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I'm going book shopping at Borders this weekend. I'll put it on my list! Thanks for the tip.

Seriously, since joining this community and reading these forums for the last 2-3 days, I don't believe I've seen a group of more enthusiastic, motivational, inspirational group of people in my life!! The only thing I can compare it to is some crazy religious cult (I'm not religious so please don't take offense) You people are downright evangelical about real estate! It's amazing. I've certainly felt like a different person since coming here.

One thing I've noticed since I started here is that I haven't been watching any tv at night when I come home from work. I come home and I'm on the computer researching and coming up with ideas for my business plan. I'm kind of realizing how things like tv, video games, entertainment, etc, are just huge distractions to keep people from taking action to change their lives.

Thanks! I'm definitely not thinking negative, I'm actually extremely excited about the possibility of starting my own business doing this! However, I have been an attorney doing estate planning for people for 8 years. My brain is trained to "think like a lawyer" and that means I try and think of all the things that could go wrong and try and have a plan for them. But negative, no way, I really want to do this!

Thanks! It seems good in theory but I can think of any number of things that wouldn't work about it--

*Difficulty accessing qualified homeowners (ie, how to market?)
*Too small of a target market in my area
*Not enough people facing foreclosure have 30% equity or more
*People will think it's a scam (I was just on the HUD website tonight where they describe a similar arrangement as a scam)
*Takes too long to flip the property
*Property needs more work than I thought
*I can't handle the carrying costs
*I can't find anyone to rent it
*I can't find financing/get lender to let me assume mortgage

Those are just off the top of my head. There are lots of things that could go wrong. Can anyone else come up with any more?

The thing is, I've read a lot on this site that the trick is to find good deals. My problem is, I don't have a lot of time to go out and do some of the things people do to find deals. I have a full time job and not a lot of time to run around looking at properties. I basically need a plan that brings the deal to me! I figure, even if I could just do ONE of these, it would be a huge accomplishment! I also like the idea of providing SOLUTIONS to people's problems instead of just looking at it as a pure money-making thing.

My idea is to advertise a mortgage-relief service to qualified distressed homeowners. My ad directs the homeowner to a website where they enter their information including their current mortgage balance. I receive this information and then get a quick opinion on the FMV of the home from a realtor. If the homeowner has at least 30 percent equity, I offer to purchase the home for the mortgage balance. I either get the lender to allow me to assume the payments, or get a hard money loan based on the 30% equity. If the home has greater than 30% equity, I offer the person a second mortgage for some portion of the equity. The homeowner gets free of their mortgage plus cash from the second mortgage. I get the property with an instant 30% equity that I immediately sell, pay off the first and second mortgages, or alternatively rent it out. If for some reason I could not get the financing to close the deal out myself, I could wholesale it to another investor could pay all cash for it.

I am new and don't know anything other than what I have read on these sites. Is this a stupid idea? Why wouldn't something like this work? If it doesn't work the way I've laid it out, what would it take to make it work? Thanks for your thoughts!

I'm very new, and plan to get some books on REI and wholesaling this weekend, but I just wanted to ask:

I assume that an investor is only going to be looking for a really good deal if he/she is going to buy a property through a wholesaler. I presume that the investor has already combed the MLS, newspaper ads, etc., and is already familiar with what's out there. The investor is essentially looking to the wholesaler to come up with something that he/she has not seen or found anywhere else. In other words, why would anybody buy a property through a wholesaler and pay them a commission if the investor could've just as easily found the property themselves by looking on the MLS? So essentially, your job as the wholesaler is to find deals that the investor would otherwise not find out about--is that how it works? Please let me know if I have this all mixed up somehow!

Another question I have is, how widespread is wholesaling? How many investors get their deals this way, and what percentage of the time? IE, is it a rare, every once in a while thing, or do some investors buy primarily through wholesalers, or what?

I know what you mean about feeling overwhelmed by everything! At the same time, it's addicting, once you start reading and learning about this!

I'd like to get started by finding a decent, small house that I can buy for cheap and rent out for maybe a year. Maybe after that, see where the market is, sell it and put the profit into another property. It doesn't seem like the market is too good for flipping houses right now, at leat not in my area. I don't have any expertise with rehabbing and am a little daunted by the idea of buying a property that needs a lot of repairs.

What is wholesaling?

Hi folks,

I'm totally new to this forum. I'm 32, a practicing lawyer, and seriously wanting to get into this business in some shape or form. I have no idea where to begin and no capital to start investing. After reading these forums, it appears that the "no capital to invest" issue isn't a problem as there is money out there ifyou know where to look for it (?)

My question is, do you start with the financing, or the property?

When I bought my home, which I just recently sold, 7 years ago, I went to the bank first, got preapproved for my loan, and then went out and found my house. Is this how REI works? Or do you find the property, then sell the deal to the lender?

I actually have an appointment with a local banker this afternoon because I want to find out more about how conventional financing works. After reading some of the posts here, it looks like that is often not the way forward for someone with no start up capital (?) Am I better off talking to a mortgage broker?

Or should I go out learn more about the market and properties (I know I need to do that too, but is that the first step?)

Hi folks. I'm 32, a lawyer, living and working in the Lakes Region of Maine. I stumbled onto this site last night, looks like a great resource for people like me who don't have a clue where to begin. But I'm extremely excited about the opportunities out there and need to begin somewhere!

Thanks, I'm looking forward to learning from you all!