If you’ve ever seen any late night informercials you’ve no doubt seen the one that claims about buying no money down real estate.  But can you really by real property as an investment without using any of your own money?  The answer is a resounding “yes!”.  Anybody equipped with the right training can purchase real estate without using banks or any of their own money but it does require specialized training.  The late night gurus make it sound much easier than it really is.

Buying real estate with no money down can be a great way to help fuel your retirement nest egg.  Once of the best things about investing in real estate is that once it’s set up properly it can operate passively without little involvement from you.  You can even buy property with bad credit although your journey can be a lot smoother if you have good credit although it is completely unnecessary.  Sometimes having access to too much cash is a detriment because when you run into challenges you will throw money at it rather than coming up with creative solutions.

Here’s a quick example of how you can buy your first piece of real estate without using banks, your own money or your credit.

Example: Seller has a property on the market for 90 days for $100,000 and hasn’t been able to sell it.

1.  You approach the seller to find out what their motivation for selling is.  The seller has to be motivated to make this deal work.  Motivation means the seller has a “need to sell” as opposed to a “want to sell.”  They need to sell because they are moving soon, they have double house payments, they’ve just lost their job, they’re going through a divorce, etc.  In other words the seller is in some type of distressed situation that requires outside help or they may end up ruining their credit or losing the house altogether.

2. Once you know there is seller motivation then you can proceed to offer the seller solutions to his problem.  If the seller doesn’t perceive that they have a problem, no amount of talking will make them sell you their house.  You tell the seller that you can buy their house on the day of their choice for what they owe on the property and you’ll cover all of the closing costs.  Read the rest of this entry

During a time of transition, as you move from your old job or, as you re-enter the workforce after being unemployed, don’t forget about your 401k account. As you shift between jobs, your 401k rollover to Roth IRA account sits, waiting. There’s no harm in this, short term, but when you are ready, let’s do that 401k rollover!

You have two main options with the 401k rollover to Roth IRA. You can roll it to a new 401k, offered by your new employer. Or you can roll the funds into an IRA — an individual retirement account. These come in two flavors: pre-tax (the traditional IRA) and post-tax (the Roth). Each have their advantages for a rollover. 401k to IRA means that your money moves from one pre-tax fund to another. Nice and easy, plain and simple. Read the rest of this entry