Education of a Real Estate Investor, Days 17-26

Wow, I haven't posted in over a week! That doesn't mean I haven't been engaged. I'll pick up where I left off:

• I met with Bob from Silicon Valley REO on Monday. Here in Silicon Valley, it is a seller's market with respect to under $300K starter houses. There is less than one month's inventory of these on MLS; most sales now are overbids. The buyer's market is in the over $600K properties.
• I missed the Bay Area Real Estate Investing Community meeting in Milpitas last Thursday, due to a schedule conflict. It seems mostly a venue for playing Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow 101 board game.
• I am still waiting to hear from Platinum Funding about FHA loans on commercial properties.

I was called by one "lender" last week. I immediately recognized it as a scam. They would loan to me on the condition I made the first six months worth of payments up front. I'm pretty sure this is illegal. I Googled the "company" again this week and, sure enough, the fraud complaints are starting to roll in. The website has been taken down.

I may be on to a legitimate source of joint venture (not loan) funding. They do require that you incorporate, which I have not yet done. I'm a bit skeptical, since I came across it by way of one of the snake-oil peddlers. Stay tuned.