Should the purchase agreement be verified before a joint venture?

[Terry Odom]

Good Afternoon BP Friends,

I finally made the jump and started my real estate investing journey two weeks ago. While reaching out to Wholesale Investors on Craig's List I connected with an Investor that had a deal under contract. I inquired about teaming up to joint venture (JV) as I have several buyers and the investor had the contract on a property. I've been advised by my mentor that when pursuing joint ventures on wholesale deals to confirm there is a contract between the seller and the wholesaler. This helps make sure the investor isn't wholesaling someone else's deal without their consent and avoids placing me in a situation where I place a property in front of my buyer and look like a fool when we try to move forward on the deal. In doing so, the wholesaler initially agreed. A few phone calls later when I bring it up the wholesaler started to get defensive and said this was an odd request and made all kinds of excuses to avoid presenting a signed agreement!

I'm curious to know if anyone here has done a JV deal where you ask to have the purchase agreement verified? Am I wrong for doing so? If so, is there a better way to establish a JV partnership in this case? Thanks in advance!