At this moment, you have access to some amount of money, from the extremes of only pocket change to the reserves of Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. Suppose you want to invest your funds into some vehicle that will multiply the return. You look around for the Return on Investment of various investment instruments. For every investment tool, varying deposit amounts of your funds are required. You must either put up your cash or guarantee payment from specified resources. Real estate investing offers the maximum leverage potential possible for your funds. I found a large house for sale 25 years ago. It was listed for $150,000, but had been on the market for an extended period of time because of its large size with an awkward layout. But when I walked through the house for the first time, I immediately envisioned how the layout was conducive to three living units instead of the single family home as it was constructed. I offered $10,000 down payment for the house for a reduced sales price of $100,000, and my offer was accepted. The upscale house is now worth $500,000 and has been refinanced numerous times to pull out cash. Yet, the three units have consistently returned a cash flow of much more than the mortgage payment for 25 years. Leverage from the $10,000 down payment is astronomical. But leverage available from real estate investing gets even better. I started a practice years ago of submitting zero down purchase offers to motivated sellers with a $10 earnest money deposit. I bought $1 million in houses during my first year of real estate investing. I bought another $1 million in property the next year, and $10 million worth of properties by the 4th year. Yet, all of these purchases were made without any cash down payment and only $10 in earnest money deposits. (Even the $10 was in the form of a check attached to the Purchase Contract, and seldom even cashed by the Seller!) But the real estate investing professional can take leverage even another step. The earnest money deposit check for $10 could be equally legal as a check for just $1. And in most states, so I'm told by my friends who are experts in legalese, a verbal agreement is just as binding as one accompanied with cash or check. Now that's leverage! Don't let 'em tell you that buying real estate investments without cash or credit is impossible. My first four years of buying $10 million in properties for zero down is proof that prompted an editorial in the Wall St. Journal featuring my real estate investing. And I have packaged that information in a huge Guide for the would-be and veteran real estate investing professional. |
