BiggerPockets

Are there any legit., very inexpensive books, CD's, etc. that are specifically geared toward beginners who are very low on cash?

How to make big money in foreclosures with no cash or credit

by Peter Conti & David Finkel

I loved this book.

Yeah..if 200 bucks is all that you have, I'd save my money and buy some bandit signs..:) Check out supercheapsigns.com (I am in no way affiliated with this company), and order 100 of their large blank signs. Cut them in half and write " Cash For Your House" or " We Buy Houses Cash" with your phone number in dark magic marker. Go down to Home Depot and pick up a few bundles of wooden stakes and some nails. Attach the sign to the stake and put them all over town..:)

Read everything you can on these forums (you'll find a quite a bit of information online for free).

Join a local real estate club and network..ask tons of questions and get out there.

As far as courses go - I personally like Ron Legrand's " Wholesale/Retail" course. You can sometimes pick it up on Ebay pretty cheap.

Ya..you could try that but with $100 bucks, you're not going to be getting much.

Also, keep in mind. In Florida, you are not purchasing the property, you are purchasing the TAX LEIN. At the auctions, you are bidding down the interest that you're willing to accept when the debtor repays. This is really just a safe way to reinvest your cash if you're already making money. You'll get a good return, higher than a bank will give you. It doesn't create major wealth.

Even if you get it att 12 percent interest, you're not going to get rich with only a hundred bucks..:)

Oh ya..if that's your plan, than it's a good idea. The interest can be good if you find one that the institutional lenders haven't bid down.

Well, he could certainly wholesale a few properties and create capital to invest with. Two flipped deals at $20k a piece is $40 grand in the bank. Not too hard to do & better than the average J.O.B. pays. That's what worked for me.

Jon, nice response. You shot down the standard guru generalizations with one shot. :shoot:
I also agree with Mike on his response too. Yes anyone can do a deal with OPM and no $ out of his/her pocket, but if you plan on establishing a full-time landlord business like Mike does, you will have to have capital not only for acquisitions, but for maintenance, misc. capital expenses, etc.

Now if your plan is to simply buy and hold one or two or even 5 properties and continue your 9-5, then perhaps your no money strategy could be used with partners, etc.

Mike, I see you quoted me and took what I said out of context. I was in agreement with both you and Jon on this matter. My 1-5 properties with a 9-5 job example was sugggesting that anyone could get some rental properties using a partner who put up all the $, not just for acquisition, but also for reserves. I did not mean that $100 would get them 5 properties and of course over time cap expenses occur requiring cash reserves.
I started in the business that way. My first 8 deals where all done with partners who put up the cash and I found the deals, managed them, etc.
Certainly they still have to do the cash flow analysis, etc. etc. to make sure they are buying right. That is something we all agree on.

Although I do not agree with a lot of Mike's statements, I certainly agree on these points above. $100 or even 1,000 will get you nowhere in RE investing. You must have $/credit or find partners who have this in order to suceed in the landlording business.

I don't know where the original poster lives, but it works by me and I live in Florida where properties have come way down in value.

For someone starting out, you may not do two back to back. But I'm not saying back to back.

My average wholesale deal is $10k but I usually make $15k - $20k per flip. If I'm only going to make 4 grand, I usually don't mess with it. Most of the Legit Wholesalers around here do the same. There's a few guys that play around and act as a bird dog that are willing to make 3 or 4 grand, but for the most part $10k is the going rate.

I have good relationships with my buyers. I'm totally open with them (I have to be, they'll see the contract that I'm assigning to them). If I'm making $20k or above, I usually go for the double close..

You bring up a good point...marketing does cost some $$ and $200 doesn't go far with gas expenses, but if that's all you got..you've gotta start somewhere. I was assuming that this guy had some kind of money coming in other than JUST 200 bucks.

I still think his money would be well spent on bandit signs...:)

As far as doing $20k wholesales on very limited funds, I'll write up a step by step response of exactly how I did my first deals when I was BROKE (with copies of the checks and hud) sometime this weekend. I really don't think I spent more than a few hundred dollars though. Obviously now my budget is higher.

Might I suggest something. Depending on your job income and if you are not bogged down by obligations and are skilled at a trade you can start a service business with very little money and use that money to fund your REI business. This is what I did and still do. Sure it's S quadrant money but it's still money and usually quite more than a job. Personally I've never been able to make as much at a job as I have self employed, however were I to have a high paying job I'd stick with it and slowly build cashflow. I won't keep it up forever but I can take it for a few years to get going.