No Money But Excellent Credit

bogie7129 profile photo

Folks, I'm looking for some suggestions on how I can get started in REI. Just a little background:

I have a Bachelor's degree in Real Estate Management obtained from a California university in 1980, but have never worked in the business. I've bought and sold several personal residences over the years, always at a hefty profit, which I then lost in divorce court. I recently applied for a homeowner's line of equity loan (while my wife was on a cruise for ten days.) She was livid when she got back; needless to say, we did not go to closing. I am handy around the house and on those projects that I can't handle myself I have reliable tradesmen to handle them. We recently suffered through hurricane Ivan and most of our savings are gone. My question is:

What is the best, quickest way to get my hands on some investment money so I can make more $$ down the road? My spouse has made it clear in no uncertain terms that we will not "risk" "her" home :-( I have no rich uncles that I can draw on.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I am open to almost anything legal and am willing to start small in order to build up a solid chunk of change to move on to bigger and better deals.

Many thanks,
Bob6

Comments(14)

  • bargain762nd November, 2004

    The place to start is to operate as a BIRD DOG finding deals for investors. Sounds boring? Well, you really need 2 to 3 years experience in the RE investing field to avoid fatal mistakes... so you may as well enter the business playing with OTHER PEOPLES money... learning their inveatment rules. Then MAYBE you will learn enough to survive investing your own money.

  • bogie71292nd November, 2004

    Thanks, Bargain. I was just reading about bird dogging elsewhere on this forum.

    There is a man in the REI club to which I belong who says he will buy any and all deals brought to him. He says to make an offer and bring the deal to him, I think he said for assignment. Is this bird dogging?

    How about "hard" money lenders? How many pints of blood will I have to pay for their services?

    Any other suggestions out there? Thanks a lot.

    Bob

  • JohnMerchant2nd November, 2004

    HM loans are not for people like you with great credit, so probably there's no need for you to go that route

    I'd find a mentor to work with, and watch what he/she does in his REI activities, and simultaneously watch for REI opps for yourself...then, when you've located a good one, go to your bank and get a line of credit for some reasonably priced investment cash.

  • JaneSherman2nd November, 2004

    Hard money will loan you 65% of after repaired value. In many cases that will cover the purchase and the repairs. There are also some programs that will loan 100% with great credit and a good job. Give me a call and I can help you find the correct loans.
    Thanks, Jane LOL

  • regal5th November, 2004

    If you have great credit and no money, you can hook up with an investor that needs a strong borrower in their back pocket.

    If I am in too many deals and something comes up that I want to buy, I have a couple of friends with perfect credit that I use. I put up the down paymant and any money needed. They apply for the loan under their names. When the loan closes, we put in my corp. and I pay them $5k.

    I then make all the monthly payments and expenses. They are done with the deal. Of course, I use people that I've known forever and we all trust each other.

    It's the easiest money they have ever made and it's the cheapest money I can borrow.

  • waynegm5th November, 2004

    I am in oppositie boat - Got some money but bad credit - Seems to go hand in hand, when you think about it. Anyway, with GOOD CREDIT you can acquire all kinds of LOANS - and depending on your intention, you can pay off those loans after you make money. Not sure what you want to do, but the idea to call a Loan Broaker to steer you in the right path is the best idea.

  • commercialking5th November, 2004

    I think you are casting the question wrong. You need to sit down with the wife and deal with her issues. Not necessarily because a home equity loan is the right way to go for you but because you need to enlist her support for the venture in general.

    After you have learned to communicate and negotiate with your wife finding a partner to work with will be fairly straightforward.
    [ Edited by commercialking on Date 11/05/2004 ]

  • thechangingtable5th November, 2004

    MBNA has an unsecured line of credit program. Right now they are sending out mailers offering $25000 - $50000 lines of credit. I have one with them, it is called CLEANSWEEP. I threw my offer away, but if you call MBNA and ask for their line of credit department, you can probably get in on the deal. Interest rates vary, right now they are offering 6.99% and advance fee is $50 I think.

