I saw the ads in our small-town newspaper for years before I realized exactly what was going on. They were always the same: A house for sale with 5% down and payments of 1% of the purchase price. It might be a three bedroom home for $90,000, for example, with $4,500 down and $900 per month payments.

A friend started doing the same thing and explained the process to me. It was a way to get a great return on capital. It was the opposite of buying with no money down. You bought for cash.

A Real Estate Investment Formula

It is simple, really. When you buy for cash, you often get a much better price. A house that needs a little work might be worth $75,000, for example. By offering $65,000 cash, you negotiate your way to a $68,000 purchase price. If not, you walk away - there are always others.

Then you put few thousand into high-return repairs and improvements. Paint, carpet, and maybe asphalt for the dirt driveway. For our example, we'll say you put $5,000 into it.

Now it's worth $85,000 perhaps, but you target those buyers who can't get financing easily, and you finance it yourself. By making it easy for the buyer, you can get $90,000 for the home - and do it without a realtor's commission. Whatever the sales price, you let the buyer put 5% down, and make monthly payments of 1% of the purchase price. Of course, you get higher than market interest too.

The buyer is thrilled that they can buy instead of renting, and you get a capital gain of perhaps $14,000 after expenses, plus good interest. Your total rate of return is somewhere over 25%!

The first to do this consistently in our town were a father and son. They were both lawyers, and saved money by doing their own foreclosures when necessary. After forclosing, they just raised the price and sold it all over again, of course. By the way, if you can get an average return of 18% on your money, you'll turn $75,000 into more than one million dollars in about fifteen years.