I am curious to see how many people started with how much of personal savings/money.
Neat poll. 
beer
I started back about 30 years ago, just out of high school. Called the owner of a local bank and told him I wanted to purchase a mobile home that one of his customers had financed through his bank. He sent me in to a loan officer and I borrowed 100% of the purchase price. Are these deals available anymore on slightly used MHs?
Bought my first investment property 4 months later with nothing down owner financing at 12% (This was when people were borrowing money at 12% and buying CDs at 16%) amortized for 20 years and flipped it for about $3,000 profit. Then my buyer flipped to a rehab contractor for over $3,000 profit. This got me hooked on the business. Couldn’t believe I had left that much on the table, so I began to read and study more.
That same year I purchased a 3 acre lot for $9,000 which my bank financed with nothing down renewable every 6 months. I held it for a couple of years until I was ready to build my first new home. Sold the lot for $15,000 and purchased a lot in a rural subdivision. Then built the 4th house in a 42 lot subdivision and moved the MH into a park to rent.
Oh, if things were only so simple these days… Gary
Keep voting everyone!
Thanks for your starting out story Gary…
I am 19 years old, very interested in the business but a full time college student without a vehicle. So basically, I have little credit history, I have no and I mean NO money saved, and no vehicle. I go to school, live and work downtown so a car has been an expense I try to avoid. My room is filled with books and courses I’ve completed over the last year so I am rather knowledgeable. I would love to get my feet wet by becoming a birdog, but I feel as though not having a vehicle is preventing that. I also have a hard time getting to the local real estate investors meetings but do when I can.
The reason for the poll was to give me a ray of hope that I do not need much, or any of my own money to start wealth building through real estate. I am currently reading books on leveraging using other peoples money. I’ve tried 3 times now to find someone to apprentice with but have come up unsuccessful every time. I realize an investor would be training his competition but figured they would realize this is where they started and offer to help. No one wants to give back to the newbies.
Well, I’m off… Thanks for any advise or feedback it is always VERY appreciated as everyone here is my lifeline to the “real world” of REI.
Chris
My first investment deal was 12 years ago with a 50-50 partner in a 7 unit building in the hills of Los Angeles…$13,500 cash out of pocket each…About $700/mo. cash flow, and $70k profit in 2 years…Sold it since I left the area…If we’d kept it, we’d both have an extra million by now… :banghead
Following that I spent $150k cash out of pocket for down payments on 8 houses in Virginia Beach (bought at 80% to 100% of market prices) that brought back an $800k profit in 2 years…I know this isn’t the usual case for a lot of folks here that don’t spend money out of their own pocket but this all worked out well for me…Now I’m trying to join the rest of the crowd here and get more into the no cash out of pocket deals…