Best way to find wholesale?

Question

Would the best way to get quick wholesale leads be to find for sale houses (preferably ones that don't need any work at all) and make them a low ball cash offer (such as if the house is worth 300,000 and they're willing to accept 200,000 cash with no work needed and they owe less on mortgage than the amount they accept) but they still benefit, I do as the wholesaler and the investor willing to purchase the property? I think this is a better way myself, than just trying to find those distressed people, maybe others would accept even for way lower amount just because it's in cash and they don't owe as much so they'll have money in pocket. Do you think this is a good strategy?

John Thedford · Answer

@Melinda CampbellGreat on the classes. As to "wholesaling" there are a lot of dishonest scammers victimizing homeowners with promises they have no intention of keeping. Get that education! I also suggest reading some great books on investing such as "Hold" and "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" to get ideas on wealth. Flipping is a job. Being an agent is a job. Making smart moves at a young age to build a real estate portfolio will give you great freedom and ability to do what you want at a young age. Stick with BP there are a lot of great minds here offering advice on anything you want to know.

Adrienne Bryson · Answer

Yeah if your house is nice enough to sell on the open market you have no use for investors and therefore no motivation to sell to investors.The zestimate is a crap shoot. Redfin is better. You could browse them and other sites like trulia or realtor.com to get a ballpark estimate for ARV. You could also do your own research on similar houses that recently sold in the neighborhood.Or better yet have a realtor run comps.As for contractors, you can have them go through the house and bid on the project to get an idea of the cost before hiring one. I'd also recommend J Scott's books.

Doron Nissim · Answer

you can try looking in sites like Craigslist, for sale by owner or fsbo.com ,zillow etc.. you run the comps ,see the house takes pictures and consult with contractors about what's needs to be done. then when you have the rehab cost and local comps you calculate how much you want to make in profit and subtract everything from the arv - after repair value. then you'll know how much to offer. good luck!!

Chris Piper · Answer

@Melinda Campbell That is a strategy that will nevr work. When someone has a house that doesn't need any work, they are not going to accept a lowball offer. The only people who will accept a lowball offer are motivated sellers. You need to find motivated sellers who have a property that needs a lot of work. Then, run the numbers on it and see how much you can afford to offer, and make sure you have accurate repair costs too.

Jason V. · Answer

@Melinda Campbell - Check out Michael Quarles, who does exactly what you're looking to do. It's a niche commonly called 'Wholetailing' and hinges quite a bit on marketing and negotiation skills. If I remember correctly, Mr. Quarles has done two BP podcasts, and has his own Real Estate show as well.

Brett Snodgrass · Answer

Hi @Melinda Campbell , Wholesaling is a perfectly fine way to make money in Real Estate, but takes time and work. Seems like many starting out are being offered an easy strategy to make some quick bucks, but don't really know what they're doing. I'm not accusing you of this, but just pointing out some of the issues with wholesaling and people's experiences with wholesalers. I'd honestly recommend that you learn how to run comps and crunch the numbers to find a good deal and when you do find one connect with an experienced and ethical wholesaler in your area and ask them if they'd be willing to go in with you for a majority of the split (like 60/40) in return for helping you through the parts you're unsure of. You may not make as much on your first deal, but will gain way more and it'll help you in the long run. You can join your local REIAs and attend BP meetups to get those connections.

Melinda Campbell · Answer

And I do plan on making this a full time job for me once I can get into it correctly. That's why i wanted to start now while I'm still young so when I'm older I'll be more wiser of the whole process and be where others are now. You always have to start somewhere! So far the forums on BP have been very helpful and I've learned so much from people's experiences. Thanks to everyone who comments and asks lots of questions, they are all very helpful.

Melinda Campbell · Answer

Yeah I am not going to be one of the scammers, I actually want to benefit the person as well as me. I'd feel terrible if I took everything from them and left them with nothing. Thanks for the suggestions of books; I've been wanting to get some books to read up on but didn't know which ones would be helpful or not.. So thank you!

Melinda Campbell · Answer

I am trying to start doing it as income, although I do have a part time job and am not worried about financial reasons so if it doesn't make much money that's okay too. I want to get into real estate investing and wholesaling is where i would like to start. I understand the basics very well I'm just trying to get how to put it altogether. Like I know you need to advertise and market to get potential sellers, I'm just in the process of trying to start it fully. And then I'm still a little iffy on how to determine the costs just right and not loose out on money and how to negotiate a deal with someone to where they'd take a crazy offer like that. I am in the process of about to be taking realtor classes so I can at least get some more education on the whole real estate subject in general. I will start classes in less than a week. And I'm fairly new to this whole process as I just found out about wholesaling about 2-3 weeks ago and am doing pretty good so far on what to do for the most part. I will also be attending my local REIA meetings as soon as the next meeting comes up which will be in about 2 weeks for that.

John Thedford · Answer

@Melinda CampbellWhat are you trying to accomplish? Income? Have you considered getting an education, licensing, etc?