General questions from an aspiring wholesaler
New to Real Estate · Metro East St. Louis area · Member since 2022 · 21 posts · 8 votes
General questions from an aspiring wholesaler
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Specialist · NY · Member since 2023 · 55 posts · 26 votes
2yI am a software guy that got into wholesaling, so it is not like I've been in the industry for decades, but definitely in your shoes last year.
1. Definitely start in your area. If you can't close deals face to face, you probably won't be able to close deals over the phone. It also helps you build the intuition on how much you can offer. The 70% rule is more like a heuristic, depending on the property you should go lower or higher on the offer. You don't want to miss out on a deal that could make you $30k just because you need to offer 80% ARV.
2 PropStream, PropRadar are great ways to get started. They essentially give you all properties in an area, and you can skip trace and call the homeowners. The best way to think of it would be virtual door knocking. Slim chances of success, but cheap and easy to get started. After that, I would encourage you to go to your county recorders office / court to request data yourself. This is probably the most up to date information you can get, you can get the data cleaned, formatted and skiptraced for pretty cheap using some new comers like GoliathData. List is only as good as the caller, so make sure you have your script ready to go.
3. Becoming good friends with buyers' agents and local investors. In my experience, they have the fastest turnaround time vs folks out of driving distance from the property. If you are listing it online, aren't you just in a sense just "listing it on market"? Your advantage is your connection to the right investors with cash to purchase the property. Another reason why if you cannot operate locally, you probably won't be able to succeed wholesaling remote.
7 Replies
- Residential Real Estate Investor · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 5k+ votes2y
I'm not a wholesaler although I buy from a decent amount. Here's my best stab at those questions.
1) I would definitely recommend wholesaling where you live, at least to start. All the most successful wholesalers I've seen here in KC (and the ones I've bought from) all at least have a local affiliate.
2) List Source is what I've always used for getting such lists. I've heard Propstream might be worth looking into too.
3) I think when you're starting out, you should go ahead and take the pictures. Just get a quality camera. An inspection report is also a good idea. Most wholesalers either do an open house to their list or send property's out to their best buyers first to keep them happy.
- New to Real Estate · Metro East St. Louis area · Member since 2022 · 21 posts · 8 votes2y
Quote from @Andrew Syrios:
I'm not a wholesaler although I buy from a decent amount. Here's my best stab at those questions.
1) I would definitely recommend wholesaling where you live, at least to start. All the most successful wholesalers I've seen here in KC (and the ones I've bought from) all at least have a local affiliate.
2) List Source is what I've always used for getting such lists. I've heard Propstream might be worth looking into too.
3) I think when you're starting out, you should go ahead and take the pictures. Just get a quality camera. An inspection report is also a good idea. Most wholesalers either do an open house to their list or send property's out to their best buyers first to keep them happy.
Thank you for the info! I appreciate your time.
- Residential Real Estate Investor · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 5k+ votes2ySure thing Bryan, I hope it helps. Good luck!
Quote from @Bryan Fleming:
Quote from @Andrew Syrios:
I'm not a wholesaler although I buy from a decent amount. Here's my best stab at those questions.
1) I would definitely recommend wholesaling where you live, at least to start. All the most successful wholesalers I've seen here in KC (and the ones I've bought from) all at least have a local affiliate.
2) List Source is what I've always used for getting such lists. I've heard Propstream might be worth looking into too.
3) I think when you're starting out, you should go ahead and take the pictures. Just get a quality camera. An inspection report is also a good idea. Most wholesalers either do an open house to their list or send property's out to their best buyers first to keep them happy.
Thank you for the info! I appreciate your time.
- Specialist · NY · Member since 2023 · 55 posts · 26 votes2y
I am a software guy that got into wholesaling, so it is not like I've been in the industry for decades, but definitely in your shoes last year.
1. Definitely start in your area. If you can't close deals face to face, you probably won't be able to close deals over the phone. It also helps you build the intuition on how much you can offer. The 70% rule is more like a heuristic, depending on the property you should go lower or higher on the offer. You don't want to miss out on a deal that could make you $30k just because you need to offer 80% ARV.
2 PropStream, PropRadar are great ways to get started. They essentially give you all properties in an area, and you can skip trace and call the homeowners. The best way to think of it would be virtual door knocking. Slim chances of success, but cheap and easy to get started. After that, I would encourage you to go to your county recorders office / court to request data yourself. This is probably the most up to date information you can get, you can get the data cleaned, formatted and skiptraced for pretty cheap using some new comers like GoliathData. List is only as good as the caller, so make sure you have your script ready to go.
