A good while back I was aware of real estate investing but didn’t know anyone who actually did it.

I didn’t know where to start.

At the time, there were a few books and that was really about all. There was no internet, no REIA groups and none of my friends or family ever did investing of this kind.

The thing that got me off the fence into the challenging unknown of real estate investing was opportunity. I didn’t randomly start buying properties. At the time I was a loan officer for a mortgage company in Seattle and I was approached by a guy who was in foreclosure. I wasn’t even sure what that meant. 

At the brokerage we carried a couple of companies that had loans for situations like that, with clear underwriting requirements, but he didn’t meet the requirements.

In talking to him, I learned he no longer wanted or needed the house and was just looking for a way out without mangling his credit.

I put two and two together, figured what needed to be done and I simply made a reasonable offer on the house which he accepted.

I would bring the loan current, make the necessary repairs and list the property. I would give him moving money and pay him the rest of our agreement when the house sold. We put it all down on paper and I owned my first investment property. When I sold, he got paid off, I made $52,000 on the deal.

Over the years the pattern has repeated many times and I’ve added some things to smooth out the transaction.

The one thing that would have made it a whole lot easier is if I was working with someone who had already done what I was trying to do. I would have more money faster.