Zero down? Why would a seller want to walk away from closing with nothing? Well, they wouldn’t, and that brings up the most important point about real estate investing with no downpayment: The seller almost always needs cash at closing, but it doesn’t have to be YOUR cash.
A Zero Down Example
I’m selling a small rental property right now, with payments of $400/month. The buyer has a good credit report, and the $5,000 downpayment covers closing costs and even a foreclosure, if necessary. So at this point, I don’t care where he gets the downpayment. A $6000 cash advance on a low-interest credit card for example, would cost him about $135 per month, and give him enough for the downpayment and his closing costs.
In this case, with rent around $600 per month, he would be okay. In some cases, however, that extra $135 might cause negative cash-flow. So be sure that however you do it, the numbers work. By the way, I would have set the payments at $350, if he had asked, because it’s the price and the interest rate that are important to me.
Other Zero Downpayment Methods
While there are sellers (like myself) that are able...