3. Becoming good friends with buyers' agents and local investors. In my experience, they have the fastest turnaround time vs folks out of driving distance from the property. If you are listing it online, aren't you just in a sense just "listing it on market"? Your advantage is your connection to the right investors with cash to purchase the property. Another reason why if you cannot operate locally, you probably won't be able to succeed wholesaling remote. - Specialist · Bothell, WA · Member since 2014 · 268 posts · 80 votes2y
Quote from @Max Yuan:
I am a software guy that got into wholesaling, so it is not like I've been in the industry for decades, but definitely in your shoes last year.
1. Definitely start in your area. If you can't close deals face to face, you probably won't be able to close deals over the phone. It also helps you build the intuition on how much you can offer. The 70% rule is more like a heuristic, depending on the property you should go lower or higher on the offer. You don't want to miss out on a deal that could make you $30k just because you need to offer 80% ARV.
2 PropStream, PropRadar are great ways to get started. They essentially give you all properties in an area, and you can skip trace and call the homeowners. The best way to think of it would be virtual door knocking. Slim chances of success, but cheap and easy to get started. After that, I would encourage you to go to your county recorders office / court to request data yourself. This is probably the most up to date information you can get, you can get the data cleaned, formatted and skiptraced for pretty cheap using some new comers like GoliathData. List is only as good as the caller, so make sure you have your script ready to go.
3. Becoming good friends with buyers' agents and local investors. In my experience, they have the fastest turnaround time vs folks out of driving distance from the property. If you are listing it online, aren't you just in a sense just "listing it on market"? Your advantage is your connection to the right investors with cash to purchase the property. Another reason why if you cannot operate locally, you probably won't be able to succeed wholesaling remote.How good has Goliath Data been for you? I run a Real Estate Call Center so I'm always getting asked to recommend skip tracing tools like Lead Sherpa or Share Group.
- Specialist · NY · Member since 2023 · 55 posts · 26 votes1yFull transparency, I actually run Goliath Data. We start out building just an internal tool for our own wholesaling business, but we opened it up at some point to actually look for partnerships.
Quote from @Gustavo Munoz Castro:
Quote from @Max Yuan:
I am a software guy that got into wholesaling, so it is not like I've been in the industry for decades, but definitely in your shoes last year.
1. Definitely start in your area. If you can't close deals face to face, you probably won't be able to close deals over the phone. It also helps you build the intuition on how much you can offer. The 70% rule is more like a heuristic, depending on the property you should go lower or higher on the offer. You don't want to miss out on a deal that could make you $30k just because you need to offer 80% ARV.
2 PropStream, PropRadar are great ways to get started. They essentially give you all properties in an area, and you can skip trace and call the homeowners. The best way to think of it would be virtual door knocking. Slim chances of success, but cheap and easy to get started. After that, I would encourage you to go to your county recorders office / court to request data yourself. This is probably the most up to date information you can get, you can get the data cleaned, formatted and skiptraced for pretty cheap using some new comers like GoliathData. List is only as good as the caller, so make sure you have your script ready to go.
3. Becoming good friends with buyers' agents and local investors. In my experience, they have the fastest turnaround time vs folks out of driving distance from the property. If you are listing it online, aren't you just in a sense just "listing it on market"? Your advantage is your connection to the right investors with cash to purchase the property. Another reason why if you cannot operate locally, you probably won't be able to succeed wholesaling remote.How good has Goliath Data been for you? I run a Real Estate Call Center so I'm always getting asked to recommend skip tracing tools like Lead Sherpa or Share Group.
The main difference is just we directly ping the credit union for phone numbers, so the data is never stale. Instead of just uploading cleaned CSVs, you are also able to upload PDFs of delinquencies or violations. The point is simply to save time so you can focus on calling.
Our main business is just to set listing appointments for real estate operators for free and take take a percentage of referrals after. The way you figure out who is most active in a market is by just providing the best skip tracing service, and after a while our pitch is: do you want to save all that money on phone numbers and callers and let just just provide the deals you should show up at. - 1yJonathan GreeneBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Madison, NJ · Member since 2016 · 6k+ posts · 7k+ votes
1) Yes. You will make more connections with homeowners when you say you live there and you know the blocks and streets around them. As you grow, you use other homes you've bought from people they know as leverage.
2) This is almost irrelevant and something that will just get you caught in the weeds. Choose ListSource and build yourself or use PropStream or DealMachine. It doesn't matter, just choose one and use it.
3) This is just about finding a good local real estate photographer and inspector. You can find them in local Facebook groups or through recs from other investors.
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