Newbies Learn from my mistakes here!

[Stephen Barton]

This is not really in order but this is a list of things I did in order to get to about 8 wholesale deals, 1 Flip, 5 listings all in 6 months time! Not a record but it is a great start. Praise God for giving me the opportunity:)

I think if a new person was to get involved with wholesaling they really need to start putting in the work to learn and find deals. I believe the single most important thing I could have done was find a mentor. I honestly would not have been able to be in this business had it not been for my mentor.  

Resources: I had to use Zillow, Rentometer, and Trulia to find my comps when trying to determine if I had a deal or not. I also used the county tax site which it has now changed and you cannot see the same information that it used to show. (look for yourself) BiggerPockets was another valuable resource.

BUILDING YOUR TEAM: This is the single most important part of my business. For me it was finding a mentor, cpa, RE attorney, and an agent willing to work with me to help me find comps. This was crucial to putting everything together in the beginning. I believe you need to get out there and create your business and start writing down your goals. I had to have something to work towards and if I just kept pushing myself and not quit I can see that good things are starting to happen.

Biggest Advice to NEWBIES: Do not try to sell other people's deals without their express knowledge and consent. This has killed at least one deal that I can think of so far. It just gives the person who is trying to "sell" someone else's deal a bad name. It just does not look good.

To Reach the Next Level: For me reaching the next level is a delicate balance of having enough capital to be able to do enough marketing and having the right amount of employees in place to handle that workload. I learned the hard way and tried to do too much too soon and we burned through almost 1500 and really only got 1 deal out of it. We should have had at least 2-3 with that amount spent. Also, getting with technology has been the next step for me to grow as most of the deals I have actually gotten under contract came from the internet. That costs a bunch of money! It is about $100 bucks per lead. Which does not sound like that much but when you figure that the good lead that you get may or may not be an actual deal. I think to really grow you need to have enough people to answer the phones. Just having seller's leave voicemail is not going to cut it. Everyone does yellowletters and and everyone lets the phone go to voicemail. It is all used up and seller's are getting wise to it and frankly it simply just isn't working anymore. Learn your niche! Some of us know certain areas and we know what our buyers are looking for. I think this is the best advice I can give is to market to whatever your buyers are looking for! Simple as that! Just because you can get a deal on the near a bad side of town for 3k does not mean it is a deal that REAL investors want.

When talking with sellers really try to understand what their story is. Try to understand them as people not as just another number. I am starting to find that I get more seller's actually want to sell to me just because I was able to establish some rapport with them. Some of these calls are people going through the worst of times and we need to sympathize with them. Not be cold and just "get down to business". This is a "people" business built on relationships. We need to work hard to build on each other's strong suits and learn to work together. Two heads are better than one! I know I would rather have to split a deal rather than not have a deal at all. Some sellers I have talked to even turn out to be cash buyers and investors themselves and are really looking for businesses to invest in!

[Stephen Barton]

@Marlene Michael and @David Martin , @Jeremy Tillotson thank you all for the kind words. Yeah, the whole thing about building a team was not an overnight thing! It takes time! You get out there start to network, (for me looking around BiggerPockets!) and start getting into conversations and before you know you have a team. I mean I found my real estate attorney who helps us with evictions, quiet title actions, etc through this site. She has been such a vital part of building that winning team that I cannot say enough good things about her. Even if I just need to ask some silly questions she is always willing to take the time to talk to me. I mean it is a win-win with @Jynell Berkshire . I have had some situations that needed legal representation and since I have been able to bring her business she will help me a little if I need it. By no means does it mean we take advantage of someone's time like a real estate attorney or a mentor! We HAVE to be willing to put in the work first. A real mentor, like what @Brandon Turner says on the podcasts, just fills in the gaps when we have done our homework and we simply cannot find the answer. 

We have to realize that nothing in this life comes easy, and there is no one out there who will hold us by the hand. We have to just get out there and do it! Really, that is the biggest "secret" to my journey so far. I am just willing to take chances and get out there and get my hands dirty. Sometimes literally, but we have so much going for us being on this site. This is one of the greatest sources of information and networking for real estate on the planet. If there is anyone who is out there not taking action it is because they are just afraid. Fear can be a good thing because it will help us to be careful when evaluating deals. Fear should not stop us from going out there and trying to find them. I was totally scared my first few phone calls but you get through and push on. We sink or we swim.