Sounds like a few people ae having a hard time with that first hurdle. Find an investor! Whether it be a friend, family member or a complete stranger. Get out there and talk to people. I made two contacts standing in line for a Disney ride this past weekend. Carry business cards with you and pass them out every chance you get . Find and pull all data available on a few houses " investors want more than one to review" they will want to know how much are the taxes, possible rents, amount to rehab or not, possible section 8 rental" govt assisted", value when completed, insurance cost, area up and coming or stagnant. The main thing they will want to know is how much can they make. Its all about money, how much are you going to make them!!! Now the nice thing here is for the entire project from start to finish " purchasing of the home through completion" you never have to use your own money. When you find a house they like have them place the amount of purchase PLUS the amount you want for the deal into an escrow account with the title company that will close the home. When closing comes they will do a double close " you get your money and they get their house" where courthouses only put into the system one closing so your closing will not be seen on the records available to the public. So your investor will never know how much you paid compared to how much you charged them. Add a minimum pf 5k on deals where the purchase price is under 30K and the price goes up from there. Now thats if you are wholesaling a house, always make sure you give your clients a nice amount of equity, lets say 40%. That number will be very enticing to a potential client because they have alot of room to work with. Always search for new deals your clients are going to start coming and you will need enough homes to supply them. And the biggest thing is have fun if you’re not having fun why do it
I am 42 and the wife is 45 and we just moved from texas to ca. I had my own home inspection co. for 8 years now. I love real estate and want to keep being my own boss and want to being able to quit my home depot job that I had to get due to not being able to get many inspections here due to the slow market and be doing rei full time by the end of this year. Still looking for that first deal tho. Hopoefully my wife can qiut next year. Been at it for about 6 months since moving out here and about 3 more months in texas a little before moving. Focusing mostly on the dallas dfw area for now.
Kelly
No offence but us old folks talk the same language in REI that you do and some of the old folks have been doing it for a while so they have some good knowledge that the younger ones could learn from. Now for me I have only been into REI for a short while and have learned many things from young and older then me alike. Now 53 I know it matters not what the age of my teacher as long as it is good information. Us older folks may not understand all your slang but then again I would venture to say you would not understand all of ours from times gone by.
i dont think anyone is trying to put others down here. When it comes to real estate it doesnt matter what age you are beginners are beginners and those that have seen alot and done even more are the ones we need to learn from. Age is irrelevant here" is irrelevant spelled right?" Whatever any of our ages are when you stop learning you lose your edge on the market, so whether were 18 or 80 we can learn from each other. I started my father with an investment property this past year and he’s 62. Its nevere too late to start and never too young either
I am 28, I have been operating for 3 years. I am still learning new things everyday. REI in Los angeles is practicaly not possible these days, so I ventured into Arizona and Texas.
I'm 27 and just getting started. I was always fascinated with people that made big money in real estate.
I remember the first time it hit me. I was living in an apartment and I was about 20 and a rehabber flipped the house next door in less than an month and made $30k. I thought to myself I wish i new how to do that, but i convinced my self that I wouldn’t be able to.
About a year ago my father started to hang out with a developer that owns over $50 million dollars in RE. This developer started out in construction much like my self and then progressed into RE. I did a job for him last spring and he discussed some of his transactions and about his cashflow.
At that very moment it hit me like a ton of bricks that this is what I wanted to do. Once I had seen someone who started out like me and become that much of a success I realized I could if I really wanted to.
Now I know that I am going to be successful because every time in the past that I got his excited over something I acheived it. It has to be an obsession.
glad to hear that you are excited. Keep learning and ask as many questions as you can with your friend.
23 here. We have been in investing for about 10 months now. We have bought 12 properties sub-2. Learning something new every day. Everything is going fine…we are just in survival mode until we have some cash outs. Best of luck to all.
I’m 43 and bought my first house back in 1992. I bought programs from Carlton Sheets, Russ Whitney and books from Robert Allen the Seven Habits one. “Yes” this is it. This is what I want to do for the rest of my days. Well I didnt apply any of the good tips and knowledge. What a waste on my part. There was no cashflow, bought it at 98% market value and basically was a headache from the day I signed the contract. That experience put me off RE investing for years but I always had the bug. So here I am over 15 years later. The bug is no longer dormant and this time I’ve never been more determined in my life. I am SICK of my Just Over Broke and the fighting to get a seat on the train. I am Soooo ready.
me i started when i was 22 it just happened so quick i always wanted to get into real estate i prefer just rentals well i was working in afghanistan making pretty good money so i used that money to pay of this house i was buying since i was 20(with parents help and credit) well i paid it off cash and seen i had a 35 grand equity loan that i could get its a cheap house well i took the equity loan out and started hunting for houses thank God and i really mean it thank God i found a house for 28grand i wrote everything i could think of that the house needed CHA ,getting it level , new roof , new exterior paint , etc…
well i told the realtor and to tell the owners i would give them 20 grand the house the neighbor told me was on the market for a long time well they accepted i put maybe close to 6grand into it CHA being the most expensive everything else is still the same painted the inside and left the out side the same dont want taxes going up actually i got the taxes lowered cause i told them the house was not worth like around 45 grand they where taxing me for i just paid 20 so they lowered the taxes well that said im still working in afghanistan my wife and parents doing the footwork and bought two more homes 3 rentals in total plus the one i live in well i did all that in one year and all i could say is i could not have done it as fast as i did with out Gods help and me making good money in afghanistan i dont know about the no money down stuff i used my own money the 3 rentals are all paid for i just pay a low monthly payment for my equity loan one of my homes is not yet rented i had to come back home so fixing it up slowed down a bit dont want to get over my head well all im trying to say is dont think about it too much if you dont risk you dont gain and i mean that for everything risk smartly and you will be all right i know alot of people out their dont have the opportunity of making the money i was making in afghanistan but like i say if you dont risk you dont gain and if you are intrested in going out their and make some money send me a message i cant promise you any thing but i will try to send you in the best direction cause i know it help me out alot
I am 21. The one deal I was really hot on got shot down by the gurus on the forum. I am hot after foreclosure stuff though. Trying to learn sub2 and short sale processes better so that I can work a few deals.
