Wholesale a Friend's House

[Alex Gaw]

I have a friend here in Austin who owns a house that her parents bought her when she was in college and now she rents it out. The house is in Atlanta. Whenever she mentions it, it sounds like she really doesn't like dealing with it. Since joining BP and reading the blogs and forums I've started to wonder if she'd rather be rid of it, but just doesn't feel like going through the hassle of finding an agent, listing, and negotiating with buyers. So I had the idea that maybe, if I'm right, I could use her house to get my feet wet a little with wholesaling. I'm not sure that I want to be a wholesaler per se, but if this ends up being an opportunity I definitely want to take it.

My question is, how do I talk to her about wholesaling her house? I want to be ethical in general, but even more so because she's my friend. I want to be honest and up front about what I'm doing. Is there some benefit to her in letting me do this, or would it really only benefit me, and she'd be better off just listing with an agent? If that's the case, I'm happy to tell her that. I don't want to try to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

Thanks!