Looking for help in Northwest Illinois

[Shane Albert]

My wife and I are very serious about investing in real estate. Our only thing stopping us at this moment is that we are currently doing a complete gut and renovation on our personal residence, (that should be a flip but we actually want to keep) we are putting all of our time and money into it. I think we could still get a loan and buy a duplex which would help us with the funds for our current project. A possible partnership would maybe be the route to go. She thinks we need to wait until we are done with our house and then start investing. I can't say she is wrong but I can say that her and I are both guilty of the Law of Diminishing Intent. I am afraid if we don't move into real estate sometime soon we may never make that leap. Any thoughts or ideas would be

[Matt Powell]

Hello Shane,

Welcome to BP! I'd like to say I wouldn't say your wife is incorrect, and 6 years ago I'd be right with her because I didn't know what I didn't know.  After much education and learning I have bought properties with low or no money down. And I can give you friends names that have bought many properties on NO money down.

My friend Mike bought three different buildings on two different transactions where he wrote the contract to state 80% bank financing with the owners taking a 20% note back. Both offers were accepted and both properties were UNDER the ARV and the appraised value. He did this in the last 3 months (a 12 unit building, and 16 units - 2 8 unit buildings).

My friend Lewis convinced two banks he'd take a total of 32 "stressed" properties (all SFH) in Peoria, Illinois off their books. And they would do 100% of the financing. Both banks grumbled and said no.. but both banks came back and said fine and did the deal with 100% financing. 15 houses in one deal and 17 houses in the other deal. All houses he bought for around $30k per house. This was all in the last 6 months.

Point is you show confidence to a bank that you know what you're doing, and you convince them to invest in you.. and you may have to ask several banks in your area. But don't take NO for an answer. Now the no or low money down is sometimes easier than finding the deals.

To your success. Cheers