's not always easy.

Owner finance.. When the Seller finances their own property, they are sometimes inclined to take little or no money down.

And today, you'll find more Sellers willing to be creative in moving their property.

[quote=Doin' bpose]No you have to have money. Whether it's yours or borrowed, you have to have money. I suppose you could inherit something or try ownership through adverse possession.[/quote]

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree! Nothing personal, of course. However, I have been in the business since 2003 and there are definitely strategies that require absolutely no money!

Consider Wholesaling for example: I find a home owner who's behind on their payments, nearing foreclosure. Lets say its a $200,000 home with about 100k in debt remaining. I get the property under contract for $110,000. I then find an investor that wants to buy quickly because of the equity position. I then sell them the contract for $15,000. We do a simultaneous close at escrow and the investor writes a check for $125k. Escrow writes a check to the homeowner for $110k and one to me for $15k. The deal is done and all parties are happy, the homeowner saved their credit and walked away with 10k to help them get back on their feet. I made 15k for structuring the deal and the investor can now fix n flip, buy n hold or whatever else he/she has in mind!

Of course, the process is more complicated than it sounds but I have mentors literally doing upwards of 50 of these every single month, month after month... All with NO MONEY and NO CREDIT!!

I have a FREE ebook that can help at
http://www.kealakanae.com/freeebook

I am familiar with that concept, but thet topic of the thread is What is the most easiest way to get into real estate investing not I am new to real estate investing, what is a really complex way to go about it. What you are describing is not for new comers. It requires deep experience and a wide network of contacts. Even then some would consider it sketchy practice. In your scenario, the best interest of the home owner is to sell closer to market and take the equity into their future.

[quote=Doin' bpose][quote=TheSuperpreneur][quote=Doin' bpose]No you have to have money. Whether it's yours or borrowed, you have to have money. I suppose you could inherit something or try ownership through adverse possession.[/quote]

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree! Nothing personal, of course. However, I have been in the business since 2003 and there are definitely strategies that require absolutely no money!

Consider Wholesaling for example: I find a home owner who's behind on their payments, nearing foreclosure. Lets say its a $200,000 home with about 100k in debt remaining. I get the property under contract for $110,000. I then find an investor that wants to buy quickly because of the equity position. I then sell them the contract for $15,000. We do a simultaneous close at escrow and the investor writes a check for $125k. Escrow writes a check to the homeowner for $110k and one to me for $15k. The deal is done and all parties are happy, the homeowner saved their credit and walked away with 10k to help them get back on their feet. I made 15k for structuring the deal and the investor can now fix n flip, buy n hold or whatever else he/she has in mind!

Of course, the process is more complicated than it sounds but I have mentors literally doing upwards of 50 of these every single month, month after month... All with NO MONEY and NO CREDIT!!

I have a FREE ebook that can help at
http://www.kealakanae.com/freeebook [/quote]I am familiar with that concept, but thet topic of the thread is [b]What is the most easiest way to get into real estate investing[/b] not [b]I am new to real estate investing, what is a really complex way to go about it.[/b] What you are describing is not for new comers. It requires deep experience and a wide network of contacts. Even then some would consider it sketchy practice. In your scenario, the best interest of the home owner is to sell closer to market and take the equity into their future. [/quote]

Thanks for sharing your opinion... What if I told you that this exactly how I got started in the business?? Would that change your mind about whether or not its for newcomers?? And what if I told you that after taking a couple courses on this strategy I had my first deal completed within about 2 months?? Would that change your mind about needing "deep experience and a wide network of contacts"??

As far as being sketchy... Yes, the best case scenario would be for the home owner to get as much of the equity out as possible, but in the VERY common occurrence that their property is not selling, or that they simply DO NOT have the time to wait for a Sale before an impending Foreclosure, trust me when I say they're not complaining!! Should I not earn some cash for my efforts and helping them get what they say they want... to sell fast and avoid Foreclosure on their credit report?? As an agent do you forfeit your fees when helping a seller, since that would obviously be "best case scenario" for them??

I'm also well aware of the thread title. This strategy requires No money and No credit, probably the 2 biggest obstacles for newbies! Also, it doesn't leave a newbie susceptible to being personally attached to a property that they speculated on when the market shifts, probably the BIGGEST downfall for newbies!

No renters, agents, fees, maintenance, speculation of future market standing and so forth...

This strategy is also one that MANY of my mentors used to get started. It's a great way to learn the biz with virtually no risk!! Experience will eventually get them in a position to know how to turn their massive income from these deals into passive income by buying and holding.

What is your opinion of the "easiest" way to get started??

I think it is predatory and parastic. If that happened to my Mom it would be devastating to her life.

@ Doin' bpose

Really? More devastating than an actual foreclosure?? I'm not sure what you mean... Perhaps you mean that you'd rather have your mother's house and all thats left in it seized by the bank? You'd rather her have her credit ruined for 7-10 years? You'd rather the lenders and IRS be able to seize her accounts and other valued property to make up for what she still owes?? Is this what you mean??

If so, I'm glad I'm not your mother!

So did you propose to make that purchase with CASH or with 100% Financing; or just hope that a naive Seller didn't ask "Where's the money coming from ?"

Perhaps that quick transition could be fleshed out a little bit. I deal with a lot of folks who only give the appearance of being naive . . . . for a little bit; and then we're rudely awakened by the sharp tack that's hiding inside.