  • 64Ford5th November, 2004

    There are a lot of options for you:

    1. Subject To

    2. 100% NOO loans

    3. 203K rehab loans

    4. If you have an IRA, you can rollover to a self-directed IRA, and then your IRA can buy and rehab the property.

    Hope that gets you started!

  • bogie71295th November, 2004

    I certainly do appreciate the lots of good information I have received in answer to this question. I specifically like the one just above, option 4.

    Communication with the spousal unit has always been good. But there were a lot of years there before I came along that she did not know where her next house payment was coming from. It caused her great mental anguish and she does not want to be put in that position again.

    There is an investor in the RE club I'm in and he stands up at every meeting and says something to the effect that he has tons of money and that if anyone else present finds a deal that just has to be done right away, just sign the deal and take it to him and he'll take it off our hands and pay us a fee. Does anyone have any idea what he's about? Or what would be a reasonable fee for doing something like this? He seems to be an honest individual and he is one of the founders of the club. Anyone have any advise about this?

    Line of equity - that's what I tried first. Loan approved in less than an hour for $80,000.00. Loan "disapproved" immediately upon my wife's return home from her cruise. End of story on that.

    Thanks again, all
    Bob

  • commercialking6th November, 2004

    Well Bob another round of personal questions:

    What is your reason to want to get into REI?

    How come you never did anything with the Real Estate degree? What business/job are you in now?

  • bogie71297th November, 2004

    King,

    My life is an open book. Just ask away.

    I was stationed in San Diego in 1980 when I got a degree in Real Estate management, followed the next month by orders overseas. I spent the next 12 years either at sea or overseas. No opportunity to get involved then. After I retired from USN I had a couple of other JOBs and got involved in some other things (divorce/marriage/etc).

    I had some money in a CD and when it matured and I received my statement I discovered that I had been paid the princely APY of 1.49%!!! That's when I heard about and joined the local REI club. I'm finding now that I get older and my wife is no longer working full time that more income would be very helpful. We still want to buy that RV and do some traveling. I've remained interested in REI all these years but now I really want to get into it. I see it as income for my retirement years.

    Lessee - - - shoe size, 12; 6' tall; 252#; hair - bald; beard, salt 'n' peppa; does that cover it? ( .)(. )

    Bob

  • fmmp7th November, 2004

    Quote:

    Line of equity - that's what I tried first. Loan approved in less than an hour for $80,000.00. Loan "disapproved" immediately upon my wife's return home from her cruise. End of story on that.



    LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

    "Girls Always Rule"!

  • JeanMeadows7th November, 2004

    Hi Bob,

    I think it is great you are getting into this side of the Real Estate World... Don't for get that FL is a community property state. I would suggest a real estate investment trust to protect your assets. Also consider that you can get 100% Non-Owner Occupied loans now too. There are so many sources for hard money and for conventional lending to help investors. If your credit looks good... you can get most of what you need... Just remember that there is really no such thing as a 100% loan... You still need 10% of any loan amount for closing... sometimes you can get the seller to pay it at closing and bump up the purchase price. I hope this helps...

    Good Luck and Welcome!


    Quote:
    On 2004-11-02 21:19, bogie7129 wrote:
    Folks, I'm looking for some suggestions on how I can get started in REI. Just a little background:

    I have a Bachelor's degree in Real Estate Management obtained from a California university in 1980, but have never worked in the business. I've bought and sold several personal residences over the years, always at a hefty profit, which I then lost in divorce court. I recently applied for a homeowner's line of equity loan (while my wife was on a cruise for ten days.) She was livid when she got back; needless to say, we did not go to closing. I am handy around the house and on those projects that I can't handle myself I have reliable tradesmen to handle them. We recently suffered through hurricane Ivan and most of our savings are gone. My question is:

    What is the best, quickest way to get my hands on some investment money so I can make more $$ down the road? My spouse has made it clear in no uncertain terms that we will not "risk" "her" home :-( I have no rich uncles that I can draw on.

    Does anyone have any suggestions? I am open to almost anything legal and am willing to start small in order to build up a solid chunk of change to move on to bigger and better deals.

    Many thanks,
    Bob6

Add Comment

Login To Comment