new member in NoVA looking to become better investor!

[Silas Lee]

hey guys, i've been reading on these forums for over a year but never really posted. I figure its time to come out of the shadow. In parallel I've been learning about the general REI strategies out there.

I have two rentals that i bought a few years ago but knowing what I know now, i prob wouldn't have bought them due to using traditional buying methods.   They cash flow so I'm just going to leave them be as of now.

I was dead set on marketing for deals for wholesale flips by reassigning.  I have purchased and read various training programs (sean terry being one of them) and realized they are all spouting the same strategies with their own flare so i figure I'm ready to go..   Recently I have had some what of a paradigm shift after talking to a local investor. They jive with some things i've thought about also.

I couldn't help but notice majority of the people looking into wholesaling come from a lower income pool of population, and all have aspirations to "work up to" rehabs.   I understand we all have different backgrounds and situations, but i had an investor suggest I should just focus on buying wholesale deals and doing rehabs because  A. i have a bit of capital that can be combined with a hard lender,  and B. I have a day job that pays some what more than most people and wont have time chatting with hundreds of sellers.  

Without actually have done it, its hard to assess whether I can handle call volume while focusing on my day job.   Does Sean Terry downplay the work load when he says something like "just do it when you're off work and on weekends"?  

Perhaps touchy subject?  I hope we can look past that, and we can share experiences that put us all in the right direction. 

[Lenzy Ruffin]

"I couldn't help but notice majority of the people looking into wholesaling come from a lower income pool of population..."

Not a good way to introduce yourself to BP, @Silas Lee. Not only is that an unflattering generalization that you couldn't possibly support with any facts (how many wholesalers' income do you personally have knowledge of?), but it's just not true. Lots of people earn plenty of money and spend plenty of money and therefore have little to invest. Others from the "lower income pool" spend wisely and have lots of money to invest. Either can choose to wholesale. Then there are the established, master wholesalers who do business in such volume that they have no desire to take on the responsibility of managing rehabs. Wholesaling is something that many people do because they choose to do it, not because they can't afford to do anything else. 

Wholesaling is a great way to learn the business. Everything in real estate begins with a deal. Wholesalers (the good ones) spend all day, every day finding and/or creating those deals. To be a successful wholesaler, you must be able to analyze deals, negotiate, be a great marketer, be a problem solver, be a great communicator (listener), and so much more. You have to be good at a lot of different things to be a good wholesaler. Plenty of people take on the challenge of wholesaling so that they can learn those skills and carry them forward to other investing methods and still continue to wholesale. Wanting to learn the business from the ground up has nothing to do with someone's income level. There are a lot of really high earners on Bigger Pockets, as well as in DC, MD, and Northern VA, so don't beat your chest too hard about your day job that "pays somewhat more than most people." You're sending the wrong tone. I'm telling you this because I'd like to see you have success on BP and that kind of condescension, particularly given that it's misguided, will turn off people whose advice you seek.

Wholesaling is hard, Silas. The only people who tell you it isn't are the ones selling courses/mentoring. There are plenty of links on BP that give the truth about the challenge that wholesaling is. If you choose to be a wholesaler, dealing with hundreds of sellers is not something you're going to have to worry about. Assuming you target a specific market (one, two, three zip codes or neighborhoods, for example), and define some buying criteria (property type, condition, square footage, etc), there will not be enough people for you to market to to generate a crazy call volume. You could market to two dozen zip codes to generate a large call volume, but that means you are not an expert in those zip codes, which is what you have to be as a wholesaler or as a rehabber. Or you could hang bandit signs all over the place. Those generate a high volume of calls, but they're not legal in many places AND the majority of those calls are a waste of time. 

Regardless of what marketing methods you choose, as a new wholesaler, you'll be dealing with too few calls, not too many. And you could always use a call service to take the calls and only send you the hot leads, meaning a motivated seller with equity. So call volume won't be an issue, one way or the other. 

Wholesaling is something that you really have to want to do because it. is. a. grind. And it does cost money. It's not a good way for most people to start in real estate because you can end up giving up on real estate because wholesaling didn't work out for you. And it's definitely not an after work and on weekends deal. No seller who calls you is calling only you. They're getting marketed to by a dozen other investors and if they call you and have to leave a message and they call me and I answer the phone, who gets that deal?

I'd say if you don't actually "want" to be a wholesaler, don't do it. Learn how to evaluate deals like a wholesaler (70% rule, etc) so you know what a true deal looks like and then build your team / process for rehabbing. You would then only be taking calls from your agent and any wholesalers you work with. Still gotta manage those rehabs, though. They will require your time and attention.