Wholesale properties

[Kevin Samuels]

Hi, my wife and I are new to real estate investing here in Las Vegas but we ready to dive in. We were told that we should try to connect with people who work with wholesale properties but unsure how to find them. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks!

[Dev Horn]

Realize that "wholesaling" is a made-up word for us in the REI biz. In the world of real estate brokerage, there is no wholesale/retail terminology. A wholesaler refers to someone who seeks to find motivated sellers, get their property under contract, and then assign that contract (to a cash buyer like you) for an assignment fee. The more accurate term is "assignment" or guys that do assignments, but wholesaler is an easier term to use. That said, not many people will be calling themselves wholesalers on Google. Instead, you will see them running the typical ads that say "I buy houses" and pay "fast cash with no need to make repairs", etc. Likewise, the advice above about the bandit signs is correct - they are mostly put out by wholesalers (i.e., people that don't actually BUY the houses, I suppose there is irony in that...).

So yeah, look for the ads online or the signs, call them and tell them you're a CASH BUYER looking for DEALS.  

The next challenge is... most of what they send you are not actually "deals". Wholesalers are sometimes newer guys that may not properly calculate the after-repaired value (ARV) of the house or may not do a good job of estimating repairs. Ask them where they got their figures and double-check EVERYTHING yourself. Have a real estate agent run "comps" for the property to see if the deal makes sense on a cost per square foot basis.

You'll soon find a couple of these "wholesalers" that are great at the marketing piece AND they are getting REAL deals under contract that still leave lots of upside for you.  In that scenario, it can be a win-win for everyone involved...