Yes, this is possible and many have done it.  Most using less money than the equivalent to what they outlay each month for their automobile.  Think about it!  You probably spend $50+ a month on car insurance and another $100 on a few tanks of gas and maintenance, meanwhile your car depreciates every month and if you have a car payment you also have that cash outlay (average $15,000 vehicle this is around $600+ a month). 

 

The average American spends over $750 a month on the gas, insurance, auto-depreciation/loan-payments, and maintenance.  That provides about $9,000 a year to invest.  Not much for real estate in metro areas like Los Angeles or New York.  But $9,000 in savings is enough to buy a home in about 40% of the entire USA, of which over 60% are in SPILL ZONE areas. 

 

Below is a link on a college student that was on Television News Broadcast “The Forum” late last year explaining how she did it on a Star Bucks Salary.

http://info.edsforecast.com/lisataylor.htm
 

 

 

I know your next question.  How do I buy a property for $9,000?  And where in the USA is this being done?

 

Probably a good example will be an area where many of my students had invested just recently.  This was in Holiday, Florida.  In Holiday the average home price is around $110,000.  If you are a savvy buyer you can easily find properties in the $80,000 to $90,000 range.  Yes, it takes a little bit of work to find one that does not need a lot of repairs and also has the characteristics to be easily rented.  But you can usually find it with one weekend of searching.  Meanwhile the rents are around $775 to $875 a month.  Using “The Spill Zone” Book double zero rule this falls right in line with positive cash flow, even if you only put 5% down.

 

Meanwhile average appreciation in the area has been around 15%+ a year over the past 3 years.  Of course these past 9 months have been flat.  Just recently this area went just outside a “Spill Zone”.  That means that it is still a good investment but you have to negotiate a little harder with the sellers to get a price to cushion the slower appreciation.  And with high “for sale” inventories this is not too difficult.

 

So long as you have a decent credit report, you can pick up a home in this area for 5% down and become an instant landlord.  Meanwhile if you are careful you will get around 10% on your cash.  Adding back the appreciation and or equity from strong negotiating with the seller you should easily have an extra 10% to 20% equity in the first 12 months.  That makes it ideal for refinancing and taking a little money out (at least the 10% which would be another $9,000).

 

Meanwhile you are still saving that $750 a month for future investing. 

 

Below is an EXCEL spreadsheet used by one of my students for their investment plan.  You may want to create something similar if you are a numbers person.  Otherwise just follow the double zero purchase rule in my book and invest your funds as your savings grows.  But be sure to invest in savings (i.e. your auto payment equivalents at a minimum).  If you can invest even more you will have a faster path to financial freedom.  The plan below is an example of a student that started with $9000 and then took $750 a month to invest back into real estate.  In just 5 years they plan to have over $300,000 in net worth and over $2,000 a month of income.  To bring this to millionaire status, all this student would need is to use some of their existing equity and borrow from a bank to buy even more properties.  This plan is for all the same area and all single family homes.  You will likely have a plan with multiple subdivisions with possibly different prices.

 

It has been such a pleasure to see people succeed in real estate. And all the feedback from those of you who have been reaping success has been great to hear.