17 Ways to Get Money to Invest in Real Estate Using Your Own Assets and Credit

Every single week, someone tells me they can’t invest in real estate because they don’t have the money.

I get it. I felt that exact same way back in 2006. I didn’t have a pile of cash sitting around. What I had was a willingness to get creative, and it turns out that’s all you actually need.

Here’s something most people miss. You already have access to more capital than you realize. It’s sitting in your home, your retirement account, your credit profile, and programs you’ve probably never even heard of. In this post, I’m walking you through 17 different ways to turn what you already have into your next real estate deal.

Before we dive in, one quick note. Whatever method you use to pull capital together, always run the numbers through Income Builder before you commit to a deal. It takes less than a minute to know whether a property actually cash flows, and there’s no point getting creative with financing on a deal that doesn’t work in the first place.

1. HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit)

If you own a home with equity built up, a HELOC turns that dead equity into usable capital without selling anything.

The beautiful part is you only pay interest on what you actually draw. It can sit there completely unused as a standby tool until the exact right deal shows up, then you tap it and move fast.

This is exactly how one of my students, a pastor up in Sacramento, got started. He pulled $250,000 from a HELOC on his primary residence, bought a rental property with it, and never had to touch a bank for approval.

Once that property was fixed up and rented, he refinanced it with a DSCR loan and paid the HELOC back down to zero, freeing it up to use again on his next deal. If that kind of exit strategy interests you, Conventus is exactly who I’d point you toward for a DSCR refinance quote.

2. Home Equity Refinance

A cash-out refinance on your primary residence converts locked-up equity into a lump sum you can use for your next down payment.

Unlike a HELOC, the rate on a refinance is fixed, so your payment never moves regardless of what happens in the broader market. This gives you predictability that a variable-rate HELOC doesn’t offer.

If your home has appreciated significantly since you bought it, this can be one of the largest single pools of capital available to you.

Before you decide how much to pull out, run the property you’re targeting through Income Builder so you know exactly how much capital the deal actually requires. Pulling out more than you need just means paying interest on money that’s sitting idle.

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3. Business Line of Credit

A revolving credit line tied to your LLC keeps your investing financing completely separate from your personal credit profile.

Draw only what you need for rehab costs or closing costs, pay it back down, and then reuse that same line on your next deal. It functions like a reusable tool that grows in value the more you use it responsibly.

If you haven’t set up your LLC yet, that’s step one before any of this becomes available to you. My free course walks through exactly how to set your business up the right way from the very beginning.

4. Signature Loans

A signature loan is an unsecured personal loan based purely on your creditworthiness, with no collateral required at all.

This tool is best used for smaller gaps, like covering a down payment shortfall on a deal that’s otherwise fully funded through another source. It’s not meant to fund an entire deal by itself.

Because there’s no collateral involved, approval speed tends to be fast, which makes it useful when timing matters.

5. Credit Card Cash Advances

I’ll be honest with you, I’ve personally used a credit card to buy a property before. It’s emergency-tier financing, but it worked.

This only makes sense if you’ve already mapped out exactly how and when you’ll pay it back, ideally before it accrues meaningful interest. Going in without that plan is how this tool turns into a real problem instead of a real solution.

Treat this as a last resort tool in your belt, not a first choice, and always confirm the deal actually cash flows through Income Builder before you swipe anything.

6. Self-Directed IRA / Solo 401k

Retirement funds you already have sitting in the stock market can legally be used to buy real estate instead.

The income and growth from the property stay inside the tax-advantaged account, which means you’re compounding wealth without a current tax hit. This is one of the most overlooked pools of capital most investors already own.

If you’ve changed jobs a few times over the years, there’s a real chance you have an old 401k sitting somewhere collecting dust that could be doing this work for you right now.

There are specific rules around what a self-directed account can and can’t do, so this is exactly the kind of question worth bringing to a custom roadmap call before you move any money.

7. 401k Loan

Most employer-sponsored 401k plans let you borrow against your own balance, typically up to $50,000, and you pay yourself back with interest over time.

This tends to be faster and cheaper than most outside financing, because there’s no underwriting process. You’re simply borrowing from your own account and repaying yourself.

Just be aware that if you leave your job before the loan is repaid, the remaining balance can come due quickly, so plan accordingly before you use this one.

8. Life Insurance Policy Loan

If you hold a whole or universal life insurance policy with cash value built up, you can borrow against it without a credit check or a lengthy approval process.

What makes this tool unusual is that the loan doesn’t have to be repaid on any fixed schedule. That gives you flexibility that almost nothing else on this list offers.

Many investors forget this option even exists, simply because they haven’t looked closely at what their policy actually allows.

9. Reverse Mortgage (HECM)

If you’re 62 or older and own your primary residence outright, or close to it, a reverse mortgage lets you convert that equity into cash without a monthly payment.

This is a particularly powerful tool for investors starting later in life. If you’re in your 50s or 60s and sitting on a fully paid-off home, this can be one more meaningful source of investing capital without disrupting your current lifestyle.

It’s worth having a real conversation with a specialist about the specifics, since the terms and long-term implications differ from a standard mortgage.

10. Home Equity Sharing Agreement

A home equity sharing company gives you cash today in exchange for a percentage of your home’s future appreciation, with no monthly payments and no interest charged.

