Real Estate Investment – One Simple Formula

I saw the ads in our small-town newspaper for years before I realized exactly what was going on. They were always the same: A house for sale with 5% down and payments of 1% of the purchase price. It might be a three bedroom home for $90,000, for example, with $4,500 down and $900 per month payments.

A friend started doing the same thing and explained the process to me. It was a way to get a great return on capital. It was the opposite of buying with no money down. You bought for cash.

A Real Estate Investment Formula

It is simple, really. When you buy for cash, you often get a much better price. A house that needs a little work might be worth $75,000, for example. By offering $65,000 cash, you negotiate your way to a $68,000 purchase price. If not, you walk away – there are always others.

Then you put few thousand into high-return repairs and improvements. Paint, carpet, and maybe asphalt for the dirt driveway. For our example, we’ll say you put $5,000 into it.

Now it’s worth $85,000 perhaps, but you target those buyers who can’t get financing easily, and you finance it yourself. By making it easy for the buyer, you...