Wholesalers, please stop calling yourselves Investors

[Katlynn Teague]

Good morning BP,

This is a message to all the new wholesalers out there, please stop calling yourselves investors. An investor is someone who actually buys properties, flips them, and or holds them as rentals. If your sole intention when going after a property is to wholesale it, you are not an investor, you are a wholesaler. 

When you are reaching out to agents in your market telling them you are a cash investor, getting a property under contract and not performing it leaves a bad taste in their mouth. These situations ruin relationships. Being a real estate agent you are held to the utmost standards to provide to our clients and not performing on a property is the number one way to ruin a relationship and tarnish a reputation. While this may not mean anything to the wholesaler it means everything to the agent who is involved. 

Real estate is a business all about relationships.

[Joe Villeneuve]

Quote from @Katlynn Teague:

Quote from @Robert T.:

I get calls all of the time from someone who took a seminar last weekend with some wholesale "deal".  When I finally see their numbers, I just have to shake my head.  It's obvious they have never written a check for a rehab.  That leaves me wondering, how many sellers they burning by putting them into contract and not being able to finally sell the house?

 Great question, would love to know the answer to this one as well. I think it has happened more than enough times, there are states now that are banning unlicensed wholesalers! 

How many REA have you come across that get their license, show properties, and their clients never sell/buy anything?  I refer to them as the RE world's "weekend warriors".  How many wholesalers have you come across that fully understand all the ins and outs of REI?  How many REA have no clue what a REI wants (many in my case)?
A REA is usually very knowledgeable about homeowners, and their financing, but few have a clue what a REI wants and needs.  REI math is very different than a homeowners math. A good REA knows all the ins and outs of homeowner's needs and math, and as you say educates themselves all the time to improve their value.
A good Wholesaler is someone that thinks like a REI, and does everything a REI has to do,...except close.  This includes a much more complex, and very different, market and property analysis.  One of the most important members of a REI's team are their REA's.  However, I have found a good wholesaler brings me better deals because they understand how the REI thinks from the start.
I don't care if they call themselves "investors" or not.  It doesn't change what they do, and how valuable they are when what they do is think like the end REI (me) that they wholesale to.
I work with both REA and wholesalers all the time.  I get garbage from both, and great deals from both, but some of the best deals come from my wholesalers, because the good ones think like a REI.