~~Important Question For Seasoned Wholesalers~~

[Aaron Phillips]

Hello BP, 

My name is Aaron, some of you may have seen me around the forums. I have been hardcore studying up on Wholesaling for months, BiggerPockets being the most useful source of information. I've tried my hand in it by diving in, and got a couple properties under contract. My goal was to do 3+ Wholesale Deals a month. One of the deals was such a nightmare, it really discouraged me to move forward because of how things panned out. 

What had happened was I got this property under contract, and I let the seller know ahead of time what I was doing. I let him know I was going to connect him with one of my partners (e.g. the Cash Buyer) and we would be able to close in 30 days. Once I spoke with my cash buyer, the cash buyer informed me that the area the property sits on is notorious for flooding, and he wasn't interested. To make a long story short, I wasn't able to close and I tried to let the Seller know that ahead of time, and gave the reason why. He was very unpleased to say the least, and it was an extremely embarrassing situation for me. I didn't want to be known for the guy who can't close. So instead of continuing on, and finding other deals I decided i'd sit back once again, and keep on studying Wholesaling by reading books, learning from others mistakes, taking advice from the BP community, connecting myself with others, and listening to podcasts. 

I'm here today to ask for advice on how I can prevent something like this from happening again? Before I get a purchase agreement in place should I ask the seller what their biggest problem with selling has been? Should I ask if Floods are an issue? I don't know what the appropriate questions would be to prevent this. 

***Also, I know Wholesaling is one of the more looked down on methods of Real Estate. So let me make sure I'm not completely foolish here... You do not need the necessary funds to buy the property you are getting under contract? You are just assigning the contract to a cash buyer who does have the necessary funds to do it? I have NO INTENTION of buying any property right now. My intentions on wholesaling is to build enough capital to buy rentals, but that's my long-term goal.  I just want to connect the Seller to the Buyer and collect an Assignment Fee for it. Now am I alright to do this?