Hello BP, So I’m in a tough position, I would love to start investing. However, I don’t have the capital to invest.. Building partnerships is very key in this business. I would love to reach out to brokers and ask for packages and analyze the deals and in the mean time try to build partnerships with investors things of that nature. I’m just worried as to either party taking me serious because I don’t have the capital to invest nor the experience . What advice can you guys offer?

@Julio Velazquez

what sort of investing are you looking to do?

Best advice is educate yourself on finances and investing. Concentrate on saving as much money as you possible can by living a frugal life style.

Until you have the money to begin and/or the first hand success you will not find a investor/partner with any motivation to work with you.

It must be a equal partnership unless you can tap into gullible friends and family.

Generally speaking it takes money to make money. Reality. Success attracts attention.

@Christopher Philips I would love to start with wholesaling, to my understanding it’s the best way to start without capital. But long term my goal is multi-family 5-30 units.

@Julio Velazquez

Saving money and investing yourself is 100X easier than wholesaling. Wholesaling, having low barriers to entry, seems easy but setting up and following through has about a 99% failure rate. It is the essayist way to start and has the highest failure rate of all possible avenues to getting into investing.

Concentrate on education and saving money.

@Thomas S. Thank you for the advice. That’s what my thought process was as well. Trying to save as much as possible and learning as much as possible. Would you say if I do find a deal the money will follow? I’ve heard that before. Just curious if you think that would apply here?

@Julio Velazquez

" find a deal the money will follow?"

Not "will follow" but can follow. I did not know how I was going to finance the first property I had under contract but eventually did find the way. I even explored the posibility of selling a kidney.

Be carful most new investors fail not because they can not buy the property they fail because they do not have the cash reserves to carry the property.

@Julio Velazquez Wholesaling is billed as the "no money down" "Easy" option to get started but in my opinion it doesn't fit either of those monikers. There are upfront costs involved in your direct mail marketing and it takes a lot of time to learn how to do wholesaling the RIGHT way. Id give you a couple options to get started. One become a subject matter expert on investing & analyze a ton of deals, you can then leverage that knowledge to partner with someone who might have a better financial position than you do currently but lacks knowledge. If you are determined to wholesale start with the mind map by @JoeMcCall its a great resource    

the gurus sell the idea of wholesaling as easy and no money down but that couldn't be more wrong. there is no guarantee return on the money invested in marketing . a wholesaler needs to do a lot, a lot of research to the local market where they are trying to find deals. you need to not only find the deal but prove that it is one to a potential buyer/investor. 

now Im not trying to discourage you, there are plenty of ways of getting started without MUCH money down .you can get a few cards made at a copy/print shop. you can talk to people and let them know what your trying to do. you can build a social media platform which is free. remember as a wholesaler your simply trying to find the deal then sell it at a commission. a friend of mine that is an agent uses their title company  to find information on houses in my neighborhood,  become friends with agents!. I ride my bike down different streets every weekend and write down the addresses of distressed homes. we run the titles and see if theres any juicy info. even if I don't get anyt great info back its the process of thinking this way that will hep in the end. 

if your hungry enough you will find a way. when I was stuck I simply went outside and looked at all the houses in my neighborhood . started paying attention to what was selling and what was sitting. I spoke with local investors and asked them what there criteria was and made a list of contacts for potential buyers. 

good luck !  

@Vaughn Smith Thank you for taking the time out to respond to my post and to give advice . I’ll do my due diligence and become a subject matter expert that way like you said even if I don’t have the capital I can still bring something to the table.

@Joy Sanchez thanks for the advice, that is true, options are out there it’s a matter of actually doing them. I think my biggest fear is not knowing where to begin. Let’s say I do find a property and the owner is willing to sell things look great ,now what? I don’t have an investor lined up and I think that’s where I start with the mental blocks. The best thing to do would be to start building relationships in the mean time like you said. Thank you once again.

@Thomas S. That part is true, little is said about having the funds to carry a property. Thank you for all your advice. I know it’s not going to be easy but I’m willing do to the work and obtaining as much knowledge as possible.

you need 2 out of these 3 things in order to be successful:

• education
• networking
• capital

If you don't have the capital, then you need to educate until your brain hurts. Learn and read everything until you're a subject matter expert. While doing this you need to be actively networking. This means reaching out to people online, going to local meetups, and getting to make friends with as many people as possible. After a while you'll meet someone with money, and if you have enough education to prove you know what you're doing then they will invest in you.

Having none of these three is crippling as it leaves you with no leverage and no reason for someone to take a chance on. Get educated, build relationship, save capital, and start immediately.

Just starting out. Learn, Read, Educate Yourself. Make connections and relationships here on BP. Listen to the podcast. All of this will help move you toward your goals but at some point you will have to take an educated leap into REI and buy a property. Just make sure to use any and every resource you can to vet the deal and make sure your parachute is packed.

@Vaughn Smith Thank you so much for that reference to @Joe McCall mind map. It’s a great resource thank you for your time and advice.

@Alexander Felice thank you for your advice, I will continue to obtain knowledge and become an subject matter expert and I’ll take your advice and start networking and building partnerships. I would love to start immediately. However, I understand it takes time and I just want to learn it well enough to be able to speak about the business with confidence and know what it is I am speaking about.

@Garrett Diegel I at one point I will have to take that leap I just want to be as prepared as possible. I understand I’m going to make mistakes I just want to limit them as much as possible and try to limit the impact of those mistakes. Thank you for taking the time to provide advice and respond to my post.

If you haven't already, check out the earlier BP Money podcasts. They talk about budgeting and we were surprised at how much we were able to cut down, even as recently as a couple of months ago. While I'm not familiar with your situation we found it very valuable. Perhaps it might help. Good luck!

@Chris Ono thanks for the tip, I’ll make sure to listen to them. Thank for taking the time out to help. Best of luck to you as well.