Re: Question from a new investor - Posted by Jim Kennedy - Houston, TX
Posted by Jim Kennedy - Houston, TX on March 11, 2001 at 11:30:35:
Marty,
I’m not sure I understand everything you’re trying to say in your post, but I’ll try to help if I can.
By Russ, are you referring to Russ Whitney? Is so, what do mean when you write, “Still have one camp and my mentor”?
Congratulations on your property acquisition in August. Obviously you didn’t go into much detail about the deal, but based on the information you did provide, it looks like an OKAY deal. If the cash flow of $300 is monthly AND if it’s net cash flow after ALL expenses (including vacancy and replacement reserves), AND if the $23,000 is the amount of cash you have into the deal, you are getting a 15.6% return on your $23,000 investment. . While that is not a bad return, you can definitely do MUCH better.
Part of the challenge that you face as a cash investor is that you have a finite amount of cash. Once all of that cash is invested, you basically come to a standstill. UNLESS, of course, you learn to invest without using any of your own cash. There are several ways to acquire or control property that require little or none of your own cash or credit.
Wholesaling, Lease/Options, and buying “Subject To” are probably the three most common ways to do real estate deals without using any of your own money or credit.
These topics are discussed at length on this web site. Start by reading all of the “How To” articles. Then do a search of the archives. Currently the archives only cover December 1998 through January 2000, and the most recent posts. The posts from February 2000 through January 2001 aren’t yet available in the archives. The owners of this web site have promised to update the archives but apparently they’re having difficulty. Regardless, you should be able to find plenty of information about no money/no credit required deals in the archives that are available.
Once you have read the “How To” articles and searched the archives, you will probably want to purchase a home study course or two that deal specifically with no money/no credit deals. There are many excellent courses offered through this web site.
If you haven’t already done so, make arrangements to attend the CREOnline annual convention in Atlanta at the end of this month. This will be my third convention. I didn’t learn about this web site until after their first one. I’m a full-time investor and I found the last two conventions very worthwhile. All of the newbies that I know got tremendous benefit from attending.
Marty, in summary, I would recommend that you save your capital for marketing and education and learn to do deals without using your own money or credit.
Hope this helps.
Best of Success!!
Jim Kennedy,
Houston, TX