I had a very nice transaction that made me very happy. I found an ad in the Boulder, CO newspaper that stated: $500 down NQA on a 2-bed, 2-bath condo in the Boulder Country Club area. I was the first to respond to the ad.
The seller was an airline pilot whose renters were late on their payments and he was having trouble qualifying for a new loan on a property he was trying to purchase in Tennessee. Needless to say he was a very motivated seller, and we ended up negotiating a $63,000 assumption for $200 down, and he paid the attorney costs.
I owned the property for a total of six months and sold it for $85,000. I cleared $22,000 for a $200 investment.
A lot of this was luck and timing, but I am very convinced that these deals are for real, and I am looking for the next one. By the way I did this with less than $20 net worth and no place to live at the time. Since then, life has greatly improved.
I am also very convinced that the best way to achieve financial independence through creative real estate investing takes a great deal of effort and knowledge, but it is possible. With persistence, anything is possible as long as you believe in yourself even when no one else does.