No Money, No Problem

You have to have money to make money, Everybody knows that, right?  WRONG!!

Real estate investing is such a beautiful thing.   It has endless creative possibilities.  It does not fall short of options in the way you fund your deals, or even whether you need funding at all.

No money

Let’s begin with no money.  Everyone can do that right?  So you have no money.  You may even have lousy credit.  Or maybe you have money and good credit but you don’t want to use it or risk losing it.  So I recommend this again:  begin with wholesaling.

When you wholesale a real estate transaction, you essentially act as a matchmaker.  You find other investors who buy properties for cash.  You talk to these fellows and see what they buy, where they buy, and how much they pay.  Next, you essentially go shopping for them.  Who doesn’t like shopping?

Once you know what your cash buyers want, you find highly motivated sellers with matching properties.  These sellers might have their house listed on the MLS, in which case you will work with a real estate agent.  These sellers might have them advertised as For Sale by Owner (FSBO), in which case you work with them directly.  Or these sellers might not be waving any kind of flag saying “I want to sell my house”  until you dig them up with your creative marketing.  You make lots of offers, which costs nothing.

Once you have a property under contract (the owner has agreed to your price and you have a purchase agreement signed),  you essentially sell the deal to your cash buyer for a fee.  As you can hopefully see, you can wholesale, wholesale, wholesale to make money, money, money

CASH

Now you’ve wholesaled some houses and you have cash or maybe you are starting out with cash.  Cash is king as they saying goes.  You can make cash offers, get better deals, and then fix- and flip or hold properties for cash flow for yourself.

Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)

You may have sources of cash you have never considered. For example, do you own your home? Is there any equity in it? I mean, is it worth more in today’s market than the balance of your mortgage?  If the answer is yes, then very possibly you could get a HELOC.  This can be a very effective way to use your money to grow more money.  If you took out a HELOC and were paying perhaps 4% interest and you used these funds to purchase renovate, and sell a house to make a 10-20% profit, you are ahead of the game.

Self-Directed Retirement Accounts

What about those retirements accounts that aren’t performing so well?  Oh sometimes the stock market is up, but then by the time you get done celebrating, it is down again.  You may be starting to seriously think about whether you are going to have enough saved to live a comfortable life when you retire.

Banks

Banks have tightened up their lending, but it is still possible to get traditional mortgage on investment properties.  If your personal financial situation is good,  you have the option of mortaring your investment homes.  The numbers of traditional mortgages you can hold is limited.  A good mortgage broker is your best guide.

Hard money

Hard money lenders are professional lenders.  Often they are also real estate investors.  Hard money may be expensive, but if your run your numbers including the cost of getting a hard money loan, and you are still going to make a handsome profit, then there’s no reason not to use it.  When you seek a hard money loan, your personal cash can credit position is not what determines if you get the loan.  The hard money lender is looking at the deal you want to fund.  If it is a good solid deal, you will probably get the loan.  The typical interest rate is 12-15% with three to five points

Private money

Private money lenders are not professional lenders.  Private lenders are just folks you know who could benefit from making a better return on their money.  Who is that? Everybody you know!!!  My first private lender was my neighbor who had enough money sitting in her bank account earning 0.5% to fund an entire house and renovation.  You are not asking for money!!! Did you notice I said to talk about the Opportunities you have? As you become educated in real estate investment and gain experience, you will have an opportunity to share the wealth.

Explore your financial options:

• Look at your 401(k) and IRA’s
• Find a self-directing custodian
• Look at your credit cards limits including cash advances
• Find hard money lenders locally.
• Make a list of everyone you know who may be interested in the opportunity to be a private money lender
• Determine if your home as equity
• Meet with a several banks and discuss a line of credit

 

There –  you have just find all the money you need to get started.  So start now!

For more information about how I can help you as a real estate investor go to: www.TheWomenInvestmentgroup.com

Lorena Arnold

Speaker, Motivator, Real Estate Investor
Cell:  303-981-6539
Lorena@WomenInvestmentGroup.com
Empowering Strategic Investment