Newbie Investor from NOVA - Where do I start? :-)

[Allison Olson]

Hey everyone! My name is Allison, 32 years old from Aldie, VA (Northern VA area). I'm a licensed realtor and my husband and I are looking into either getting into the flipping business or the wholesaling business.

I’ve read J. Scott’s book about flipping houses (excellent read!), but I’ve also read several other books about the wholesaling business. In both investment adventures, there are pros and cons, but not really knowing where to start, I was hoping to get some advice or find someone local in the area to meet up with and get more information.

My husband and I currently own 3 rental properties – a row home in Baltimore City, MD a single-family home in Baltimore County, MD and a condo in Ashburn, VA. We are not landlords and property management companies take care of these rentals.

I guess my biggest issue now is making the first move. Although having access to the MLS is great – so many other folks to do, so what few great deals are on there, other people have seen those as well – right?!

If someone in the NOVA/DC area is willing to do a joint venture deal on a flip or wholesaling deal, I would love to partner up OR even if I could tag along to see how a deal is started from point A – and then finished to point Z (FOR FREE) – this would be most useful! Just having an experienced individual to tag along with at this point would be beyond helpful!! :-)

Thanks everyone for your time!!

[Brett Snodgrass]

Hi @Allison Olson , 

Welcome to the BP community! I did both wholesaling and flipping early on, but wholesaling seemed a better fit for me. It's not that way for everyone, but to each his/her own. 

Craigslist, driving for dollars, mls, direct mail campaigns are all strategies that I've used to find deals. They all take work to do, but put in the work and you'll find the deals. 

Do you attend your REIAs? You could probably find someone there willing to join in with you, but if you bring them a deal to split instead of having to find one together the chances go way up. You can look on meetup.com for when/where they meet in your area.