90,000 Wholesalers in 2022 and now there ar 20,000 Wholesalers - Wha' Happened?

[Account Closed]

Is it any harder now to find a deal or is it the same as always, just a different group that learned that real estate actually does require work?

A fairly reliable wholesaler who buys across the country, and spends $100,000 a month on advertising, also trains people to be wholesalers.

He says his source at a leading information provider, tells him that their research reports a serious drop in the number of "wholesalers" out there from 90,000 in mid 2022 to about 20,000 now, in fall of 2024.

That’s a turnover of about 70,000 "wholesalers". He reports that a lot of people that he has trained, have left the industry altogether. Some actually did a deal or two, but most did nothing. This seems to be true whether it's CA, TX, AZ or OH - IN or GA.

Apparently wholesaling isn't as easy as everybody thinks and are willing to pay big bucks to "learn".

Obviously the decline has hit the information provider's customer base that they sell information to, and hurt their bottom line. So, they would want to know if there was a substantial decline like that.

I haven’t seen a change. But, I never run into wholesalers anyway. 

[Scott Trench]

Two conflicting truths: 

- Wholesaling is definitely a real part of the real estate investing industry and makes up at least 3-5% of transaction volume by members of this forum when polled, especially flippers. 

- I believe (and will bet anyone who cares to oppose me) there are less than 1,000 people in this country who can claim $100K or more in assignment feels or similar wholesaling income for at least 3 years in a row. Yes - I believe that odds are better at making an NFL roster than sustained modest six-figure success in wholesaling.

Most of this industry is filled with broke no income no job, no assets types who paid a large educational fee to one of the ~5-20 major gurus in the space and will never make meaningful income. Worse, they pollute otherwise reasonable deals by re-listing other, more legit, wholesale deals as their own in a daisy chain-like process. 

But, there are a few home runs out there. And a few who do real, sustainable business.

For an industry that loves to hate on agents, it's remarkable how most of them earn less, and do nothing compared to their peerset who simply get licensed.