Question about investing/financing.

[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. 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.