Creative real estate investing is any non-traditional method of buying and selling real estate. But typically, a buyer will secure financing from a lending institution and pay for the full amount of the purchase price with a combination of the borrowed funds and his own funds (or his “down payment”).

One way to buy a home is to pay cash. But the typical family is not in a position to do this, and thus must arrange to finance its home purchase. Most families can afford only a modest down payment and are forced to secure the remainder of the purchase price by mortgage from some lending institution. The larger the down payment, the smaller the total interest payment over the term of the mortgage. Buyers, however, should not use all of their savings for the down payment, thus depriving themselves of any reserve to fall back on if extraordinary expenses arise or income falls in the future.
The way investors do it is Alternative Strategies: The mortgage market meltdown, the housing “crisis”, and the volatility in the stock market have all culminated to make real estate investing one of the smartest, safest, and most lucrative investment strategies available. This opportunity, however, does not come without its challenges. Restrictions on lending guidelines have made real estate investment a challenging endeavor to those who are unable to think beyond the standard methods of acquiring and profiting from real estate investments.

Applied wisely, Most real estate investors sought ways to educate themselves to have the knowledge and information for them to acquire as many great investment properties as they can get their hands on without ever having to use their own cash or credit. Whether you have a long term or short term investment strategy, private lending is the single best way to fund the growth of your real estate portfolio. Private lending works the same way as borrowing money from a bank, but the bank is a private individual or institution with little or no stringent lending criteria who simply receives a Note and Deed of Trust or Mortgage (depending on the state you are investing in) in exchange for funding your deal.

Here are the greatest investing strategies:

• Hard money lenders

• Bird-Dogging

• Land trust

• Lease option

• Options

• Paper / notes / mortgage investing

• Sandwich lease 

• Seller finance or “subject to”

• Short sale or preforeclosure 

• Tax liens

• Flipping

• Wholesaling