This post could be a book so I’ll try to keep it short, but one thing I hear allllll the time at my monthly real estate investors meetup here in Reno, NV is “I Can’t Find a Deal!” or some variation of that.

I’ve never once heard this and thought “you’re wrong.” Actually... you’re right. Deals ARE hard to find… that’s what makes it a DEAL. But they aren’t IMPOSSIBLE to find, even when you’re brand new.

Further than “yep, it's hard, keep trying champ,” I think it would be valuable to go through a few reasons on WHY you can’t find a deal. As always, this is written through my current point of view - running a direct-to-seller flipping and wholesaling company dealing mostly with single family, manufactured, and condo/townhouse inventory in a higher price point market where cash flowing rentals are REALLY tough to make work - IE I’m used to going off market and finding deals that have enough margin in them to flip.

When I have these conversations with the new guys, even if they are putting in effort (we will get to volume towards the end), it becomes pretty obvious that they don’t know their numbers and often, not even their strategy.

For numbers, I get it, you don't know what you don't know, it comes with experience and looking at A LOT of deals, but you HAVE to pick your strategy when you’re starting out.

You can look at the same “deal” - a distressed single family home - and run the numbers 50 different ways depending on potential strategies. Do I wholesale? What about flipping it? Does this work as a rental? What about airbnb? Would the seller carry the note? What if I bring in a partner? Etc Etc.

This can go from “this could be my first deal!” exciting to trying to fit a square peg in a round hole pretty fast. It is much better to START with “wholesaling is the best fit for my short term limitations, skill set, and goals. I’m looking for wholesale deals.” If it’s not a deal, move on and follow up with the Seller later.

The second thing I see is the lack of confidence or straight up being scared to make offers. Do NOT take this as me telling you to put every deal in contract that you see JUST to see if it works, but if you THINK it’s a deal after underwriting it, make an offer! Finding out if it works for sure is what your due diligence period is FOR.

In the same lane, third is just being too slow in general. Too slow to underwrite and too slow to make your offer. I’m sure this depends on your market, but locally, single family deals are super competitive!

For MLS deals, everyone that's looking has probably seen it within the first day and many have already submitted a written offer. That's what you're competing with. Getting faster with your underwriting will come with looking at more and more deals, but you'll always have to be on top of it.

This may be surprising, but it’s pretty much the SAME with off-market deals too! Almost every single deal we contract has competition. If its PPC, the Seller has submitted to every Buyer they can find online. If it's direct mail, the Seller has called every mailer they’ve received and saved over the years. Sellers are getting cold calls from many investors (and agents) dialing the same lists. It is what it is. You still have to be fast even if the house isn't listed.

Lastly - and probably most importantly - it's a volume game and you’re just not doing enough. This goes for leads and offers made. When you’re new, you have no idea what the volume is going to have to be to do deals. Even now, our metrics change all the time based on market conditions, lead source, skill set of the team, etc. But at the very LEAST, just know it's going to take WAY more than you think.

Just think about it. In the last year, we’ve closed 1 out of every 12 PPC leads. These are some of the highest quality leads we get along with the systems and team to qualify these leads quickly and take appointments with the Sellers.

Every month, I talk to newer investors that have spoken with 3 or 4 home owners, have taken 1 appointment, haven't made any offers, and they can’t figure out why they haven't been successful yet.

If someone with experience closes 1/12 leads that are good quality, what are the chances that you talk to your 3rd Seller that's a FSBO on Zillow, take an appointment, they accept your offer, your numbers are spot on knowing little about rehab, and you can close the deal? What about your 20th seller? 50th?

All in all, “deals” are subjective. Even within the same strategy - IE single family fix and flip - a great deal to someone might be a hard pass to another. There also isn't a secret magic formula to getting deals. We don’t do anything that no one else does. Things in marketing and real estate are always changing and we are always trying to improve the process.

Through more lead volume comes more experience in all aspects of the deal, more confidence, and greater speed. If you’re just starting out, do yourself a favor and recognize that you probably need to put in WAY more volume than you thought, trust that all these things will come in due time, and save yourself the doubt and stress of saying “I Can’t Find a Deal! This Isn’t Working!” after 30 days and 6 phone calls. Hope this helps.

Alex Ficco

Reno, Nevada

2 Votes