The AF is send me to Vance AFB in March to do pilot training, so REI goes on hold for a while, but I want to have 1 property under my belt before starting.
I spent 4 years going to school (systems eng manag) and the only thing that I learned there that helps me now is a firm grasp of TVM (time value of money) and I understand cash flows. I am so excited about REI I read all I can get my hands on and I can’t sleep at night b/c I think about it so much.
My goal is to have enough residual income at 30 yrs old to support myself entirely and have my rentals in the hands of a trusted property manager so I don’t have to deal with too much headache.
Doable? Ask me in 9 years…
I love this site, thanks so much to the seasoned REI vets for helping us new guys along.
~joshua
I currently own 30 some propperties and I am 31 years old. Prior to investing myself I sold investment properties as a realtor and let me tell you if I had a dime for every 40,50.60 something that called me and said they have always thought of investing but never had I would already be retired. Its really sad that a toilet kept all of these people from retiring early and retiring rich.
Eric Medemar
I’m 33. really sick of working 8-5. My main motivation for REI is to be able to have time with the family. I don’t ever want a normal 40 hrs a week job once I get off and running in investing. it’s the most depressing feeling thinking about working that much until i’m 65!
I’m 36 and after being in the same business for 18 years I’m just looking to get started and build a portfolio of homes for my retirement…I still love what I do for a living and don’t plan on being a full time RE investor but at the same time I plan to have 100 units in the next 3-5 years…I already have a closing coming up on a 4 unit in the coming weeks…And as things come at me and the cashflow is over %25-%30 (after real world expenses) I will continue buying…I have an excellent team and have built great connections across upstate NY…I’m on my way…
This forum has been an incredible wealth of information for me and I love reading and asking questions…So many of the established posters here have helped me and I feel lucky to have found this place…
41 and counting .I keep reminding myself that in 5 yrs Ill be 46 if i start or not so no more waiting, I just want the financial and time freedom that this business can bring, if i invest time let it be for me. Im totally fed up with working to make someone else rich its my time. I also can live on the cheap when necessary, well as cheap as i can living in NY (nothing is cheap here) 10-20 rental units i can attain my goal of waking up everyday for myself!!! still looking for that first deal but Im actively looking not just talking thats the first step get off the couch and do it. I really appreciate all the advice and support this forum has given me thanks to all!!!
I am 21. When you look in the paper and see that most jobs want you to have a bach. degree with like 8-10years experience just to make like 10-12/hr(some with no benefits), you start thinking like “no way, its got to be another way”, besides that I always new I was going to be in business for myself, that just made me start looking for a way sooner. It’s nothing like working hard for yourself. I’ve gone to college(which you take a bunch of class that dont neccessarily benefit you, that YOU have to pay for) and it very rarely adds up to when you look at the time and money spent for college for the job you get you get.
My current full time job-which I'm about to let go within about two weeks to go full time with RE ;D-as an admin assist I make about $13.50 with no benefits and sitting at a desk watching the heads joke around in thier warm offices everyday, can be really motivating.
Me, my mother, my sister & her husband, and my brother started our business (ForeCee Investors) after about 1 and half to 2 years of just educating ourselves, we started doing hands on and of course the education never stops. I love it! and I am so excited about all the blessings to come in the near future.
I was meant to be free, being a rapper, entertainer, actor, and/or playing sports are not the only ways to success in life at a young age or freedom. God is truly blessing us, He’s wonderful.
God bless you all in your ventures and ALWAYS remember to put Him first. ;D
Definitley don’t quit your job yet, how in the world are you going to get financing with no verifiable income?
I disagree with Rich_in_CT. I would guess that ICO317 lives at home with parents.
This website is chock-a-block full of creative ways to get financing with no credit or income check. Just depends on the strategy being used.
Having no job and no cash makes it really damn hard to get started. It limits you greatly as to the available options. While there are many different equity based loan programs that don’t check credit or income I sure as hell wouldn’t start doing a rehab with no spare cash and no money coming in. What exactly do you do when you go over budget or your hold time is longer than expected? People that operate on a shoestring like that are great assets to the rest of us, I’m talking to a guy right now that needs out of his rehab in a bad way. As far as I can tell this guy just simply ran out of money, time or both. Good for me…
No, I have a place of my own. But because of the 2 properties, 1 being rented and we just wholesaled the other which gave a very very good return and others in the workings (which are not really included because “dont count your chicks before they hatch”) and I have more than enough saved up and I dont do the financing in the business, we have a financial partner. We (my partners and I ) laid out a business map and me personally also laid out a map, so I planned ahead before actually making this decision/move.
Oh no, I would never leave before having the actual means to do so. Also I have a friend that owns his business in IT and since I am certified technician, he allows to work with him occassionally, which brings extra income if need be. 8)