How did you guys start out with your investing careers? how much did
you start with?
I started with $35k and added $20k later from my day job. I spent half of it on learning though. first house was a rehab, second is light rehab, the rest very light touches.
Hey Fadiz,
How did you spend half of it on learning? Did you sign-up for courses or something? If so, which one? The reason I’m asking is because there’s another discussion addressing whether or not a particular company is a scam and I’m curious to know if you took courses with that company.
Wow half on learning? Thats a lot of money…
Hello Jason,
I started with 0 . I bought a fixer on contract, nothing down, $268. a month. Purchase price 23,500. Lived ,worked on it for 2 years while working at my day job. Sold it for 117,500. Guess what my day job is now.
Darin
GOD WNZ, how much money did you pour into your house before selling it for $117,000? Sounds like you are doing good. Also, where did you get the no money down note from?
I actually spent $10k on local mentor to attend all courses he offers plus assistant in transactions. I ended up using the mentorship program mainly for networking. In one of his events, I was asked to sit on the panel with some of the biggest investors in town and because of it, I am well known in our local association.
I sent another good $10k on courses I either purchased directly, or purchased off of ebay.
I know many say don’t spend money on courses, and don’t do this or that…etc. I personally believe there is no price high enough on education. I agree don’t go and spend $5k on Legrand course when you can get it for $100 off of ebay, and no it will not teach you everything… but if you get one tip out of every $100 you spend, you are more knowledgable.
I have just about every course I can think of, that I cared to have that is. I think of it as an investment. This month I closed on 3 houses, and if I had $10k more I could have purchased 3 more.
Thats amazing… The problem with me is that I have 0 money and dont know how to write the contracts in a way that we all win at the end. I’m afraid that I’ll forget to add something to the contract or just not put what i’m supposed to put in it. I was listening to a podcast the other day where this guy said he has about 57 different ways to purchase a property with 0 money down. he named only 5 of them but i wanna know what all of them are. i’ve been looking for a mentor who will guide me through the process because i have no idea what i do once i get in contact with the seller.
Honestly there isn’t much to it. I have written half filled contracts before, backed out from contracts without using escape clauses, and closed in a different manner than stated on the contract.
Don’t worry about the 101 million ways to buy… concentrate on only one and get good at it. What are you trying to do? if you have no money to start with, then you may want to wholesale and birddog. If that is the case, then you don’t need one of the “magical” no money down deals.
If you want to retail it, then you need money to at least pay for the mortgage payments until it sells. I always budget 2 months for sub2 deals and 6 months for rehab as holding costs.
By the way, I am broke now till I sell one of my houses 
I am in bird dog mode right now. Any leads I get from my marketing, I am trying to bird dog them to get quick cash. I bird dogged 3 short sales, but these don’t get cashed till they are sold if they ever do.
I started out with a job that paid me $150k/year as a corporate manager for a multinational company. My wife had a job that paid here $90k/year as a regional manager for a home improvement store company. We lived in a 3000 sqft house with a home theater and a pool. We vacationed twice a year (one in Hawaii and one in the Caribbean) I lived on about $3k per month (because I live in Texas). The rest of my money went into 401k and stocks of various types.
I decided to put my extra cash into rental houses. When I looked to find a mortgage company to buy some rental houses, I found out that I didn’t need to put any of my money into the houses, so I didn’t. My money from my job still goes into stocks, 401k, and such.
I just got a promotion at my job and will be making a lot more money starting June 1 (I will be in charge of a global division).
My point being, it doesn’t take money to do real estate. It does, however, take credit. I am doing the same things that people that have $0 are doing. The business is no different for a person with $10k extra each month than a person that makes $10k per year.
I started no money, no credit, no experience. Made money the first week flipping houses.
I started part time working with my step dad. He bought em, I fixed em, and we split the profit. Then I started my own company and my step dad provided me with $100,000 to invest. I screwed that all up and bought two lemons that I was barely able to make instant lemonade with and he decided not to work with me anymore. Can’t blame him! Really got serious about it, teamed up with my wife who got her re license, and have done 2 flips already this year with a goal of 6-8 by the end of the year. We are doing this full time, living and breathing it everyday! I think the coolest thing about real estate investing is that there are so many different ways to start and so many different ways to make money. :beer
good info here
I started with $2000 down on a two family in Phillipsburg, NJ. Rented both units through section 8.