There’s a growing trend in the real estate industry of influencers and so-called gurus promoting strategies to buy property with no money down. While some of these approaches may have merit in certain situations, I recently came across one piece of advice that was not just bad—it bordered on predatory.
The advice? Use a credit card line of credit as a down payment to purchase a multi-million dollar property, with the plan to refinance within a year—during the interest-free period—and pay off the credit card debt.
Sure, in theory, this could work. But it has to work perfectly. You’d need to buy the property at such a deep discount that, within a year, you could do a cash-out refinance to cover all of your debt—including the down payment, renovations, and any other expenses. And if anything goes wrong, you’re stuck with sky-high interest payments once that 0% period ends. That’s not just risky—that’s financial roulette.
It might sound cool in the moment: open a business credit card with a high limit, pay no interest for a year, buy the property, and then refi before payments kick in. But let’s be real—how many people are actually getting high-limit business credit cards with no prior business history? And how often are people finding deals good enough to make this strategy viable?
The point of this post is to raise awareness about flashy, clickbait content and get-rich-quick seminars. Real estate investing works—but the kind that actually works doesn’t rely on short-term wins or wild risk. It’s a long-term strategy built on solid fundamentals.
Those fundamentals are simple:
- Buy in the right location
- Choose the right type of property
- Place the right tenant
- Take care of the asset
If you don’t have 25% down, start by buying a property as your primary residence or a househack. Live there, then move on. It’s the most straightforward way to get into real estate investing. No need to reinvent the wheel.
Owning just 2–3 paid-off properties 30 years from now can be an incredibly powerful wealth-building tool—and it’s often overlooked.
Remember: slow and steady wins the race.