Multifamily Investing Beginner

[Account Closed]

Hello,

So I have decided I would like to enter this market for investing but I find myself in a bit of the opposite situation from most people starting off in RE investing. I have cash but my credit was destroyed in my divorce. Any suggestions? I am considering purchasing a 4-8 unit building in the 250k range and possibly a duplex as well. Does it make sense to purchase these with cash and generate a nice cash flow or should i leverage this cash and go for much larger deals, possibly with partners / loans (loans will be tough). Any thoughts or comments are much appreciated. Thank you.

[Brian Burke]

Lawrence,

Some options: seller financing (hard to find), subject-to existing financing (and taking due-on-sale risk), master lease (I've never done it so I don't know the advantages/disadvantages), hard money / private money financing (typically high interest), getting a "credit partner" to bring in the loan for a split of the profit (hard to find someone willing, plus banks usually require credit on any 10%+ owner), pay cash (no advantage of leverage).

While there are a lot of options, none of them are perfect. If your goal is to be a real estate investor, those are about the only ways. If your goal is to simply earn a return on your capital, using real estate as the asset class to achieve that return, Tevis' suggestion is a good one: invest your capital with an experienced operating partner that can bring strengths to the transaction that you cannot.

Good luck!