It has been my total pleasure reading and digesting all of the solid material at Creative Real Estate Online. A few years back I got started in this whole real estate investing ball game through the Carleton Sheets No Money Down program.
My wife and I were renting at the time, and I was determined to stop throwing my hard earned dollars away in rent each month, so I put it to work for me. Not longer than 30 days after having read and learned the material, I found two deals that went to the point of the closing table. One fell through; the other was accepted.
On the property we did purchase, the seller advertised a quaint townhouse for $40K, owner financed, no credit check, with $5K down. I had bad credit, and my wife had no credit. Not a great situation to be in when buying a home. At least that is what I used to think. Necessity is the mother of invention!
We ended up settling on $1,500 down with $500 of that deferred for a while. I lowered the interest several points and offered him $2K more that what he was asking. It was easy. I didn’t mind the hike in price because I actually came out ahead in the long run, and the monthly note was still less than the rental value.
We have since put a little into the property (I do custom renovations), and we have jacked up the value quite a bit. I already have a few individuals interested in renting it from me. In a few more months, I hope to acquire some more real estate investments. By the way, the seller and I have since become friends. He is an investor, too. What a deal!