How long did it take you to get your first deal?

[Ashley Burks]

I'm new to wholesaling and It's been three months and no deal. I've tired direct mail and using online marketing methods. I'm not getting any leads. I'm slightly discouraged, but I'm not sure what's 'normal'. How long did it take you to get your first deal? 

[Doug Pretorius]

@Ashley Burks My first deal that came from marketing took about 200 phone calls to FSBOs. I got better with time and now I can usually close 1 deal for every 25-30 calls. My problem is that there are hardly any real FSBOs anymore, most of them are on the MLS as flat fee listings, the ones that look like FSBOs on craigslist and kijiji are actually agents :P

So now I'm turning to something I did only a few times in the past. Door knocking houses that have been on the MLS for over a month. I did my first 15 on Tuesday and have an appointment to buy a house on Monday.

In my experience online marketing for sellers is a waste of time. Direct mail can be good but it's extremely saturated, you need a budget in the tens of thousands per month to really make it work.