I finally have two properties under contract from Virtual Wholesaling

[Joshua McGinnis]

For those following, I started a virtual wholesaling effort back in Jan (see " what 1200 yellow letters looks like" and " track my campaign".

In the last month, I've been able to get my first two homes under contract. 

Here are a few learnings from the experience:

• Phone negotiating skills improve with practice. In hindsight, I sucked at talking to leads in the beginning! I was nervous and I didn't really understand my pitch. HOWEVER, some hundred calls later, that's now gone. My pitch is easy and maybe it doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me. What's my pitch? Be honest / transparent. It's much easier to sell someone if you truly believe in what you're doing. All the sellers I've spoken to know that I'm not a Realtor, I don't pay retail for homes I buy and I may not be the final investor that ends up own the home. Now, I don't lead with that nor do I voluntarily share more than I have to - but if a question arrises or I feel the need to set expectations, I have no problem sharing a little about how this works.
• Success is in the follow-up. Both of the homes I have under contract were people I called back 2 months after I sent the letter and got an initial call. If you aren't tracking your pipeline and following up, you should be!
• You need people you can trust on the ground. Without the help of connections I've made on the ground in Cleveland, OH - it'd be very difficult to get a deal done. For example, my connections are taking pictures of the properties for me and helping figure out repairs needed, at no cost, because I'm giving them first dibs to see off-market deals before anyone else.

So what's next? In both cases, I overvalued what I was willing to buy the home at after having someone inspect the home for rehab costs. Now I'm in the process of educating the sellers on the additional cost needed to improve the home in order get the price closer to a number that makes more sense.

I believe they will both approve the lower offer as they are incentivized and motivated to sell. Do not waste your time and energy on sellers who are unrealistic on price - just be polite and fastidious with following up.

Overall, I'm pleased with my experiment into virtual wholesaling. It can be done, but it takes work and persistance.