Re: Bad Credit Ok? - Posted by Jim FL
Posted by Jim FL on July 17, 2003 at 01:23:12:
Marquita,
The direct answer to your question, would be YES!
You CAN start investing in real estate with bad credit.
I personally did, as well as many other regular posters here.
However, there are a few things that I’d advise you to do. (By the way, I’m not sure why others prompted you about qualifying for a mortgage, no need to do that.)
Because you have credit issues, first, see what they are?
You indicated below you had done a credit report?
Good.
Work on that, write letters contesting bad entries, and follow the letter of the law.
There are TONS of websites that will guide you on cleaning your report, for FREE.
Don’t pay for a service, good study and research will get it done for less.
As you clean up your credit, figure out what behavior led to the problem, and correct it.
Even if you make money investing, you need to learn to handle it.
Trust me, even when you make a ton, it is still easy to lose or mis-manage.
Investing is a business, and learning to manage the money from it, will be easier with your personal finances in order.
Learn to budget, time and money.
As you clean your credit, and keep your budget in line, study investing.
Get as much FREE stuff as you can.
Because this post is long enough, I’ll refer you to another.
Goto the main newsgroup here, and search the archives for “Getting started”.
There are some GREAT posts by Johnboy and Ron Starr that will help you.
Read EVERYTHING on this website, and as many others as you can find.
This will take you months, if you read it all.
From there, you will hopefully see a method or technique that interests you.
When you do find something, whether it be lease options, wholesale, retial, subject to, what ever, get a course on the topic.
Study that, reading it until you know it cold.
Ask questions along the way, the main board here, as well as other websites for input and advice from others.
Once you fully understand your chosen method for entry into REI, come back here and ask about marketing.
Then buy some houses.
Along the way, take care of your credit.
The BEST way to fix credit, is to clean up the bad stuff you have now, however you need to.
Don’t forget, older judgements and charge offs might very well take less than the full amount to release.
It never hurts to ask, so try.
And during/after that, make sure there are no more negative entries made, by budgeting your financial life well.
Good luck, as I said, Good credit is not needed to buy houses, but having it is never a bad thing.
Work on that, as well as learning to invest.
I always say, if you can learn to make money with none, you will never worry about finances again.
Take care,
Jim FL