What makes a successful wholesaler?

Question

Hi BP community! I am trying to get my feet wet in wholesaling to start, and I am looking for some suggestions about the sort of value-added activities of a successful wholesaler. In addition, I would like to hear some personal wholesaling success stories about your first wholesaling property and sort of how you made it happen, if you have any stories of the sort. Thanks so much for sharing!

Account Closed · Answer

Hi Alexandra I have been wholesaling properties for 17 years now, starting in Missouri and now in Orlando. That is only part of what I am doing now. Welcome to BP.

My advice to new investors is to start wholesaling properties. This is the quickest and best way to get started with the least cost.

First pick a neighborhood that you are either in or close to. Driver around all the streets and look for vacant houses. There should be some. Then look in the county assessors website to find the owners. it should give their name and mailing address. Send them a letter telling them you found their house to be apparently vacant. But if it is obviously abandoned, say so in the letter. Tell them you will pay them cash for a quick close.

Many times the owners don’t update their mailing address with the county so you may get the letters returned. I use beenverified.com to get the most updated info. It costs me $24.95 a month but it is well worth it because it also gives me email addresses and phone numbers.

If you are going to buy the property, fix it up and then either sell it or rent it then you are through.

But if you want to wholesale the property to another investor, then contact a local RE Agent to give you a list of all the houses in that neighborhood that have sold in the last 5 years with all cash. This typically is investors. Then again go to the assessors website and find their name and mailing address. And again use beenverified.com to get the best and latest contact info.

Once you get a response from the seller of the vacant house, negotiate a deal to buy it for all cash. Then immediately contact all the cash buyers you just found that buy properties in that neighborhood and tell them about the house and would they be interested in buying it.

Once you have done all that with that neighborhood, go to the next one and 'rinse and repeat.'

I hope this helps.

Steve Anderson

Eric F. · Answer

To answer the original post what makes a successful wholesaler is ACTION. What does not make a successful wholesaler is spending 2 years trying to learn every investing strategy under the sun. We all do it at one point but eventually you have to send the mail, put out the signs, drive for dollars, and FIND A DEAL!

If you can't find a deal nothing else matters. Virtual assistants don't matter, 200 person buyers lists don't matter, virtual wholesaling doesn't matter, pat live doesn't matter....without leads coming in nothing matters. Remember that. Until you have done at least 1 (I'd argue 5) deals you should not even know what any of that stuff is. Don't spend 1 second on anything with the word "virtual" in it until you are comfortable talking to sellers on the phone and in their houses.

Eric F. · Answer

@Jay Hinrichs If people listen to Michael Quarles and think he doesn't know what he is doing then they should pack it up and quit right now. When I was starting there were a few posters that I read their entire post history and he was one of them.

I have considered signing up for his coaching program even though I feel like I know what I am doing just because he is so damn good. If I was a beginner I would sign up for it no question, even though I think the price increased recently. Still, $1,4000 bucks, if you came out 15% as good as he is you'd probably be in the top 3 in your market.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Eric F. 1000% correct any of these folks that wants to learn how to close should be buying anything that Quarles sells he is a pro's pro..

his was the only pod cast I ever listened to.. and I only made it maybe 15 minutes but I could tell by the little I heard this guy knows his stuff.

it was also comical its probably the only time I followed up to see what others thought of him and its was crazy many thought him too much used car too hard sell etc etc.. I was expecting the opposite I was expecting folks to be praising him up and down.

now those that don't get it will never get it.. and probably not do well at sales or wholesaling and should stick to vanilla rentals no skill needed to buy those.

Account Closed · Answer

Hi Alexandra,

My first virtual wholesale deal was in New Orleans.  I had been in real estate for many years, but in other capacities.  I called someone I met on BP and we did the deal together, even though he had never done a deal virtually before.  We ended up listing the house on the MLS and got it sold in under thirty days.  Good luck!

Kim

Nancy Bachety · Answer

Great explanation. Do you ever use beenverified.com to search liens against a person? We are trying to search the county databases for liens and came across that site.

Account Closed

Account Closed · Answer

@Nancy Bachety The best place to find liens is to look in the county courts website.

Eric F. · Answer

@Jay Hinrichs did touch one something I should have. I skipped over what you should know.

You do need to know how to evaluate a deal, estimate repairs, figure out what you can offer, and present your offer. This is learned through reading and practice. Walk down every aisle at Lowes, google "how much to replace cabinets" and stuff like that to get a general idea, maybe create a checklist of items to look at so you don't forget (roof, HVAC, appliances, water heater, etc.). Learn how to figure out comps yourself or use an agent (but don't abuse the agent having them look up 100 properties and never give them any business.) Hell, a good exercise I just thought off. Go on your MLS, Zillow, whatever and find some houses for sale. Comp them yourself and then in 3 months look back and see what they sold for.

Jay is right to study sales techniques. Find investors doing seller calls and listen to them (Michael Quarles has a podcast of these). Listen to them DAILY. If you can record your calls once you get them and listen back to them do this too. I used to listen to every call I ever made. I still do it sometimes. It is legal in most places, not California of course. Remember, you are in the marketing and sales business more than the real estate business if you are a wholesaler.

I guess my point in my previous post was know what not to learn. I see posters on this site (and meet aspiring investors at REIA, etc) who are trying to learn virtual wholesaling, outsourcing to VAs, etc. before they have ever talked to a single seller. Every minute you spend doing that is costing you a minute to improve at what actually matters in this business. If you are picking up golf you wouldn't worry about what to serve at the Master's Champion Dinner or how to handle endorsements before you could hit a chip from 8 yards off the green.

Looking back, sometimes I wonder if I should have gotten my license. When I got into this I was working full time and did not have the time to get my license but I had a strong mentor who helped me along when I was clueless. Currently I don't see the pros outweighing the cons for getting a license. I think about it every now. Maybe as a new investor you should consider it. Do you have a full time job?

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Eric F.  yes I see most of this advice above as assbackwards.

if you don't know how to figure out what a deal is.. you don't know how to present to a seller and your don't know how to close.. its all moot.

the amount of people that blow what little money they have and just send out letters etc with no skills to convert those leads are really wasting time money and energy and will usually just fade away into the sunset.. probably 95% who try to wholesale this happens to.

if one was going to study anything its sales techniques ,, close techniques , and one thing agree with above is pick a very small area and become an expert in what a deal is.

I see far to many wholesalers just getting leads throwing them up on the wall and preying..

See that with real estate agents too that take listings at 50k over the present value.

I think also getting a RE license even if you don't use it much is a first step.. there are great training courses at some of the bigger brokerages.. then sign on with a TOp producer on their team see how someone who is making 500 to 1mil a year selling real estate does it.. let them mentor you and hand you business you get business based on the top producer creds... I have seen so many start this way and go on to be very successful.

Eric F. · Answer

@Nancy Bachety I am on beenverified right now and it looks like you have to pay extra for each person you want to search for liens. I have never done it.

What makes a successful wholesaler?

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