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Purchasing Property With No Money Down: My Personal Experience
Have you ever seen those infomercials about buying houses with "No Money Down?" They are really well done. They have all kinds of people offering great testimonials about how they have gotten rich, buying rental properties, with absolutely no money out of their pocket. You see this guy, standing on a street corner, talking to someone, and he says, "I own that one," pointing to a beautiful colonial. "I also own that one next to it, and the one two doors down, and I'll be closing on the one directly across the street from it, next week." He then assures us that he has purchased 17 homes in the last eight or ten months, with zero money down on the properties. Plus, in many cases he's also paid no closing costs. And, let's not forget, this same guy is grossing tens of thousands of dollars monthly, and his net worth is nearly one million dollars. So, he says. Now, all of this looks wonderful, so when the person selling the course that will teach you how to do this, at a nifty price of just $297.00, speaks, you are glued to his every word. "Real estate is the safest and fastest way to make money, today," the expert will tell you. So, can this really be done? Can you purchase houses with no money down? Can you become a landlord in as little as one month's time and start raking in the cash from those rent payments? The answer is an absolute "Yes." It can be done, and I am proof positive, because I've done it. The question you should be asking yourself is not can I buy real estate with no money down, but should I? You see, this is a question that the guy selling the No Money Down course, with all of his people and their great testimonials hopes you never ask. His advertising and marketing strategy would collapse, if he gave anyone a chance to ask this question, because he would be forced to lie if he answered it. Rarely is the whole truth anywhere to be found in infomercials, especially when the advertising is about No Money Down real estate programs. The infomercial makes the idea and the program look so easy that any child could handle it. It makes it seem like every American should be doing it, and we'd all be millionaires. But every American is not doing it, and many of the ones who are doing it not only are not getting rich, they are actually going broke. The infomercial won't tell you this. That's why I'm here. The Truth Now, let's get started with the truth about buying real estate with no money down and the truth about being a landlord. The first thing you need to know is that they are both very bad ideas. Let me illustrate by using my own experience in these areas. I started buying rental property nearly 10 years ago. The first property I bought was a deal orchestrated by some real estate con artist, who told me I needed just $2,000 to take ownership of this home and, in the process, help out a woman who was about to be foreclosed upon. In two years, she would clean up her credit, refinance the loan on the house, and I would make $10,000. Sounded good to someone who was quick to buy into anything that returned big dollars in a short time. This worked for the first year, as the woman paid on time, and I pocketed an extra $100 monthly. Later, though, things began to collapse, as the house began to need repairs, all of which the woman couldn't afford, so I had to pay for them. I put nearly $5,000 into the house in a four-year period. When I was finally able to sell it, I didn't quite make back what I had put into it. Meanwhile, I was eager to overcome this problem by adding many more. A slick mortgage broker got hooked up with an even slicker real estate prospector, and the two of them convinced me that they had a way I could buy houses rapidly, with absolutely no money out of my pocket. Although my experience will probably be enough to enlighten you to the pitfalls of this model and of being a landlord, let me say that I can't emphasize enough how dangerous buying property with no money down is. In six months time, I had purchased eight houses - many with loans from the same wholesale lender. These lenders should have been concerned with all of the debt I was building, but they kept approving loans, based on my good credit and rents covering the mortgage payments. One of the biggest problems, which I was not experienced enough to detect, was that most of the rents were just $50 to $100 above the mortgage payment. "Don't worry," the investor/ hustler would say. "You'll make all your money on volume. We'll get you into 30 or 40 houses, and you'll be pocketing $4,000 to $5,000 every month." As you might imagine, my mind raced. I was making the huge deposits at that very moment. My bank account was fattening up at breakneck speed. The Illusion This is what people who buy houses, using the No Money Down plan envision happening. After all, if you can buy one house with no money down, why not five or ten or fifty? For some reason - the vision of the dollar sign, most likely - I failed to seriously consider the maintenance of these houses, the possibility of missed rent payments, and the chance that renters might actually stop paying, altogether, forcing me to evict them - a time-consuming and extremely costly undertaking. As you may have already guessed, all of these things happened to me, after I had amassed 26 rental properties. In fact, oftentimes, all of these problems happened in the same month. Now, for awhile (when I had about 10 houses), if one person failed to pay rent, I could cover it with the nine other payments. But when two, three and sometimes even five tenants didn't pay in the same month, it was devastating to my business. I had to go to my business account and pay up to $3,000 at a time in mortgage payments, with no income to cover it. Plus, I had to pay a property management company to get my tenants to pay or to evict them. Soon, this became the norm, not the exception. There were constant problems at my houses. Unhappy tenants led to poor upkeep of the property and even more maintenance problems. About one year, after I had amassed 26 houses, I was having problems with roughly 10-15 houses and/or tenants each week. I was evicting at least two tenants each month, and approximately four to seven tenants were either behind on rent or not paying at all. Promises were made, payment