Order of Startup Items - Organizing for Success

[Ryan Zwerneman]

Hello BiggerPockets friends!

When starting up, what are the most important things to do for a wholesaler (or any real estate investor in general) to do and in what order before getting into the everyday grind?

For example:

- Create an LLC?

- Find a place to get lists from web scrapers?

- Get deal analyzer software?

- Find a direct mailer?

- Set up a new number?

- Build a website?

- Find a Title company that knows Assignment workings?

- Get a realtor?

- Financing?

- Property Manager (if buy and hold)

- Accountant? Lawyer? Etc?

- Any other things someone would need to think about to set themselves up for success

Looking to be intentional and laser focused to start off right, but don’t want to cut any corners that would come back to bite me hard.

Please let me know your thoughts and order you would or have done things in to make it successful as possible.

Thanks!

[Lily S.]

@Ryan Zwerneman this sounds like an exciting time for you! And there are no wrong ways to start, the reality is that how you organize your priorities really comes down to your personal style, budget, and existing skill set. Some high-level thoughts on how you can think about the laundry list of things, is to set a timeline for yourself between where you are today and your first goal post (be it your first wholesaler property under contract, or your first $1mm profit!) Break that timeline down into key milestones, and then into a practical schedule to commit to your task-lists and keep moving forward. If you haven't already, I would start with flipping through a couple of the basic how-to books published by BP first - you should know who are critical members of a RE team and how they can help you - at the right stage. I.e. it makes no sense to pay legal fees to set up an LLC if you don't need it right away especially for wholesaling. Most wholesalers I've met are only running on business cards, using leads-generating apps, and yard signs by traffic stoplights. Also attend your local RE meetups, find a local mentor and build your peer network - as you go along. Your "business plan" will change one too many times between when you get started and where you end up in RE investing, and that's the beauty of it!