I’m also a still a newbie but have been studying creative real estate for about two years.
My suggestion is to try and find a course which will teach you how to buy properties “subject to.” One such course is “The ABC’s of Subject To” by Charlie and Randy France. Check out the “How To Articles” on this site and you’ll learn a little about how to do what JohnBoy talked about.
I bought the course and am learning it still but the idea I want to leave you with is, buy a course on learning how to do creative deals, especially “Subject To” because it works anywhere. Invest in your learning, I recall someone saying somewhere “The cost of ignorance is greater than the cost of education.” It’s better to know, in many cases, than not to know something and you end up in legal trouble.
I was wondering where you find guys like Mr. Downandout. Do people like him usually try to sell the homes themselves in the papers, or would you just have to find them by placing “I buy houses” ads, or… what?
I live in Los Angeles, and I want to know the best way to find a guy like him. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but 2 months ago I knew almost nothing about real estate, and today I know a lot more (yet still a little), but I know I’ll still have lots of “dumb” questions for many months or years.