When people first decide to invest in real estate the first question that arises invariably is "What if I don't have any money to get started?" I know, I know you have seen dozens upon dozens of programs and videos that try to sell you on not needing any money to invest in real estate. They might or might not be telling the truth, I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that my experience in the New York market for over 16 years has shown me that you don't actually need any of your own money to get started. Actually I am lying; you will need a hundred bucks as a binder deposit. Once you have the knowledge on finding the properties, and you do find a good deal, the money will easily follow. So here a few steps to buying your first property with no money:

• 1. Let's say, for example that you located the owner of a vacant pre-foreclosure property. You negotiate a purchase price of $250,000 and after $50,000 in repairs the home is worth $450,000.
• 2. Next you would "tie up" the property with a simple binder agreement & deposit to the seller. At this point, with maybe $100 of your money as a deposit at risk, you would present this deal to a potential cash investor.
• 3. You could then assign the binder / contract to the investor for an assignment fee of $2,500 - $5,000 or more. Congratulations you just did your first "wholesale" flip. Now go find another one!

The truth is that the property does not have to only be a vacant pre-foreclosure property. There are dozens of different types of properties that can be of use to you. I realize this scenario may be a little oversimplified; however this is basically how it works. After you have successfully "tied up" the property you can then place an ad to find potential investors for the deal you just put together. For example you can place an ad on Ron LeGrands' website. The ad could look like this "Handyman Special, Cheap, must pay cash, please call (xxx) xxx-xxxx". When they call you can either move forward with the person who is interested in buying the property or if they are hedging at your asking price wait for the next person that is interested. You can also start to make some good contacts with whoever may call. You can assess whether they would be someone that is interested in buying properties on a frequent basis. You can ask questions such as: Are you able to purchase a property with all cash? , What areas do you prefer? , What level of rehab can you handle? If you find someone who is also interested as you are in having an ongoing business in the real estate market you can "bank" these contacts. The next time you put together a deal you might already have an investor lined up or if not they might know someone. The key to this whole scenario is that you started with 100 dollars of your own money and potentially could make 2500-5000 dollars!!!!

written by Peter Lopipero