There are other strategies that involve foreclosures and getting home owner to sign deed over to you, but for now I'd suggest learning more about flipping and lease options as entry-level real estate investing strategies.

How do you find properties that would make good real estate investments? Again, an entire article can be devoted to that, but there are basically two ways: you go looking for them, or you get them to come to you. The first way involves reading newspaper classifieds and scanning Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This is where having a great real estate agent is a must - they can get you more details on homes than you can view on mls website, and can often let you know of great deals before they even become available to general public.

Having home owners contact you means setting up an advertising campaign. This can involve placing ads in newspaper, placing bandit signs at strategic locations around town, starting a direct mail campaign, etc. There are many ways to let people know that there's a new real estate investor in town, and it would be in your best interest to try each of them to see which ones work best for you.

Whether you decide to go looking for deals, have them come to you, or both, they key is to be persistant. Real estate investing is a numbers game - most of time you won't be able to make deal work, but every time you do it translates into thousands of dollars for you. The more owners you talk to, more deals you'll be able to do, more money you'll make.

I hope this article gives you a bit of an idea of what world of real estate investing is like. There's a lot to learn out there, and all of it is very interesting. Find area that interests you most, then get out there and start talking to home owners. Don't be discouraged if you're getting turned down a lot - just remember that when it does pay off, it will pay off big!

When new mothers were asked what they would be willing to sacrifice to stay at home and work, some of their answers were:

Selling second car to save on taxes, ins, and loan payments Cable TV Wal-Mart weekly stops Cigarettes; a costly as well as unhealthy expense Dinners out

Some added their willingness to shop for baby clothes at thrift-store (they were surprised at bargains). And almost all have begun coupon shopping; a big savings on food budget.

The latest research states that 8,500 new home businesses are started every day in U.S. So if you have been lifting couch cushions looking for loose change, get in on Internet opportunities but you must be open to all possibilities. When you limit your focus, you limit your choices of income.

Opportunities such as Clickbank or Payaah are two popular avenues that can set you up in a heartbeat with multiple programs under one umbrella. You can hit ground running, and explore other offers at your leisure.

Works for me.

© 2004 Esther Smith

Esther Smith is editor of Partners-For-Profit Newsletter; always a good read, and publisher of http://thepermanentventure.com and member of http://www.l1nk.com/Y3v/payaah.html Subscribers to PFP receive a weekly diet of resources to start up, run and explode your online business. clendon@thepermanentventure.com?subject=subscribe