This trades away some of your future upside in exchange for capital right now. It’s a reasonable option when you want equity out of your home without adding another monthly debt payment to your budget.

Read the terms carefully, since every company structures the appreciation-sharing percentage differently.

11. Delayed Financing

If you bought a property in cash, delayed financing lets you refinance shortly after closing and recover your capital, essentially as if you’d financed the deal from day one.

This is ideal when you want the negotiating power that comes with a cash offer, sellers love cash, without permanently tying up your own capital in the deal. You get the best of both worlds.

Once you’ve pulled that capital back out, it’s ready to redeploy into your next property.

This works especially well when the refinance is a DSCR loan, since it qualifies off the property’s rental income rather than your personal income. Get an instant quote from Conventus to see what that refinance would actually look like on a property you’ve already paid cash for.

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12. FHA/VA Owner-Occupied Loans

Government-backed loans let you buy a 2 to 4 unit property with as little as 3.5% down through FHA, or 0% down through a VA loan if you qualify.

The requirement is that you live in one of the units, but that pairs perfectly with a strategy I recommend to almost every investor starting in their 20s: house hacking. You get owner-occupant rates and terms on what functions as an investment property.

Your tenants in the other units cover your mortgage while you build equity and cash flow at the same time.

Before you commit to a specific property, plug the numbers into Income Builder with your actual rent estimates for the other units. You want to know your real cash flow after your own unit is factored out, not just an optimistic guess.

13. FHA 203k Rehab Loan

This loan rolls the purchase price and renovation costs into a single loan, so you’re not scrambling to find separate rehab capital after closing.

It lets you buy distressed properties that wouldn’t qualify for a normal loan in their current condition, and fund the entire fix within one closing. That opens up a much wider pool of properties to consider.

This is a great fit if you’re comfortable managing a renovation but don’t have a separate pile of cash set aside to fund one.

14. USDA Rural Development Loan

This is a zero down payment loan for properties in USDA-eligible rural and suburban areas, and more places qualify than most people expect.

Because it’s backed by the government, rates tend to run low, and it works even for buyers who can’t put together a traditional down payment. Check the USDA eligibility map for your target market before assuming it doesn’t apply to you.

Many suburban areas just outside major cities still qualify, which surprises a lot of first-time investors.

15. Piggyback Loan (80/10/10)

A piggyback loan stacks two loans together, an 80% first mortgage and a 10% second mortgage, so you only need 10% down instead of the usual 20%.

This structure also avoids private mortgage insurance, while still keeping your out-of-pocket down payment relatively small. It’s a smart middle ground between a tiny down payment and a full 20% down.

If you’re short on cash but don’t want the extra monthly cost of PMI, this is worth asking your lender about directly.

Understanding how loan structures like this affect your long-term cash flow is exactly the kind of foundational knowledge I cover in my free course, so you’re negotiating from an informed position instead of just taking whatever your loan officer offers first.

16. Down Payment Assistance Programs

State and local housing agencies frequently offer grants or low-interest second loans specifically designed to help cover a down payment.

Most of these programs go completely unused every single year, simply because buyers never think to ask their lender whether their county or state offers one. It costs nothing to ask.

A quick search for your state’s housing finance agency is usually enough to find out what’s available where you’re investing.

If you’re stacking one of these programs with a house-hack purchase, it’s also worth having a conversation with NCH about how to title the property correctly from day one, since fixing that later is far more expensive than doing it right up front.

17. First-Time Homebuyer Grants

Unlike every other tool on this list, a grant is free money, not a loan. It’s offered by cities, states, and sometimes even employers to help new buyers get into their first property.

Since it never has to be repaid, this is the cheapest capital available on this entire list when you actually qualify for it. It’s worth checking even if you assume you won’t be eligible.

Combine a grant with an FHA or VA loan and you may be able to get into your first house-hack property with very little of your own money at all.

Bringing It All Together

Here’s what I want you to take away from all 17 of these. You almost certainly have more access to capital right now than you think you do.

The equity in your home, the retirement account from a job you left years ago, the life insurance policy you’ve had since your 20s, these are all sitting there right now, waiting to be put to work. Most people never even think to check.

Whichever method you choose, always start by confirming the deal actually cash flows using Income Builder, and get your free account before you go looking for a property to fund. If you haven’t set up the fundamentals of your investing business yet, go through my free course first, because a great financing tool can’t save a deal that wasn’t built on a solid foundation.

Once you’re pulling equity out of one property to fund another, or once your portfolio starts generating real monthly cash flow, it’s worth putting real protection in place. Book a free call with NCH and they’ll walk you through exactly what your growing portfolio needs. If your plan involves refinancing out of one of these tools and into a long-term rental loan down the road, Conventus is worth having in your back pocket for that exact moment.

And if all 17 of these feel like a lot to sort through on your own, that’s exactly what I’m here for. Book a custom roadmap call and we’ll figure out together which of these tools actually fits your specific situation right now, not a generic answer, your answer.

I didn’t have this list handed to me back in 2006. I had to figure most of it out through trial and error, one deal at a time. You don’t have to do that. Everything above is sitting right in front of you, waiting for you to use it.

Pumped to see you succeed!

Dustin Heiner Master Passive Income

Real Estate Investing Simplified

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