All Forum Posts by: Matt Moger

@Danielle G. 

Continue to surround yourself with people who understand the mind-set of Real Estate Investing. Cash-flow is where it's at! Education for education sake is over-rated. If you have a definite goal or field in mind that requires a certain level of education, then finish school, but you can use your real estate to build the capital you need to not go into massive debt.

I think your idea of buying something with an income suite is excellent! Live for free, work for a bit & return to school. Or, search hard for a property with some built-in equity & borrow against it for school. The interest on your home equity line is tax deductible. 

Having said all this, I did earn my bachelor's degree. When you are in the professional world, there is an automatic respect gained in some people's mind, when one of the first questions some folks ask is, "where did you go to school?" There is something to be said of starting a task, no matter how difficult or how long it takes you, & finishing it. 

Back to the matter at hand. Real estate & getting yourself established as a real estate investor will get you much further down the road than just having a degree.

@J Scott hit the nail on the head. These prospects that you are reaching out to are not motivated sellers. We are in the business of helping motivated sellers! If your marketing dollars are slim & you're going to try & hustle to get someone to let you lock their house under contract at a significant discount, you're going to make 100 offers. Don't get discouraged, you're one 'no' closer to a 'yes!' Keep making offers. 

A Real Estate Attorney is a good place to start. Having said that, we do our best to put lease option tenants through the ringer to qualify, similar to what a bank asks for. Tax Returns, pay stubs, references, etc. The more qualified they are, the better we can prove their "ability to repay." Besides the fact that they will be more likely to succeed as a tenant buyer. The whole purpose of Dodd-Frank is consumer protection, and if we can prove that our business is providing a service verses trying to make a quick dollar on the first person with a tax return for an option fee, then there's no question as to what we are trying to do.