All good advice here…. on the flip side to many of the people here, i get a GREAT number of my deals through Real Estate Agents.

They can be a mixed bag. Sometimes i find the newbies great as they'll listen to anything to get a first sale over the line and often let you get to the seller with some clever words. Oftentimes the deal is all agreed and ready to sign up before the Principal agent finds out and its too late for them to put a stop to it.

Other times i find the older long term experienced agents can be good because they've done 'something similar' or vaguely along these lines before and its just a matter of adding a few variations to what they already know to get it through. You'll find they'll sell the concept to the seller for you and save you a lot of the work.

You just need to help see the forrest through the trees and narrow it down to a specific property. Start with questions with the agent to weed out the motivated sellers on his book – which property is vacant right now? Which one has been on the market the longest? Which one needs to sell first? and why? that'll get you working with those sellers who need a solution now and your on your way.

Then remind the agent how they are getting paid the whole time, thats all they care about after all

Cheers

Sheree

Hi Nathan,

You should consult a solicitor ideally located in the state where the property is located. If you tell us your state i can suggest a few… or otherwise you can ring around all the solicitors in the area and ask for the property specialist in the firm. Ask them if they've ever done an option agreement, how many, have they ever had to go to court to enforce it and other due dilligence questions to put your mind at ease that it IS a rock solid contract. If they dont give the answers your looking for ring others til you find what you need. You'll probably find something among the commercial lawyers for that state.

Cheers

Sheree

Hi, Yes agree with Derek on the books, Steves books are good for general getting started and cashflow investing with formulas to help with your number crunching. Id suggest to not read one but many! Every author has their own spin/take on property and I've learnt something from every single book i've read on the subject, and still do. Once you have an idea of what you CAN do out there, and the different strategies, then you can narrow down the books to those that are specific to that type of field. And you'll find your interests change over time too, I went from negative gearing, to renovations and then to property options/vendor financing which is now my core business and main interest and theres plenty of books out there on all the first 2 subject areas. Not so much on the last topic but Rick Otton has his new book out How To Buy a House for $1 which has a more Australian based approach, the only others i know are more american based. For general ones theres also Jan Somers, Margaret Lomas books, Robery Kiyosaki ones although some differences with the american systems.

Cheers

Sheree

Yes agree with Paul there, never been able to convince an existing tenant to take on the home they already live in on a rent to buy. They have a hard time understanding they can own the home for a bit more cash each week. They usually dont want to pay more to enjoy the same house, even though they can own it. Its a bigger headshift for them.

You can still negotiate with the seller and see what you come up with but dont count on the existing tenant to come through for you.

Cheers

Sheree

Hi Tanya, theres plenty of information out there, but if the purchaser needs vendor finance, have they suggested to you how they want to proceed? as in what terms they are asking for? Perhaps the person asking this already knows a lot and you can ask them too.

Lots of information is in Ricks new book too How To Buy A House for $1

Cheers

Sheree

I've also heard other opinions from people who recommend to just get out there and start investing and use the profits to set up all those things once you've got the money to do it, as it can be expensive. I didn't do this and not necessarily recommending it but its another thought out there to consider…

Cheers

Sheree

What part of property actually interests you! There are so many facets to real estate, development, buy and hold with negative gearing,  renovation, cash flow positive with buy and hold or with terms sales, subdivision, commercial, options, I could go on. Work out which interests you first then seek the best course in that field….

Cheers Sheree

Yes! good to bare in mind everyone sells, whether your a big business's, small business, self-employed person selling your skills or an employee selling your time and skills to an employer, everyone is selling to make money.. As long as the "customer" feels they are getting a value exchange . I pay my mentors a small fortune but by golly they make me every cent back and then some. But choose any mentor wisely and make sure the teachers are doing or have done it themselves. Don't be too afraid to ask them to justify their credibility! I hear so many trainers out there teaching stuff they've never done themselves, particularly in property.

cheers

 Sheree

Lol Paul true there are much more elegant solutions than the  sandwich lease option these days, especially with joint venture agreements being more prevalent now .. But occasionally it seems to be the right solution for some parties  

Sounds like second mortgage carry back transactions to me…. They finance the deposit to you by way of a registered or unregistered second mortgage. A growing market…