Beginner in Wholesaling wanting to learn the right way to get houses

[Spencer Greogory]

I am new to wholesaling and was looking for any advice with contacting and finding buyers. Any website suggestions? Does the house always need to be distressed? How do you go about contacting sellers after skip tracing them, do you always cold call, direct mail, or email? Does the Do Not Call list and the act against cold calling or SMS messaging concern you when trying to contact buyers?

Right now I use propstream but haven't seen any houses worth reaching out for I used filters: 35%-100% equity, owner individual, and I'll turn active bankruptcy on/off depending on the results. 

I also know I should be looking for distressed properties or at least properties that could use work with enough margin to get it below market where the seller and buyer isn't screwed but I also make money. 

I lived in central Missouri and I was using Columbia as my first area but all the houses I found under my filters on propstream where 250k up to 380k with maybe 1-2 houses below that range and I can't tell if its worth it to try because finding a buyer for a house that expensive. 

[Jerryll Noorden]

Quote from @Mike Kehoe:

I’d suggest you start with drive for dollars. This is still our best list after four years of wholesaling full time (we’ll do 120+ deals this year). We add 20,000 new records per quarter doing drive for dollars. You can start with much less. Send direct mail and cold call.

Good luck!

Hey Mike, 

Allow me to say this if you don't mind.
I wouldn't advise others to drive for dollars to be honest. Let me tell you why.

Driving 20,000 properties per quarter for 120 deals a year.

Put this into perspective.

Assuming those numbers are real.

Let me break this down for you.

4 X 20,000 = 80,000 properties/year to get 120 deals

this means you have to drive AND FIND 666 properties to get one deal.

That is a 0.15% success rate.

Now let's put this into perspective:

From the internet:

Now if you get one RESPONSE from every 100 properties you drive to find, you have a 1% success rate and is considered a VERY SUCCESFUL driving-for-dollars campaign.

Now what does this mean.

This means that it is considered REALLY good, above average, to get one response from every 100 properties you find.

But "response " is NOT a signed contract. How many responses do you need to get ONE contract signed? 20?, 50?

Let's take 20. That means you need to drive all over and find 2,000 (100 X 20) qualified houses to get one contract signed. And this is IF you are running a "VERY SUCCESSFUL" driving-for-dollar campaign.

So this gives you a 0.05% success rate if the data on the internet is correct  (and this is for a "VERY SUCCESSFUL" D4$ campaign).

The point I am trying to make is to be careful!

Words like "our best" are very misleading.

You are showing off numbers that are 3X better than the average "VERRY SUCCESFUL" D4$ campaign, and I am not saying you are not getting these numbers. I have no clue what you are doing so I can't comment on it.

But what I AM commenting on is you say "our best" method and therefore you are advising people to do the same.

THAT is wrong.

Your best compared to what? Strategies that have LESS than a 0.15% success rate? That is still quite horrible.

Our success rate is between 33% and 60% doing a completely different approach.

So I would NEVER advise anyone to do anything with a list or drive for dollars right?

"Your" best method doesn't imply it is a good method. 

Now the reason I am writing this is NOT to go against you. At all. I am writing this because that is the reason so may fail and give up.

They hear people make these claims, "I am doing 120 deals / year driving for dollars, and people just don't friggin THINK!!

So here they go, "I am going to do driving for dollars because this guy on Bigger pockets is succesful at it".

But no one told them that it will take them 2000 properties to drive and find.

How many hours per week is this? Most people don't have a team. 

They will drive 3 properties a day because they have a baby, work, a wife, a life, and then they are surprised why and how you are getting 120 deals/year driving for dollars while they can't get a single deal.

I know your intentions are honorable in trying to help people, but this actually does damage in my opinion.

Either way this is my humble opinion.

And congrats on your 120 deals this year.