First Wholesale Deal Gone Wrong?

[Zach Ryan]

So I just started wholesaling 5 months ago. I went to a REIA group and the leader of the group told me to go find a deal and he would help me do it and they would split the deal based on how much work you do. So I found a potential short sale and gave him the address, turns out it was listed and the owner didn't know and I didn't check because I thought he would know. After I gave him that address he couldn't use he said that I should have another guy involved in my deals so he can teach me what to do. So I said that's okay because I'm new and didn't want to waste his time with dumb questions. The guy I started working with told me that they do all their deals on a handshake and 50-50 splits. So I found my first wholesale deal, we put it under contract for 50k and find a buyer in 2 days for 65k, (I did almost 100% of the work on this deal) but I was okay with splitting it 50-50. I find out 2 days before the closing that I will be getting 25% and the new guy that helped me got 25% and the leader of the REIA group got 50%. Does this sound fair to you? Should I keep working with these guys?

[Ryan Dossey]

@Zach Ryan 25% of the pie is better than nothing. Could you have done the deal without them? 

Lesson One: Get a written agreement. You can't have surprises that way. 

Lesson Two: If you don't need them... If the partnership isn't mutually beneficial. End the partnership.