Most people think there is only one way for the average person to finance a real estate purchase—that is, go to an institutional lender, like a bank, mortgage company, or savings and loan, and obtain a mortgage. If that were the only way to buy real estate, it would be very difficult to make money as a real estate investor. Fortunately, it’s not the only way!

To be successful as an investor, you must think creatively and consider the wide range of possibilities that are open to you, such as borrowing money for a down payment from the real estate broker or agent who is helping to arrange your purchase (yes, you really can do that), or using the equity in property you already own as collateral against a loan that you’ll use to make a down payment.

The fact is that there are far more creative techniques than there are conventional techniques for financing a real estate purchase. However, to make use of them you have to know what information to look for and what to do with the information when you find it. In short, you have to know how to develop your own technique.