plans arranged and few, if any, ever followed through. It didn't take long for me to realize that this was no way to make money in real estate. Consequently, I got rid of these houses as fast as I possibly could. There were plenty of buyers, willing to take over my headaches, because they had the ability to make it work, they believed. In 10 years of being a landlord, I lost thousands of dollars and likely took some years away from my life with all the stress I had endured. So, whatever you do, avoid the No Money Down Trap. There are much better, still inexpensive ways to make money in real estate. Learn the best ways at www.winningthemortgagegame.com Mark Barnes is author of the wealth-building system, Winning the Mortgage Game and other investment real estate books. He is also a suspense novelist, and his new novel, The League, will thrill both suspense and sports fans. Learn about Mark's wealth-building system and get his free home loan course at http://www.winningthemortgagegame.com. Learn more about The League and read an excerpt at http://www.sportsnovels.com
MORE RESOURCES: Broncos connected to real estate purchases around Burnham Yard, potential stadium site The Denver Post Small real estate investors reach record market share, now dominate 59% of investor purchases Fox Business Real estate brokerage eyes move to Salesforce Tower Crain's Chicago Business Real Estate Transfers ~ May 30, 2025 The Bedford Citizen After 50 years of blazing a trail for women in real estate, a Hampton Roads magnate retires The Virginian-Pilot Startup aims to bring assumable mortgages to the masses RealEstateNews.com Household Real Estate Asset Value Falls to Start the Year Eye on Housing Attorney General Jeff Jackson Frees North Carolinians from Predatory Real Estate Agreements NCDOJ (.gov) Lynn Goessling Talks Real Estate Trends in St. Louis Business Journal Armstrong Teasdale MV Realty update: Listing agreements terminated in Florida RealEstateNews.com Real Estate: 8 properties, including apartment complex, change ownership in Clark County The Arkadelphian Interview: Heidi Addo, vice president, Michel Commercial Real Estate Finance & Commerce EG Real Estate: 11 Sold & 13 Open East Greenwich News SDCERA commits $250m to real estate fund Private Equity Real Estate | PERE MARWEST APARTMENT REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST ANNOUNCES 10% INCREASE IN MONTHLY CASH DISTRIBUTION POLICY Yahoo Finance Former GE Headquarters Site in Fort Point Sells for $57 Million Amid Struggles in Lab Real Estate Market Boston Real Estate Times 4 rate-lowering strategies to share with buyer clients RealEstateNews.com Q&A: Colliers’ Devon Dvorak builds career in multifamily real estate Finance & Commerce Tech Bytes: reAlpha enters a new market, eyes national expansion RealEstateNews.com Home equity dips $4K as prices slow, costs climb RealEstateNews.com Brooklyn BP Antonio Reynoso has taken cash from real estate interests despite pledge New York Daily News TCRS commits $150m to real estate fund Private Equity Real Estate | PERE Archie real estate platform wins Delaware EDGE grant Cape Gazette Real estate news: Tesla Collision Center property in Irvine sells for $21M Orange County Register The Best Real Estate of the Year, From Merv Griffin’s La Quinta Estate to a Historic Oxfordshire Manor Robb Report Aleut Real Estate breaks ground on hangar facility at Pryor Field Business Alabama Magazine New Perspectives: Cheers! | Real Estate Insights Piedmont Exedra Related Beal Celebrates Topping Out of Leiden Center II at Innovation Square in Boston’s Eastern Seaport Boston Real Estate Times MassHousing Announces Expanded, Statewide Down Payment Assistance Program - Boston Real Estate Times MassHousing Announces Expanded, Statewide Down Payment Assistance Program Boston Real Estate Times Kevin Joyce Talks Residential Real Estate, Mortgages & Opportunities For Sellers & Buyers Rockland County Business Journal Matthews Real Estate Opens San Francisco Office Connect CRE Galvanize Real Estate Buys Maryland Industrial Portfolio CommercialSearch LOCAL REAL ESTATE TODAY 6.13.25 KQEN News Radio Real estate transfers in Hancock County for May 2025 Muddy River News Licking County real estate transfers for May 26-30 hit nearly $1.5 million in Pataskala The Newark Advocate Invesco Real Estate Provides $355M Refi of 24-Asset Industrial Portfolio Commercial Observer $28.2 million record home sale in West Palm Beach at 3030 Washington Road The Palm Beach Post Fond du Lac County property sold for $1.53 million in real estate transfers for June 2-6 fdlreporter.com News of public record: Muskingum County real estate transfers Zanesville Times Recorder Northwest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust Announces June 2025 Distribution Newsfile Wake Up Your Real Estate: Defining Real Estate Nonstop Local News Real Estate Agent Booms and Busts Calculated Risk Brookfield Asset Management names CEO of real estate in reshuffle Pensions & Investments News of public record: Coshocton County real estate transfers Coshocton Tribune Real estate transfers: Canton supermarket property sells for $8.2M Canton Repository $354M Deal: Bridge Investment Group's Massive Industrial Portfolio Refinancing Spans 6 Key States Stock Titan The Pipeline: Commercial real estate roundup for 6.13.25 Richmond BizSense Florida’s Spring Break Capital Is Now Its Newest Luxury Real Estate And Financial Hotspot - Forbes Construction crews raising the next business park for fast-growing Kyle The Business Journals Investors Are Selling a Record Share of Homes To Cut Their Losses—Especially in These 5 States Realtor.com Major Real Estate Deal: Lead Real Estate Secures Prime Spot in Tokyo's $6B Tsukiji Waterfront Transformation Stock Titan Loyola names MCB Real Estate’s David Bramble as Business Leader of the Year Loyola University Maryland Welcome to Real Estate Friday! The Berkshire Edge Real estate giants crack down on exclusive 'off-market' home listings in major shift for buyers Fox Business U.S. States With Lowest Mortgage Rates Today – June 13, 2025 Norada Real Estate Investments Reality star's real estate company locks hundreds of North Texans into controversial contracts CBS News Real estate pushback to the 'Taylor Swift tax' begins. Will the charge hit everyday cottages? The Providence Journal |
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