Questions From Newbie

General Real Estate Investing
1

I’m so happy that I found this web site…What a wealth of info here!!!

First, let me introduce myself. Me and my husband live in Northern California. We have decided to start investing in RE and are in the process of educating ourselves before we dive in. Probably going to focus on purchasing 4-plex - 6 unit rental properties. We have excellent credit and we have 20K to invest.
We attended the Rich Dads Real Estate Seminar in San Fran in Feb and I have read “Make Money w/Small Income Properties”, “Make Money w/Condos and THs”, “Buy Low, Rent Smart, Sell High”, “Secrets of a Millionaire Landlord”, and “How to Avoid the 75 Most Costly Mistakes every Investor Makes”.Now for the questions…

  1. What other educational resources/books/courses would you recommend?
  2. We live in California and it is definitely a seller’s market, we would like to invest in Cali but really can’t afford any property in our area (maybe we can and I’m just intimidated by the asking prices). Should we look at rental property in another state or be patient and keep looking for a deal in Cali?
  3. I keep reading about “no money down” deals, are these deals usually “owner financed” deals?
    4)Do you have any other suggestions of where how we can get started?

Thanks in Advance for Any Suggestions/Advice!!!

2

I think the first thing you need to do is understand what makes a deal a deal. If you can’t recognize a good deal then you’re just not ready to get involved.

Most new investors have no idea if the deal they’re contemplating is good or bad.

Do you?

Joe

3

Howdy Princess Newbie:

A sellers market makes it harded to invest for sure but should make appreciation faster. A zero down deal does not mean zero cash to the seller. I just did three zero down deals where the estate got cash for the properties and I used zero of my own money. I did have to put up $100 for each property as earnest money and pay up front for the appraisals but I borrowed all the purchase costs plus the fix up costs. The deals were way below market and the lenders loaned 70% of the fixed up value with my poor credit. If you can borrow the money do not use your own. I have even borrowed against a CD at the bank and used that money but only to help with banking relations at the time.

Good luck and thank you,
Ted P. Stokely Jr
11505 Sw Oaks
Austin, Texas 78737
512-301-9171 home
512-587-6177 mobile