Never in the history of America has home ownership been so far out of reach for most Americans. The American Dream has become a nightmare. And it is not just because of inflation - several factors are at work: employment by Americans is at a low as most jobs created since 2021 have gone to migrants and those millions of migrants are causing a housing shortage. And then there is high mortgage rates and increased regulations. Affordable homes have become a needle in a haystack.
All in all, it's enough to make a hard working person fall into despair. If only there was a way to make a home more affordable. Oh! Wait...there are actually several ways to make homes more affordable, and as a real estate investor who has spent over half a century devising and using such methods I present a few here, to show you the possibilities and perhaps awaken your imagination. My clients have used these and other strategies I teach for over 35 years. These methods are not taught by "gurus" like Than Merrrill (FortuneBuilders) or Armando Montelongo
While this is just a blog I cannot go into the details in each method, but these and several more are covered in full detail in my real estate investing course, "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate."
Get the down payment from the property. Many properties have valuable assets such as timber. Contact a local logging company to see if they would be interested buying/harvesting the timber. If they do, it is a simple matter to put the option for them to harvest into escrow, and they put the funds into escrow. When closing on the property, the logger gets the timber contract and you get the funds to use as the down payment. Or perhaps there is an old barn on the property - you can make a similar arrangement for the barn - old barn boards and timbers command a high price.
Equity share the property. I provide details on this powerful strategy in this blog post: https://success-by-design.blogspot.com/2021/08/can-you-buy-real-estate-without-cash-or.html
Barter or trade for the down payment. If you are a builder, offer your services to the seller to build a quality deck on his new home or do other work to increase the value of the new residence (or his rental properties). Or trade that second car you don't need, or the boat that is a drain on your wallet. And don't think you are restricted to bartering your services, either. If the seller doesn't want a deck but he needs braces for his daughter, perhaps a local dentist needs a deck that he will trade for dental work. You build the dentist's deck, and give the dental services you earn to the seller in exchange for that amount of the down payment.
Agree to pay off the seller's debts. I once encountered a seller who was selling a rental unit in order to pay off his extensive credit card debt of nearly $33K. I agreed to take responsibility for those debts and pay them off. I then contacted the creditors and arranged to pay each off at a huge discount by paying them in lump sum cash. Most creditors will agree. I paid off the $33K for just over $12,400. So, for $12,400 I got $33K knocked off the purchase price, saving me over $20K
Sweat Equity. If you have some some useful building skills, locate a property that needs a fair amount of work (avoid structural issues) and arrange with the seller that you will supply "X" dollars in labor to fix up the place in exchange for the same amount applied to the down payment. He cannot lose - if you default he ends up with a more valuable property, and if all goes well, he has a built-in buyer.
Buy the house but lease the land. This is done in Hawai'i all the time, because the limited amount of land is so valuable. But it can be done anywhere.It can often reduce the amount of mortgage required by as much as 50% or more
These are just a sampling of methods I have taught for many years, and some of my other methods are even better - some are simpler.
If homeownership is your dream, "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate" can help make it a reality. Check it out - what do you have to lose by looking? More to the point, what do you stand to lose by NOT looking? But it would be wise not to tarry - the open border is increasing housing demand and reducing supply and time is running out...
[Bill Vaughn has been investing in real estate since1969 and has taught over 135,000 people how to do so. He has written numerous real estate books and articles and self-help manuals like his free "Success - By Design", which has been downloaded by over 4 million people]
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