Cleator Is New!

How’s it going everybody? I am Cleatus, a 17 year old high school student living in London, Ontario (Canada).

Since I was 13, I’ve been wanting to get into real estate. I’ve recently made it a goal for myself for on my 18th birthday, I want to start this business without intimidation. My only problem is I have no clue where to begin. I have no credit, and little money saved.

I found this forum by luck in a random search a few days ago, and I read a couple of topics today. I am more motivated than anything to get this started, I just don’t know how.

Will I absolutely need good credit? Exactly how do I start? What kind of houses should I consider getting? I’ll be reading alot more of this forum as time goes on, but I want to see what some of you guys have to say in this topic.

Your credit is very important. Make sure you keep that in mind as you grow.

There are plenty of great people here that can teach you a lot, so read read read! Congrats on finding this great site!

Welcome!

You can start as a birdog. This does not require any “upfront” funds and will allow you to learn the business from the ground floor.

Awesome!

Care to explain what a birdog is? I’ll read about it, but just give me some basic info incase the information doesn’t sink in from other topics.

Is 18 a good age to start? What people do I talk to if I want to get into this business? Should I join a real estate club in my city anytime soon?

From the Investing Glossary:

Bird Dog - someone who identifies a potential good real estate investment opportunity and passes that deal on to another investor for a fee.

I’m just curious - does anyone on this form personally know a birddog? I don’t. Does anyone personally know anyone who made enough from being a birddog to start buying real estate on their own?

Mike

Mike, I don’t know anybody who is a bird dog.

No one seems to be able to understand what my perameters are for a property, and so it is much easier to find them myself than to waste my time looking at property that isn’t even in the ballpark. So I haven’t tried to find a bird dog.

It would be nice, though, to have someone call me up and have a propety for me that was exactly the type I like to buy and for a very reduced price. Like “the easy button” for investors. I’d be happy to throw them a grand.

Not to mention that it takes me a lot of time and a lot of work to find something that I want to own, at a price I want to pay. I can’t see doing all that work for someone else for a few hundred dollars. It’s a good use of my time to gain $100,000 in instant equity, but I don’t think I’d be too interested in doing it for $1,000.

There is so much information out there about bird dogging, that someone must be doing it. I think a bird dog would have to do a lot of deals to make enough to live on and have enough left over to save.

I am very skeptical about the no money, no credit idea of investing in real esate. I know what my costs are and it’s hard to imagine doing anything in real estate without any money at all. There are carrying costs, recording fees, and there should be the cost of a lawyer for drawing up documents.

I am also doubtful that anyone with no money and really lousy credit has the discipline to actually save and invest. I suspect they are dreaming of ways to get more money to spend, not really interested in adding to their wealth. After all, wealth is basically money that you are saving and not spending. Where’s the fun in that?

Hey, I’m a beginner like you. I’ve studied for a bit over half a year now, and thus don’t really see myself as qualified as to provide a start-up guide. I have only one piece of advice, something that will apply regardless of where you go in life.

Always listen to opposing opinions. As you go through life, listening to different debates, you’ll begin to have various biases towards or against various people. Keeping in mind you may tend to agree with one person, find the person that most often clashes with him/her. Now always pay extra attentiont to their agruments and try to understand that dissenter’s arguments. That’s all

Good luck:D

There is so much information out there about bird dogging, that someone must be doing it. I think a bird dog would have to do a lot of deals to make enough to live on and have enough left over to save.

I wonder if it’s just a myth? I don’t know a single investor who has used a birddog and I have never heard of anyone that claimed to be a birddog. As you said, they would have to do a LOT of deals just to eat, let alone make enough to save anything significant.

Mike

Big Bucks “Bird-Dogging” E-Book
by John “Cash” Locke

http://www.realestatecoursereviews.com/images/birddog.jpg

Might depend on the location…I know many, many active bird-dogs in the Baltimore, MD area. And I know rehabbers who will pay bird-dogs up to $10k (or more) for solid leads/deals.

Chris

I can see how it could be made to work. But that’s a lot of effort to go through to give it to someone else to make all the money on.

Maybe bird dogging is something that works well in an area where deals are easy to find. Maybe in a area like mine where it is a lot of work to find a deal, it’s not worth the effort for the small return.

I just can’t think of much else you could do to get started in real estate if a person has no money and no credit.

Getting started is easy enough with good credit. You can buy a lot of stuff with OPM (other people’s money), but nobody is going to give you money if your credit sucks.

Occassionally, some one will tell me about a deal that they don’t want for themselves. Occassionally, I tell others about deals I’ve found that I don’t want for myself. Nobody is expecting any money for sharing.

For someone with no money at all, I would think a nice job with a salary wouldn’t kill them for a couple of years, and do some saving to get the cash to get started in real estate. “Work” is not a dirty word.

It’s also got to be possible to work for a salary and still run a “we buy houses” campaign.

Some of the people who seem to find a lot of deals are working a job that is periferal to housing. My carpet cleaner hears of deals. The guys who work in lumber yards hear of deals. Contractors hear of deals.

I’m sure bankers hear of deals and the hairdresser probably hears about every deal in the neighborhood.

It’s not like you can’t work a job and still get started in real estate.

I’ve heard it’s done a little around my area. If I found a deal worthy to bird-dog, I think I’d rather wholesale it. And if it would make a good wholesale, I might wanna rehab it instead of wholesaling it. :bobble

That’s what I was just thinking MI Newbie. If you find a deal that is so great, why not get it under contract and make more than just a finders fee?

Cleatus, we got off track and didn’t really answer your questions.

Your credit will be your most valuable asset as a real estate investor.

I do not know how credit works in Canada. If you were in the USA, I would advise you to get a department store credit card. Something very conservative, like a Sears card. Make a small purchase on the card (a 1-2 pairs of blue jeans sort of small purchase). Pay that bill immediately, and then cut the card up and forget you have the account.

That Sears account will stay on your credit report for deacades with no late payments. The length of your credit accounts is important. The older the account, the better it improves your credit score

Never ever buy anything you don’t know where the money is coming from to pay for it, and never pay your bills late, and you will end up with a credit score that will allow you to borrow as much as you want, whenever you want it.

Unless you want to hang around the edges of real estate like a jackel, nibbling at what others throw away, a source of money is very important.

And no. 18 is not too young to start. I bought my first property at the age of 18. It was a place for me to live. A personal home for yourself can be a good investment if you pick the right property.

I also know people who started at 18 with buying and selling, flipping, owning rentals, and other real estate activities.

I strongly recommend college. Get into college and wring every drop of information out of it (In canada, University?)

One thing that has worked well for other beginners is to buy a duplex next to the college and rent out the other half and take a roommate for your half. That will pay for your mortgage, teach you how to be a landlord amd manage tenants, and when you get out of college, you sell and get a chunk of cash to buy something else, or you keep it as a rental (if you will stay in the area)

Wow. $50 for an ebook? He needs to write “how to make big bucks selling books that are free downloads for me”.

I'm just curious - does anyone on this form personally know a birddog? I don't. Does anyone personally know anyone who made enough from being a birddog to start buying real estate on their own?

How does the birddog process work?

I mean…let’s say you’re the first one to come across a great deal but you can’t or don’t want to act on it because you’ve currently got too much on your plate and don’t want the financial risk of juggling more till your own plate is cleared.

How do you control the property as a birddog and make at least some chump change doing it.

Thanks,
-Mike