Brandon Turner - The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down: Real Life Strategies for Investing in Real Estate Using Other People’s Money

The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down

Copyright 2014 by BiggerPockets Inc All Rights Reserved.

Written by Brandon Turner
Published by BiggerPockets Publishing LLC, Denver, CO

This publication is protected under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 and all other ap- plicable international, federal, state and local laws, and all rights are reserved, in- cluding resale rights: you are not allowed to reproduce, transmit or sell this book in part or in full without the written permission of the publisher.

Limit of Liability: Please note that much of this publication is based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence. Although the author and publisher have made every reasonable attempt to achieve complete accuracy of the content in this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Your particular circumstances may not be suited to the examples illustrated in this book; in fact, it's likely that they won't be. You should use the information in this book at your own risk.

Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.

Finally, use your head. Nothing in this book is intended to replace common sense, legal, accounting, or professional advice, and only is meant to inform.

ISBN: 978-0-9907117-1-1

First Edition

Acknowledgments

They say it takes a village to raise a child. I also believe it takes a village to raise a book from concept to print.

To that village I owe a great debt.

At the risk of forgetting some names, I want to specifically thank some of those who made this journey possible.

Thank you to Josh Dorkin for creating BiggerPockets, which I attribute the bulk of my success thus far to. Additionally, thank you for the guidance in creating and publishing this book and, of course, for the excellent foreword.

Thank you J Scott for your amazing Book on Flipping Houses that opened the door for this publication. Thank you Mike Simmons, Chad Carson, Douglas Larson, Ben Leybovich, Michael Blank, Sharon Vornholt, Tim Gordon, Jerry Puckett, Aaron Mazzrillo, and Jaren Barnes for your wisdom and time given to help make this book launch a success.

Thank you Sharon Tzib and Seamane Flanagan for your work on editing this book. I would not want to be the person responsible for cleaning up my mess, but you two did amazing things. And Maher Abiad- your ability to turn my text into an amazing audiobook will open up this book to so many more people, so thank you.

Thank you to the BiggerPockets community for your wisdom and advice over the past seven yearsl, and thank you to all my family and friends who have offered support and encouragement through this crazy journey.

Finally, thank you to my Papa, for blessing me more than any man should ever be blessed.

Thank you all.

Dedication

Creative real estate investing is never easy, but often filled with uncertainty, stress, and a healthy dose of hard work. Therefore, this book is dedicated to the woman who stuck by me through every difficult moment and offered life saving insights at every step. For Heather, my bride.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD

CHAPTER ONE: THE ART OF CREATIVE REAL ESTATE INVESTING

CHAPTER TWO: OWNER-OCCUPIED INVESTMENT PROPERTIES

CHAPTER THREE: PARTNERSHIPS

CHAPTER FOUR: HOME EQUITY LOANS/ LINES OF CREDIT

CHAPTER FIVE: STRATEGIES FOR USING HARD MONEY

CHAPTER SIX: RAISING PRIVATE MONEY TO FUND YOUR DEALS

CHAPTER SEVEN: LEASE OPTIONS

CHAPTER EIGHT: SELLER FINANCING

CHAPTER NINE: REAL ESTATE WHOLESALING

CHAPTER TEN: CREATIVE COMBINATIONS

MORE FROM BIGGERPOCKETS

Forward

Joshua Dorkin
CEO, BiggerPockets

I am not a teacher, but an awakener. Robert Frost

If youre thinking that one book can deliver all your hopes and dreams, you may be right; if you find that book, please get in touch and share it with me.

While this book can certainly equip you well for the journey, it is wholly up to you to create your own path to success. It wont necessarily be easy, but I think Theodore Roosevelt nailed it when he said, Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.

This book is not designed to give you one simple formula for investing success -- or even to concede that such a formula exists. Rather, this book is designed to teach you a variety of strategies and concepts so you can learn to think outside the box and craft your own personal strategy for no money down investing. Its designed to open your mind to new ways of thinking, not to force any particular master plan down your throat. As such, this book does not offer overnight success or instant riches, but it does promise skills and knowledge that will serve you the rest of your investing career (and life) -- if you so choose.

As any experienced real estate investor can tell you, there are no secrets, and there are no systems that work all the time. Real estate investing is not black and white; its not a button that can be pressed or an ATM machine that shoots out cash if the right combination of numbers are pressed. Real estate is a complex, multi-dimensional maze where success requires far more than a script, workbook and seminar, no matter what late night TV gurus might proclaim.

It was my exposure to these such gurus that initially set me on the journey that eventually spurred the beginnings of BiggerPockets. As a brand new real estate investor, I took to the internet to find solutions for the problems with tenants, properties and property managers Id been handling. Instead of unearthing a wealth of thoughtful discussions, I discovered that the real estate industry was dominated by gurus who offered assistance only via overpriced and heavily hyped programs.

Something needed to changeand out of this necessity, BiggerPockets.com was born. Soon, tens of thousands (now tens of millions!) began to flock to the site, attracted to the community-based education that focused on the people, not the product.

A grassroots movement had been born.

An active member of the BiggerPockets community from the start, Brandon Turner approached me several years ago to write for the sites blog. Though I knew little about him at the time, his writing intrigued me, and I took a chance on him as a contributor to our platform. A few months later, I again took a chance when I hired him to become our lead editor and community manager.

It was a chance that paid off.

Brandon is a natural leader who captivated the imagination of our community. Aside from his behind-the-scenes work to cultivate the site, Brandon continues to lend his unique and insightful voice to our blog and podcast, and he is an active part of our investing community. Just as impressively, he has spent the better part of the decade building a portfolio of real estate encompassing dozens of units without any of his own money. He has shown incredible resourcefulness in his ability to acquire both rental properties and flips using other peoples capital, steadily growing his portfolio year by year.