Question about investing/financing.

[Eihli]

I want to invest, most likely in real estate. I am 18, have no job, no high school diploma/equivalent, and the only thing I own of value is a car worth about $2k. Anyone else see the problem? Eihli to banker: "Hi, I own nothing, have no job, no education, illegal income, and I'd like to borrow $75,000 to buy a house." Doesn't look good. What are my options, saving "get a job and ged", as a last resort? What options open up if I had cash to invest, and how much cash would it take to open that option? I'll save my questions about paying taxes on that cash for the internet forum, but if anyone here feels like they can help in that aspect, it would be appreciated.

[GeorgeF]

Join the US military

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]
I want to invest, most likely in real estate. I am 18, have no job, no high school diploma/equivalent, and the only thing I own of value is a car worth about $2k. Anyone else see the problem? Eihli to banker: "Hi, I own nothing, have no job, no education, illegal income, and I'd like to borrow $75,000 to buy a house." Doesn't look good. What are my options, saving "get a job and ged", as a last resort? What options open up if I had cash to invest, and how much cash would it take to open that option? I'll save my questions about paying taxes on that cash for the internet forum, but if anyone here feels like they can help in that aspect, it would be appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bet it all on black. Repeat until you can buy the house cash or go broke.

Seriously, what do you expect. Loans are not made on charity. You have to have something of value to give them if you expect them to give something to you. You need sufficient and verifiable income and/or collateral to qualify for a loan through the usual channels.

eastbay

[Eihli]

Can't without high school equivalancy.

[Eihli]

Which is why I asked how much money I would need. If I can put 90% down on a 100k house, I'm sure someone would loan me the other 10k. And if I can't pay back the 10k, they keep my downpayment and a house worth 100k. But how far down does that go? Would I be better off not getting a loan and paying cash for a less valuable property, then using my equity in that to take out a loan?

[BadBoyBenny]

Look at stated income loans. web page (http://www.loanshoppers.net/stated.htm) The best thing you can do is build up your credit score and a large downpayment.

[midas]

You seem to able able to put a few sentences together. Is there some reason why you can't even get a GED? If you can't muster the determination to get a GED forget about real estate. My advice is get your frigging GED and then leave SW LA for any big city with better job opportunities. Once you do that check back later for more advice.

[Eihli]

Thanks for the link. That has a lot of helpful information.

[Eihli]

I think I heard of people who scored high enough on their ACT were able to get their high school equivalancy just by showing their score. It won't be hard for me to get.

[RobertHunter]

It is going to be quite hard for you to get a loan considering your current financial situation, but it can be done.You will probably have to use a "hard money" lender.I think that if you had 50% downpayment you should be able to find someone to finance you but be prepared to pay a higher interest rate.You should be able to go on google and type in "hard money" and get some information and possibly contacts of lenders.Depending on how much cash you have it might be best for you to buy a small house first for cash and then borrow against the equity of that property.Do not invest in a mobile home unless you can buy it for the land value only-I presume you are going to rent it out and a tenant can destroy a mobile home quickly.Good luck and you are to be applauded for thinking about your future at such a young age - buy one house a year for the next 15 years hold them until you are 40 and you will be a millionare. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[GeorgeF]

Nah, I hear these days the recruiters will even take the test for you.

[Ray Zee]

look hard and you will find an owner financed home. no credit check needed. just a down payment he will agree upon. i have done it many times. after you build a little equity the banks will talk to you.
but if you cant cant thru high school are you going to take the time to study and learn about what you are investing in. i dont think so. but good luck anyway.

[Eihli]

It's not that I couldn't get through high school. I chose to leave high school to go to college and start working on a CSCI degree. Once I realized that it wasn't the future I wanted, I left college to work on my own. I can always go back to college, but I can't go back in time and take the missed chances/opportunities that I had today.

About the studying, I should have mentioned this in my original post, but, I am looking for suggestions on books. So far I've read Real Estate Investing from A to Z, The Millionaire Real Estate Mentor, and Investing in Fixer Uppers. I'm going pick up some more tomorrow but don't have any in mind and was just going to browse the shelf.

[inishowen]

From your original post to your last my impression of you has definitely changed. The only thing missing from your OP was that you wanted to become a "poker pro", but it seems you have more sense than that. That being said, there are certain benchmarks in life that most should attain. Academic credentials, many would argue, are over-rated, but, in your case at 18, try giving it another try and at least get the GED. Seems it should be easy for you.

I'm not a big proponent of how to books on investing in real estate. I've read several on how to manage real estate already owned but haven't found a good comprehensive guide to properly investing in RE. There are so many variables from state to state, property class, financing, etc. that there is no way that a book could speak to you directly. Here's my advice that might save you the $15 of another book. Take the time you would have read another book and apply that time to studying your local market. Find out what properties have sold for in your area, what the asking prices are of current listings, what typical rents are, etc. Try to know as much about the market within 3 square miles of your front door as possible. Next, seek out successful RE investors in your area. I'll bet that most will be more than willing to give you 1/2 an hour to impart their wisdom and quite possibly put you in contact with their financing guy or attorney. If you study your market and know it inside and out, when the right property comes on the market you will recognize it and be in a position to take advantage of it.

[Eihli]

Thanks. I'll be going down to the school board office tomorrow to see about getting a GED. I guess the 500 people who have told me I should are probably more right than me.

I've been getting my books from the library recently. They aren't too outdated, there were a lot of 02-04 books. And I'm not getting them for the investing advice they contain, but more to familiarize myself with the terms and procedures and such, so that I can communicate better with the people who can give me advice. I think I'm getting close to that and will spend more time watching property.

How should I go about finding successful RE investor's? RE clubs have been mentioned in a few of the books. Do you recommend starting there?

[RobertHunter]

Check out the forum at www.richdad.com. (http://www.richdad.com.) There you will find dozens of successful investors.

[inishowen]

To find successful RE investors in your area requires a little bit of detective work. Most of these people are very independent, self made, and usually very private about their holdings. My guess is the real wealthy ones won't belong to any clubs or organizations because they are so self reliant. The best way to find these people is to find the most expensive dozen or so income-producing properties in your area, go to the town/city assessors office to see who owns those properties and then use your creativity to get a meeting with those owners. You need a mentor, not someone to gossip about RE with. If you are truly interested in RE, hopefully you'll hit it off with one of these investors and they'll help you out.

Meantime...if you feel a need to read, the best thing you can teach yourself is how to recognize value by comparing one property vs another. To learn the vocabulary check out Henry Harrison's "Appraising Residences and Income Properties". Get the text and the workbook. Good Luck

[ajm36]

Let me get this straight? You are soliciting people over the internet to give you advice on how to launder money? You are either a complete F*CKING moron or a cop. Go somewhere else.