New to Note Investing? Here Are Your Next Steps

Real estate notes are a proven investment alternative, holding steady even when the general real estate market sees declines.

Beyond that, seller financing offers tremendous opportunities for affordable homeownership to deserving buyers. It turn, it helps sellers looking to sell their hard-to-fund property or those wanting interest income instead of rental income. With all those benefits, it’s no wonder more and more folks want a piece of the pie.

And with most new things, figuring it all out can be intimidating. But don’t let that stop you! We are here to help steer you in the direction that works for you.

New to Note Investing? Let’s Find Your Path!

Learn the Fundamentals

Finding success with notes starts with understanding how it all works. Even if you aren’t creating notes, funding notes, or working in the trenches — knowing about the industry isn’t negotiable.

For those new to investing or wanting to level up their game, joining our Lunch & Learn Video Series is a great place to start! We break down the industry into bite sizes with four episodes: How Big is the Note Industry, How Note Investing Works, How to Make Money with Notes, and How to Find Notes.

Think of it like the note investing highlights! Sign up to join us live starting Tuesday, April 15th (Click Here).

We also have a TON of resources available, with over 300 articles on various topics and roles in the note industry.

Finding Your Role in the Note Industry

There isn’t one specific way to make money with notes. Creators, Brokers, Buyers, and everyone in between have found the role that works best for their goals, assets, and skill sets. Let’s break those down.

Note Creators

These are the people creating notes by selling property using owner financing. Without them — there is no note industry. Most note creators and holders create one note. This could be someone selling their home (often called “mom-and-pop” sellers) or a landlord selling a rental property to convert rental payments to note payments.

But, some create more than one note per year. Like a rehabber or property investor, they find opportunities to purchase and sell properties using seller financing — many with great success.

If this sounds like a role you see yourself in, we will direct you to our Creating Notes Master Class. Get the tools and knowledge you need to create notes that hold their value.

Note Investors

If you don’t want the headache of acquiring properties and creating notes, but want in on the interest income, purchasing notes is your path.

You utilize your own funds or investor funds to purchase existing seller-financed notes at a discount at your desired yield. How do you figure out your yield and what you want to offer? Check out our Calculating Notes Master Class. And for figuring out if the note is a good note and all the paperwork is in order, check out our Due Diligence Master Class.

You can even hold them in a Self-Directed IRA for tax benefits. It’s a solid wealth-building and retirement planning strategy! And with over $131 Billion in notes created over the last five years, there are plenty of notes out there.

Note Finders

Now, let’s say, you don’t want to use your funds or you don’t have a ton of funds to start with. That doesn’t mean you’re out of options in the note industry.

Enter the Note Finder.

Note Finders (sometimes called Note Brokers) are the ones finding notes for investors and collecting a referral fee for their time and effort. It requires marketing hours on your end but not significant monetary investments. And when you successfully work with a note seller and note buyer to close a deal, you get a piece of that pie (typically 3 – 6% of the amount invested).

Which leads to: How do you find notes?! That’s the golden note referral question. And we answer it with some of our proven methods in our Marketing for Notes Master Class.

Setting Up Shop

You have the starting knowledge and chosen path; now you must set up shop.

We highly suggest getting a website dedicated to your side of the business. For buyers and brokers, we offer our Note Buyer Websites to help get started.

If you’re not quite ready to take the website leap, at the very least, you need a company name, phone number, and professional email. It would also be a good idea to start free social media business profiles as well so people can see you’re active.

So, what are you waiting for? Get learning and get active!

Do you have a specific question we didn’t answer? Drop a comment below or reach out.