That's a good question and an easy one to answer. It may vary from one situation to the next, however typically I inform the seller that I can have cash to them within 30-45 days (if I don't manage to make it in that time frame we can always discuss an extension)

Furthermore, I believe... disclose, disclose, disclose... I tell the homeowner exactly what is going on behind the scenes. I let them know that I work with various investors whom are looking for good deals. I also let them know that everything starts with the contract! My investors need to see that the homeowner is serious, and that there is a written agreement regarding the purchase price. Its important to me to be honest with home owners throughout the entire process. There is no point in shady, backdoor dealings just to have them surprised at the closing table and end up walking out on a deal I worked hard on! When investors talk about "motivated sellers" or "distressed properties" this is exactly the type of home owner they're speaking of. The key difference between them and the sellers most agents are representing is that they don't want to sell... they NEED to sell, and FAST!!

BTW... every contract is also accompanied by a "Cancel Anytime" clause, this way if they find another buyer by chance, they know they can cancel the deal at anytime! I'm not looking to take advantage of anyone but if you can find a need and fill it, there's often a paycheck waiting there for you.

Does your Contract include a sizeable Earnest Money Deposit to be held by the Seller OR his Broker OR his Attorney ?

Or would that make it just too complicated and slow things down ?

In your scenario I could hire a full service broker, have the property owner sell fast well under market value, and still come out ahead of where you would leave them. The property owner would be represented by someone looking out for their interests. Who is looking out for the interests of the property owner in your deal?

In fact in your scenario the property owner could sell at the same price and still come out ahead of your scenario. Agents would not charge 15% commission, likely about 1/3 of that.

@ Doin' bpose

Look, obviously you're not familiar with what I'm talking about. You can do a Google search on "Wholesale Real Estate" and see how common a strategy this is. People pay me to coach them on this and other strategies, so I'm not excited about teaching you for free.

Let's take a look at a real life example... 3 months back I received a phone call in response to one of my "I Buy Houses, CASH" ads. The 86 year old woman who contacted me had left it up to her son to pay the mortgage on her home. She didn't know that he hadn't paid in 6 months and when we met she had less than 30 days before the bank Foreclosed on it... The house had a $600,000 ARV and she only owed about $120,000 on it. I got it under contract for $300,000 and exactly 10 days later we closed escrow. The homeowner walked away with a cool $180,000 in her pocket (enough to move herself into a 1 bedroom condo and still have money left over, along with having NO mortgage payments), I made $30,000 for the contract and the investor picked up a property with $270,000 in equity. I don't about you, but that sounds like a win, win, win to me!!

Your judgements regarding this are based on NEVER having done it yourself. Like I said, the difference is that the people I work with NEED to sell, not to mention that many of them have already gone thru the ringer with a Realtor, Full Service Brokers and just about every other licensed "professional" you can think of! I'm working a deal right now in which the property owner had it listed for over 1 year with a "broker" and nothing! I made some phone calls and it looks like we'll close escrow next week, just 31 days after having met!

Have you ever been to Hawaii?? It's an island!!! Means everyone here knows each other! If people felt I was taking advantage of them, I'd be out of business!! Sad fact is, most of them were much more dissatisfied with their Realtors!

Lastly, I believe it was YOU that wanted to remind me of the title of this thread... "What is the most easiest way to invest in real estate" and I have yet to see one solid suggestion from you. I offered this strategy for several reasons...

-It's exactly what I used to start in the business at age 20!
-It takes no money or credit (eliminating 2 of the largest obstacles for wannabe investors)
-One is not personally attached to any deal, so there is virtually NO RISK involved
-It removes the need for speculation on future markets

Once again I humbly ask, do YOU have any suggestions for an easy investment strategy?? By all means, rather than trying to diminish the information I've offered, please teach us what you know so that future readers of this forum will actually know about an "easy investment strategy"!!

I sincerely appreciate the vast array of knowledge you've shared!

In case you have forgotten how it all went down my brother from another mother, here it is....that homeowner would have been better off with a full service broker than with you. You let her walk with 10k, the broker will net her more and look out for her best interests.
You can change the example to make yourself look good if you want.

But in your 1st example, the owner left money on the table, ahem, I mean in your pocket.

In my case, I had to join a group of investors. I know nothing about home repairs. I am not knowledgeable with home values. I have no experience. I don't have the money. There was no way that I could invest in real estate on my own.

I was very fortunate to have found a small group of investors on in the internet! I met the "leader" of the group and there was instant bonding. Since it was a small group, the resources were limited so we needed one another. Some didn't have good credit scores but they had some cash. I didn't have the cash but I had the credit and willingness to take on loans and put my name on the purchase agreement.

The "leader" handled the logistics - exploring opportunities, buying homes, overseeing the rehab, selling homes, getting potential buyers ready by improving their credit scores, etc. He gets paid nicely for his work, but I am happy and so is he.

WOW, it amazes me how little knowledge there appears to be out there among licensee's about real estate investing. My brother and I started investing one week after my 16Th birthday in 1955 and what is going on now was going on then.

I became a broker in 1965 and it allowed me to help some distressed owners to pocket more money, but the majority of the time listing a property and going for FMV with a discount was not a viable solution due to the situation and time constraints.

As a matter of fact in California you couldn't list a property in foreclosure because the idiots in the capitol passed a law requiring posting a bond for three times the value of the property but there weren't any bonding companies to do it.

"Super", I definitely wouldn't post the widow story as a win-win deal with the details provided. But in most of the deals I'm familiar with, the owners are happy to resolve a serious problem with the aid provided by an investor. Again, some of these real problem properties can't get financing or title insurance until an investor solves the problems, and don't forget the time factor in say a foreclosure, so listing is out as an option and a retail buyer is just wishful thinking.