Creative financing consists of many techniques. Depending on the seller and the property you choose the technique that will produce the best results.
There are many real estate professionals that specialize in different areas of investing. Many specialize in flipping, others rehab, and still others buy and hold, in other words rent the property so they have a steady monthly income. Which area you choose, make sure you do your due diligence so you don't end up with what real estate investors call an alligator.
There's a phrase that investors use and it is called paralysis of analysis. That is the number one thing that will stop you from pursuing any creative financing deal. You will never know all the techniques by heart but as you start investing you will become clearer as to which technique works a particular way for you. It is always a good idea to stay with that technique until you are familiar with it then move on to another that may approach a deal in a different way.
We talked about birddogging and that it is a great way to enter the market with no investment necessary in order to make 500 to 1000 dollars per deal. Scouting is another name for birddogging and with scouting you can make more money because you supply the investor with more information.
After scouting you may want to move to flipping(wholesaling). Wholesaling a property consists of finding a property and it's seller and making an offer. After the offer is made you then start doing the due-diligence that will tell you if it is a good deal or not. When you wholesale you are getting a contract of the property then selling that contract to an investor. You start to see a higher profit with flipping. Also you have to know how much the deal will cost the investor. You must estimate holding costs, buying and selling costs and the cost of repairs in order to arrive at the price you can pay for the property and still make a profit. You must also make sure that the seller is satisfied with their. If not you should walk away from the deal. It's all about win-win!!
If you want to make even more money you can rehab the property and make tens of thousands of dollars. At this point you are a retailer. Retailers make the necessary repairs that will bring the property value up to the comps of the area. In other words the property will be restored to a livable condition and can be sold to a buyer that will live in the property.
These are some of the techniques that will earn you a good income and give you a sense of accomplishment by allowing you to help rebuild america's neighborhoods. For those of you who are interested in starting a career in real estate feel free to read some of the articles.