Beginning with no cash, no credit, no equity, and a dream

I posted this in another forum back in January and thought that some might find it useful here. Enjoy!





First read all the articles, maybe buy a course or two. Second, develop your personal roadmap and write it down. You should eat sleep and be your plan. It should never ever be very far from your thoughts. Know exactly where you want to go, when you need to be there by, and a step by step plan ( a would you like fries with that plan) of how to get there by that time. Third, get into a position to control property. If you have problematic credit, work on it, take responsibility for the debts that you incurred and change your attitude. If you have a spending problem ie, spending your profit before you get the cash in your paws, get it under control. Believe me I still reflect upon my past activities and wonder how the heck I ever got to here. A strong healthy attitude will carry you a long way. Fourth,always be aware that the profit in a Real Estate deal is made when you buy the property, even though you only get paid once you sell. In other words, Know several exit plans before you sign. Do not speculate, guess, hypothesize,opine, philosophize, on the value of your "investment". You are new, you don't know squat, and a lion in the jungle will eat you. So, fifth know your exit strategy.


Sixth, Go slowly. Do not get in over your head. If you went out to play football on a Sunday afternoon and suddenly found yourself with the ball facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers entire defense, let alone Warren Sapp, you would get creamed. Same with Real Estate. Real Estate is highly illiquid meaning it takes awhile to turn it into spendable cash. So, if you get in a cash crunch it can absolutely destroy you getting back to ground zero. Seventh, once you know you are ready, look for a motivated seller. This is the most important so I'll repeat it. Seventh, once you know you are ready, look for a motivated seller. These are not as elusive as one might think. People die, get divorced, get transferred, develop medical problems every day. Does that mean that every widow will sell you her property at 65% LTV? I've known some mighty sharp widows in my life. Does that mean that everyone that gets transfered across the country will have scads of equity to give to you, and that no other investor will find before you or have better resources than you to button up the deal? Absolutely not, but it's where to find the deal. Look in the newspaper for clues that a prpperty might belong to a distressed owner (Not a realtor's Owner Motivated sign). Walk and talk to people who may be able to help you. Attornies, CPA's, and Bankers are all close to these types of deals. Call ads or look for for rent signs to target burnt out landlords. I developed a plan for retirement. I have a day job that I love. But I'm self employed which means I'm responsible for my own "Social Security". I will be able to retire comfortably in 20 years at age 56. My personal plan is that I buy cashflow through highly leveraged (read Highly risky) multi family deals. I buy duplexes and triplexes and SFR with Little out of pocket but positive cashflow. I say risky because I am blessed with a strong cashflow from my day job and the positive cashflow I expected didn't materialize. In other words the $18,000.00 I expected actually cost me $87.00. That's right, it cost me $87.00 for the right to have 10 tenants live in my housing. Of course I did a lot of unexpected repairs, learned about the eviction process, spent some saturdays killing bugs, and my children proudly state that daddy buys and sells cars and houses. However My net worth has skyrocketed....anyone can say market value is $xxx.xx but that's not where the rubber meets the road.


My next venture will probably be Lonnie deals or John Lockes Subject to, or forclosures, as well as continuing to grow my long term rentals. If you don't know what a Lonnie deal is, explore this site and search all the archives.





Good Luck,


Shawn(OH)