If you are anything like me, when you get excited about something… you want it right now! When I first decided investing in Real Estate was the best route for me, I wanted to start buying houses that week. I quickly realized it was going to take a lot of work and time to begin to invest in Real Estate.
Lacking Money…
The first thing that slowed me down from jumping into the Real Estate was a lack of funds. I decided to start investing in Real Estate in 2008 and I could not find a way around putting 20% down on an investment property. I already owned a house so I could not go the route of buying an owner occupied house and then turning it into a rental in a year or two. I was pretty green when it came to investing so I had no idea about hard money loans or owner financing either.
After about a year, I was able to save up enough for a down payment and I thought I was ready to buy. Then I realized I was in the Real Estate business and I was not guaranteed a steady income – and spending all my savings on a rental property probably wasn’t the best idea. I decided to wait until I had more than enough money for a down payment, some reserves and emergency money in case I ran into a slow time.
I finally got to a point where I had saved enough money for down payment, reserves and an emergency fund for myself (about $50,000) and I was ready to invest. Then my wife and I found a smoking deal on a house for us to live in. Most of he money I …read more