Matt Recore first started working in the tech industry but realized it wasn’t his calling. He then began inviting in the pre-foreclosure world, focusing on houses that were on the way to auction. Matt would negotiate deals with sellers just before they would bring their houses to foreclosure auctions. “It’s not a great way to get into buying houses because of how stressful and emotional it is for the seller,” Matt says, “but you have to really put a lot of trust and look out for people in those situations. It was challenging, but that’s how I learned.” The market began really heating up in California in the early 2000’s. This made Matt nervous. He sold all of his rentals and stopped flipping to try and avoid the crash that he felt was coming up. Matt got back into tech and had gotten out of the real estate industry just before the deep decline in California. “The peak season for us was in 2005,” Matt says, “But I got back into real estate in 2012.” Once Matt got back into full time investing when the market began to get back to a safe place, Matt started building a strategy that was safer for the future. He wrote a book titled “How to Purchase Real Estate at 0% Interest” (the link is in the link section below). This book was written before the housing market crash with a strategy that’s been working for him. Let’s talk about what the strategy is! There are benefits on both ends. Buying at 0% interest means that every bit being paid is going toward the principal which means you’re building your net worth a lot faster than a normal 30-year mortgage loan. A 15-year loan is much better because you begin to see the principal paid out sooner. Basically, your net worth is going to be much better when you buy this way. The benefits to the seller are avoiding capital gains taxes. In California, the capital gains tax includes a state tax. When you sell with an installment sale, you can completely avoid paying those taxes. “It’s amazing how many sellers don’t want to pay the IRS,” Matt remarks, “The 1031 strategy is great, but you have to find another property that way. With an installment sale you can skip all of that.” There are a lot more details about the strategy that Matt’s been working on in his book. The link is in the link section below. Check it out so that you can start buying houses with a 0% interest rate too!