Is it really too late in this market to become a wholesaler?

[Robert Rippey]

Hey guys,

This question may have already been addressed, but I wanted to ask it anyway. I'm a beginning wholesaler out of SE Ohio. For the past year and change, I've been trying to close at least one deal. I started out with my business coach introducing me to a guy that claimed he was an RE investor but really was full of it and was more into multi-level marketing (and tried to recruit me). I was his bird dog, and he made a bunch of promises to me that if I followed his instructions to a T, that I would see a check. Well months go by and nothing. The supposed deals that I had worked on for him "fell apart" because of some lame excuse (such as "oh the numbers/comps weren't right"). The person that he had me contact that supposedly had property listings I believe wasn't even doing this full-time and after a while started ignoring my emails when I was just trying to close a deal. Needless to say, I cut ties with him and eventually told my business coach about him (who had something different to say about him AFTER THE FACT).

So I try and close my first wholesale deal on my own here in my local area (I live in a very small town in SE Ohio that still considered part of Appalachia). My pastor wanted me to help him find a buyer for his house. So I got it under contract, started marketing for a buyer, showed the house a few times, found a buyer. But regardless of the buyer wanting the property badly, something happened. They intended on using their tax return as a down payment, then going to a mortgage broker for the rest. But that tax return got garnished due to student loans, so my pastor set up a deal to where they could rent/lease the house until they were able to get a down payment together and mortgage the rest. This is great for them, but has unfortunately left my deal in limbo. And because of where my area's real estate market is in the toilet, deals like this aren't plentiful.

So I figured that I would try to look up probate listings for sellers. I couldn't find anyone in my local area, so I had to look to the nearest big city (Columbus, the state capitol). I had to make a journey there a month and a half ago to get the case files for open probate cases with property attached to them. Then my business coach tells me that I need to mail marketing pieces to the administrators of those estates and do my due diligence (i.e. comps, neighborhood research, etc.).

Here's my problem: I listen a lot to guys like Sean Terry and Phil Pustejovsky who specialize in teaching wholesaling. They make it seem so easy to do this. Even my own business coach is telling me to do all of this stuff (that may be easy for him to do in Southern California, but is harder to do in Ohio; I'm not even sure if his investment firm even does wholesaling. I'm sure they've ventured into other forms of creative RE investing) and just kind of throwing me in the pool without step-by-step guidance.

Now I have a BP member on here that I just talked to a few days ago that has convinced me that I have "missed the boat" when it comes to trying to become a wholesaler (because of big firms that have come and bought up tons of properties and sellers aren't looking to sell anymore right now). He said to me that wholesaling is the hardest thing to do in real estate because 1)you have to constantly find sellers (very hard to do with the aforementioned market conditions); and 2)you have to turn around and try to flip that property to a buyer. He told me that I should look into other opportunities in real estate. That didn't leave me feeling any better about my situation.

To explain my situation: I had to quit my job at a food manufacturing plant (which I hated) due to my stepdad getting sick and my parents needing a caretaker. Now I'm back to trying to find work so I can move to a better market and build up my savings. I'm broke. I don't have the cash or credit to be a traditional RE investor. I've been struggling to even do 1 deal (especially with my business coach constantly telling me that I need to close an all-cash deal to build my confidence; like it's so damn easy). I'm beyond frustrated because I got into this to create freedom and a better life financially and I'm constantly failing. If it is truly "too late" to become a wholesaler in this market, then what the heck's the point? What's the point of listening to all the gurus if it's almost impossible to implement? Please help.

[Patrick Henderson]

@ Robert

I hope this doesn't sound condescending, cold or arrogant, but. Stop! What you have written is tantamount to a solicitation for simpathy or pity. Don't get me wrong I absolutely understand where you're coming from.

Have you ever heard of NPL (neural linguistic programing)? What's happening is you're not asking the right questions.

Instead of asking things like.

Am I to late to the game. Can this be done where I live? Is it harder to do here than there? Ect...

First let me tell you this. Everyone who has been in this business even for a short time, learns that California is another planet for investing in RE than the rest of the country. Regulations and laws are tough not to mention competition. And, If you were getting started in wholesaling there, the chalenges would be far greater than where you are now. Lean to's cost three hundred thousand in Califonia.

I can guarantee you that wholesaling is going on all around you right this second. As is every other type of RE investing.

Try these questions on for size.

How can I find motivated sellers? (those who need to sell not want to sell)

How can I market with little to no funds to do so?

How can I find the right people to learn from?

How can I jump start this business?

How can I learn more about this business?

Have I done all can do today?

How can I do more?

How can I change course but not lose site of my goals?

If you haven't noticed, almost all of these questions started with "how can I".

This changes our perpective on the tasks at hand immensely. These type of questions sets our minds to work almost on it's own to find answers, It gives our mind something to work on, not something to dwell on.

Congratulations on taking action because action is the key to all things. Knowledge is the power to change circumstances to posibilities.

It's curious that most people in this world equate fate and destiny as the almost the same thing. Fate is where circumstances leave you from things you can't control. Destiny is what we manifest in our lives and our world, it's what we create.

I know you want to succeed by the fact that you are reaching out to BP and others, like your Pastor and your taking action.

Don't quit don't give up, change your mindset.

Get up, get started and take action.

I hope thats helps.