Do I need a RE license to wholesale?

[Todd Rizzardi]

AND do I have to put a typical down payment amount of cash to secure the property? Finally, can anyone recommend a good book on this topic? Thank you kindly.

[Rick H.]

@Todd Rizzardi Probably not. 

However, it's rare that a person new to real estate is successful by beginning with wholesaling.

Wholesaling, as the name suggests, means buying or controlling a product or service acquired at one price and reselling at another for a profit. They have money or some form of consideration beyond sweat in the bargain.

This is arbitrage.

Truth be told, most people who start by wholesaling do not have the capacity to purchase the property they get under contract, so they are not investors. 

The best wholesalers are people who are also experienced  investors, have money and a significant Dealflow and use wholesaling as a way to profit from deals that are not right for their own investment purposes. 

Mike Cantu is the best wholesaler I've ever met and he is in So Cal.

Rather than wholesaling, suggest you do some lead generation (bird dogging aka deal finder) and become a great opportunity detective for others. Yes, you'll get beat up with unrealistic ideas about values, costs and expenses and complexity of problems, but you'll learn your craft and create less havoc in the marketplace. Since you're in LA, they'll try to kill you with your lack of market knowledge or skills.