By far the most popular page on my www.investmentre.com website is the one on no money down investing.  We’d all like to get rich quickly without having any cash to invest.  You can make money with no money down investing.  I’ve had investors who do nothing but buy with no cash…but they learned what they were doing before they begain.

Keep in mind that “no money down” investing may not really be “no money down”.  There are closing costs (which can be made part of the mortgage in many cases).  There are startup expenses such as utility charges.  There are taxes and insurance that are pro-rated at closing, with you owing a part of any pre-paid insurance.  The list goes on, but you can often get around the need for cash…if you know what you are doing.

The question isn’t “can you buy real estate with no money down” but rather, “can you afford to buy real estate with no money down”?  Keep in mind that you are relying in the income produced by the real estate investment to carry operating expenses and mortgage payments.  In most cases, the incomes is not sufficient to cover a 100% leveraged property.  This leaves you taking money out of your pocket each month to keep the investment solvent.

What do you think?  Have you successfully invested with no money down?  How did you structure your transaction?  Post your comments here.

 My “No Money Down” Ebook documents two of the no money down investments I made and how they were structured to help me avoid a financial disaster.

Since “flipping” is a common tag put on buying a property, fixing it up and selling it, I titled this category “Flipping”.
In my Ebook, however, I consider the concept “Jobbing” rather than flipping.  I consider Flipping as an in-between birddogging and jobbing technique, where you enter into a contract to purchase and sell the contract to an investor  before you must close on it yourself.  More on this topic in my Ebook, “Birddogging and Beyond” 

The primary concept behind flipping, as I’m using here,  is to locate a property that is in a good area but in need of renovation, buy the property at a below market value, fix it up and sell it at a profit.  For some investors, this may be a good idea.

Here is where I disagree with the concept of flipping.
Why buy a property, take title to it, spend money fixing it up and sell it for a few thousand dollars profit?   You are taking all of the financial risk.   (Obviously, the buyer also expects to buy at a good price).

Our real estate investment course is based on the sound investment practices of professional investors.  The purpose of becoming involved in real estate is to create wealth by ever increasing the equity you have in various properties.  If you sell each one as you finish renovation, you lose the primary way of creating wealth plus you are no doubt subject to tax on the profit you realize out of each sale.

Your comments are encouraged.

Birddogging is an ideal way for a “would-be” real estate investor to get his or her feet wet if you have no knowledge of real estate investing and little or no cash to invest.
You’ll learn by working with a knowledgeable investor who hires you (part time) to locate properties for him.  At the same time you will learn the basics of real estate investing from him.  Our Ebook on the subject covers this topic. Visit our website at www.investmentre.com for more info.

We encourage you to add your comments, questions or answers to another visitor’s questions on bird-dogging.

One of the primary advantages in investing in real estate is the ability to pyramid or build a single first time investment into a lifetime estate, without adding additional cash.

Real estate, once you know what you are doing, can be a relatively risk free way of creating wealth… but don’t expect it to happen overnight, regardless of what you have seen on late night infomercials.