Investor · Palisades Park, NJ · Member since 2015 · 165 posts · 29 votes
Hi guys,
I'd love to get your input and "advice." I'll try to make this as concise as possible.
I'm currently a new wholesaler in Northern/Central Jersey. I just started and i'm diving in full force. I also work a full-time commission based job in Financial Services which allows me to set my schedule. My goal is to ultimately go FT in REI.
In your opinion, should I:
A) Focus fully on Wholesaling now (30-40+hours) and work my commission job a little less (making enough to pay bills).
OR
B) Continue to work 40-60 hours on my commission job and wholesale when I have time.
My end goal either way is to make a sizable income/profit to eventually buy/hold multi-family.
Real Estate Solutions Provider · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2014 · 571 posts · 452 votes
10y
@Cedric Stout I have to say stick with the job and wholesale part time. Believe it or not, wholesale deals are hard to come by, especially for individuals just starting out. Marketing for wholesale deals takes $$$$$$ and your job can fund that. Additionally, you look better to banks with your W-2 income when it comes time to fund those buy/hold deals.
Real Estate Solutions Provider · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2014 · 571 posts · 452 votes
10y
@Cedric Stout I have to say stick with the job and wholesale part time. Believe it or not, wholesale deals are hard to come by, especially for individuals just starting out. Marketing for wholesale deals takes $$$$$$ and your job can fund that. Additionally, you look better to banks with your W-2 income when it comes time to fund those buy/hold deals.
Investor · Palisades Park, NJ · Member since 2015 · 165 posts · 29 votes
10y
Thanks @Eric H. You bring up a good point, especially about the future in terms of getting funding from the bank. If I did focus more on wholesaling, I would probably still keep my commission job since I can work on a flexible schedule.
Investor · Middletown, DE · Member since 2015 · 35 posts · 18 votes
10y
@Cedric Stout
If I were you.... I would keep your current job, and work on Real Estate Investing part time. Personally, I would shy away from wholesaling, because like @Eric Harris said, those deals are extremely hard to come by, and marketing takes some time to become effective. I worked very closely with a wholesaler this entire summer, and it took some time to find deals and to even see the effect our marketing was having. I'm not saying give up on wholesaling, if it's what you're passionate about then go for it. There is still definitely a market for wholesalers, and with enough work, you would be successful.
However, You mentioned you want to eventually get into buy and hold, but why not now? I would recommend that you save up a little money for a down payment on a rental property and use your W-2 Income to apply for a loan, then let the magic happen. Once you have your first rental property the rest should come easy. Sure you'll make mistakes and maybe lose a little money at first because of a bad tenant or a botched eviction, but the lessons you learn now will make you even more profitable in the future. The first step is the hardest to take, but take it and eventually you'll get to where you want to be.
Investor · Palisades Park, NJ · Member since 2015 · 165 posts · 29 votes
10y
@Connor Swalm I really appreciate the feedback. This is helpful.
To answer your question about not investing in a buy and hold now, my plan was to build enough capital for a 20-25% downpayment on my first property (multi-family), hence the reason for wholesaling. And of course, a down payment in NJ is like a house payment in many other places!
Developer · Bloomfield NJ · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 6 votes
10y
I like your strategy, I am one of the larger wholesalers in the Mid Atlantic region but still elect to work a full time corp gig. I am a labor lawyer turned HR professional and used the income from my 6 figure corp gig to build my wholesale business. Your challenge is you don't have steady income with your full time endeavor. I do not want to deter you from wholesaling , it's a phenomenal low risk investment strategy for newbies, however like many of respondents remarked it may take time to build your business. Read everything you can on the wholesale real estate investing, listen to podcast, attend local REI meetings, but more importantly take massive action every day. e.g bandit signs, yellow letters , walking/driving for dollars...etc. The other pieces of the puzzle will come togther once you have a deal.
No man is an island onto himself, once you become adept at this, build a team to grow your business. Many years used my wholesale money to buy a tri plex FHA, lived in it for the requiste period(wink) and build from there.
I grew up in Newark NJ but eventually lived in Summit and Short Hills, so best wishes to you, keep grinding, it will eventually pay off.
I recommend the same as has been said...keep working the day job for now, build up the wholesaling as a side gig, and be patient. Use your day job to fund your startup efforts on the the side gig. Then when the side gig grows to a sustainable level, you can scale back your day job. This will allow you to compensate for setbacks in the side gig. Yes it will be a slower process, but being conservative will keep your foundation under your feet.
I'm new to investing and doing it as a side gig. I have a 40+ hour job. Here's what I'm doing, for whatever it's worth:
-Educating myself by drinking from the fire hose (podcasts, articles, forums, books).
-Networking with everyone and anyone, goal to meet 1 new person per week, on average. Who knows where each connection will go. I'm starting with local folks on BP and local Meetups.
-Wholesaling is where I'm starting as well, and that takes marketing and effort to get started. I'm planning a marketing strategy and budgeting how much to put towards marketing each month.
-Planning to focus on 1-2 marketing efforts per month. It will be slow, but if I target specific things I can measure results.
-Goal is to get 1 deal in first 6-9 months, and 2 deals in first 12-months.
Investor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
10y
@Cedric StoutI would identify what I enjoy most. Then I would confirm there's a market opportunity for doing that. If there is, then I would focus all my efforts on that thing.
Investor · Palisades Park, NJ · Member since 2015 · 165 posts · 29 votes
10y
@Michele Jackson Thank you so much for the input. This seems to make the most practical sense. And loved what you said about taking massive action. Sounds like the 10x Rule (Grant Cardone). I plan to do just that. I'm also working with another wholesaler as a partner.
@Brian Stephens I appreciate the advice. It's good to know that I'm not alone in this. I appreciate you sharing your strategy as well.
Investor · TX · Member since 2014 · 48 posts · 5 votes
10y
@Cedric Stout I agree with everyone else but I will add that you need systems in place to handle calls and leads while you are working. It would suck to spend all kinds of hard earned cash on marketing and not be able to even touch the leads. Preparation is key!
Investor · Palisades Park, NJ · Member since 2015 · 165 posts · 29 votes
10y
@Lamontay Garrett you are totally right. I will certainly have to come up with a system that works as lead come in. The great thing is I can answer a call anytime I want while working, unless I'm in a meeting or with a client. But I still need a solid system to handle leads in a timely fashion. Any recommendations are certainly welcome :)
@David Bokman I agree. There has been some very solid advice!