The Wholesaling TRAP

[Joel Owens]

I just thought I would post this.

Wholesaling for many seems a way to get started with no funds but this simple isn't true.

I was doing small talk today with another commercial listing broker about a 40 unit apartment building my cIient is looking at. While on the phone he mentioned he was negotiating with a bank on a 50,000 house for one of his other clients. We like to trade war stories and see how different markets are doing. He said the funny thing was he is getting bombarded with 30 calls a week almost from different wholesalers trying to sell him something.

Apparently a GURU type came through town recently and worked up every person from 20 to 40 years old into trying to be a wholesaler. I am sure they all drank the kool aid and bought the course. So this broker gets 5 different wholesalers giving him 5 varying prices on this bank owned property that he is talking to directly and none of the wholesalers control the property or even have it under contract !

We both just laughed for a second but the sad part is that people believe wholesaling is just as easy as regurgitating information on a property they do not own or control and making a fee. Now you know why legitimate investors do not want to be on these crap mail lists bombarded by people who have no clue what they are doing.

Instead of buying courses from a national trainer that is throwing off generic info go to RE investor meetings and connect with wholesalers in your local area who are doing deals and have a track record to learn from. If you do not know how to estimate repairs or control a property etc. then the last thing you want to do is put yourself out there and smear your rep and turn off a huge amount of buyers.

I guess it's just part of the business (get rich quick) mentality that will never go away. People often just see the success but not the hard work and dedication behind it. If you read any books such as Ted Turner, Sam Walton, etc. they are go through tremendous struggle and failure to get where they are at. It's not some easy pipe dream thought that made them successful. I am not a wholesaler but I a would imagine to do it right is an extremely tough job.

To do my passion commercial real estate isn't easy but I love it and it's very fulfilling.

It just always amazes me how people are searching for the lotto ticket that's never there. I did that when I was younger in my teens and early twenties. I kept looking at more and more things with the premise that I would find something nobody else was doing for easy money. The REAL answer is their is no easy money. Do what you love, become the very best at it, and others will see your passion and skill level and want to do business with you. Choose a path and go down it with laser focus.

[Dawn Anastasi]

You see it on Bigger Pockets too. New users join the site, very eager to go down the road to riches. They determine that they are going to become wholesalers and then ... you never hear from them again.