BiggerPockets

Never for me...

Its happened to us in 2009 when properties were being deeded to us in Detroit. We have been offered it since then but have turned it down. No upside and alot of potential liabilities that are not worth the risk of a small profit with company assets on the line.

I wasn't going to reply to this one, but wow. Aaron get up on the wrong side of the bed? Make someone NEWER than you feel welcome!
I did it many times. The majority of those by far, were back in the 70's with simple assumable loans. I did one recently in 2009 in San Antonio. A military guy that was divorced and leaving for overseas. No $ down and simple quitclaim deed. Rich

Definitely not pitching a program. Just fact-checking some of the hype from other programs.

Thanks for the responses!

Well, the hype is just that. Buying no money down in the traditional way doesn't happen much.

But you definitely can do deals with basically no money using transactional funding. This involves alot of legwork and paperwork and coordination to negotiate a good deal on a short sale and arrange another buyer to flip it to the same day. But it is being done regularly by alot of people here.

Rich -

Good call out on me...my post was inappropriate. And Gabriel, hope everyone else who responded gave you the answers you were looking for.

BP is by far the best investor site out there with a number of members always willing to help.

Aaron- good man to acknowledge. We all get called out on occasion. Welcome to BP.Rich

I've purchased many homes here in Indiana with no money down. Our property taxes here are in arrears so this means you get a tax credit at closing for almost an entire year if you purchase the property at the right time. You can purchase a rehab for as low as $2000 bucks and the taxes are usually that much or higher. The tax credit that you receive covers the amount for the house including closing costs. Now the rehabbing is a whole other ball game. I've actually only put as much as $5,000 into the property, sell it or rent it out.

Once you accumulate a substantial net worth the question is not nothing down but one of liability. I'd much rather put up a down payment with a non recourse loan rather than a nothing down deal with a large full recourse loan. Often nothing down deals involve the assuming of risk larger than that justified by the profit potential. I guess a case can be made for taking on these large risks when your net worth is low and you have little to lose. However, the very concept has been beaten, distorted and misused by many "gurus" starting with Robert Allen.

While on the subject I might as well throw in my 2 cents about tools and techniques of acquiring property in general. Successfully being able to obtain control or ownership of a property by utilizing a "tool", (nothing down, owner financing, subject to, option, etc) accomplishes nothing by itself. One must purchase or control real property that either can be sold for more than the purchase price or that will provide a profitable annual retun through rent or other income payments. Utilizing these tools may be neccessary for a successful purchase should you be cash short, but make no mistake about it; you will pay a higher price for the property utilizing these tools. The person selling for nothing down is accepting nothing down because the price he can obtain for cash is significantly lower that what he can obtain with nothing down owner carry. Same thing with the other "tools" The lowest cost and most profit will be when you can pay all cash, or when your credit rating is so good that your cost of money borrowed is very low.

What's wrong with you people that haven't bought a house with $0.00 down? really? I've been in this business 12 years, and have bought and sold nearly 300 properties. I've used my own money only about 10% of the time. Of course, the majority of the transactions that i do are wholesale deals - so I never need any of my own money for those. But I've also bought houses Subject To - or on Lease Option Agreements. How do I buy them with no Money down??

Well, once I have the agreement signed with the seller, I now have the right to assign my contract. So I put the house on the market and find a buyer who has money for a down payment or option deposit. Then I enter into an agreement with them, collect the cashola, and then head to the closing table with NONE of my own money. Works every time.