Wholesaling: too many failure points?

[Ryan Igbanol]

Hi BPers,

First, thanks to all who replied to my first post about possibly walking away from my wholesaling "mentor," who I suspect is holding me back.  

As I continue learning about the wholesaling business while ramping up my marketing and expanding into new geographies, I wonder about the fundamentals of the business model.  In my experience, there are A LOT of failure points that stand in the way of moving from finding leads to closing day a.k.a. getting-paid-day.

When folks say that wholesaling is hard work, I haven't yet seen anyone describe it as so because of all the failure points built into the model.  Specific to my situation, I'm finding that unreliability is the most significant failure point.  I'm seeing unreliability among prospective sellers, folks who say they're serious buyers and folks I send to look at a property to take photos and analyze it, etc., yet don't actually visit the property.  With sellers, I've seen some who proclaim their dire need to sell yet don't return phone calls or  give you phone numbers that are disconnected within days or go to voicemail boxes that are full.  With buyers, I'm experiencing, among other things, folks who give me their contact info, tell me they're interested, yet don't return e-mails. 

Frankly, it seems the only reliable aspect of wholesaling is vendors - list vendors, mail vendors, etc - who gladly take my money for services rendered.

So BPers, I'm hoping something's gotta give, but I'm also not trying to hit $10,000 grand out of pocket on marketing and other expenses, and still not have done a deal.  I'd appreciate your insight into my conundrum.