Real Estate Agent · Houston, TX · Member since 2016 · 8 posts · 3 votes
Hi,
I am new to the wholesaling investing here in Houston, Texas. I am a licensed realtor but I only got my license so I could learn more about the market. I recently started wholesaling about a week ago. I went driving for $$'s for the very first time and I got two vacant properties, I was able to track down the owners. I sent the contract and everything but the clients didn't sign it I am assuming because they wanted more money for the properties. Even though I wasn't able to close on those deals, I am very encouraged and determined to keep persevering. Recently, I have been driving for $$'s and sending direct mail to absentee owners and people who are behind on their property taxes as well as mortgages. Haven't had any luck yet. If you guys have any tips that would be awesome!!
Flipper/Rehabber · Dallas, TX · Member since 2015 · 91 posts · 31 votes
8y
sounds like u are off to a great start! my first year wholesaling all i did was send letters to absents and it took about 3 months to get my first deal. it is gaurentee'd to work by law of averages if u just keep sending out consistently! i love driving for dollars, hv found the best deals that way! I'd suggest adding as many free sources for leads as possible. COUNTY DATA is your best friend. just like the property tax leads u have already, try to add in evictions filings and call those potential tired landlords... probate, divorce.. are also good ones. !
sounds like u are off to a great start! my first year wholesaling all i did was send letters to absents and it took about 3 months to get my first deal. it is gaurentee'd to work by law of averages if u just keep sending out consistently! i love driving for dollars, hv found the best deals that way! I'd suggest adding as many free sources for leads as possible. COUNTY DATA is your best friend. just like the property tax leads u have already, try to add in evictions filings and call those potential tired landlords... probate, divorce.. are also good ones. !
Thanks so much!!! I'll take a look further into evictions, divorce and probate!! It is encouraging to hear I am off to a great start. How often should I send the direct mail? 4-6 weeks? about 5 rounds?
You sent contracts? I didn't hear the part where you built rapport with the owners.
Yes, and once I tracked them down I was able to. Both owners were out of state homeowners. But I am realizing early some people are never satisfied with offers. They would rather their home be taken by the state for free than get something out of their property. So I am not going to dwell on it, instead I am going to use it as fuel to move forward!
Real Estate Broker · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2015 · 112 posts · 64 votes
8y
Hey Brook, I would say that if you are driving for dollars you should probably be databasing all your leads in some way. I just use Zillow to mark down my homes while I drive and then transfer them to an Excel file but there is a wide variety of ways to do that. I'm guessing that mailers might be your next step and a database is almost required for that but it sounds like you are off to an amazing start with the vacant leads! How did you end up finding the homeowners who were out of state?? Some sort of skip tracing?
Hey Brook, I would say that if you are driving for dollars you should probably be databasing all your leads in some way. I just use Zillow to mark down my homes while I drive and then transfer them to an Excel file but there is a wide variety of ways to do that. I'm guessing that mailers might be your next step and a database is almost required for that but it sounds like you are off to an amazing start with the vacant leads! How did you end up finding the homeowners who were out of state?? Some sort of skip tracing?
Thanks for the advice! I’ll definitely start looking into that more!! I actually was able to track them down using skipgenie.
@Brook Wilson, great start, my first wholesale deal came from a letter I sent 6 month earlier so don't worry they will come.
Houston is a very competitive market and the key to success is not to give up.
One of my struggles was when I had a deal I didn't know how to sell (did not have a buyers list) and I want you to be ready for that now.
What are some tips you can give me on how to build a buyers list? I thought once I have it under contract it would be easy to find a buyer. So I do appreciate the heads up!
You need to have a way of capturing the buyers info (can be a simple excel sheet) and to fill that you need to talk to EVERYONE you meet about what you are doing, some good sources of contacts below
- REI meetings
- Bigger Pockets
- facebook groups
- partner with someone who can market your deal (all whole sellers would love to do that for a fee)
There will be a lot of tire kickers but you will also have some action takers and you can then focus on those action takers.
Wholesaler · Katy, TX · Member since 2013 · 213 posts · 109 votes
8y
@Brook Wilson just like @Ayman Elmasik said, start working on your Buyers List. I personally don't think you need to have a 25,000 list with people from Mars listed as "cash buyers" but you will need to have a solid list. Yes, everybody says find the deal and the buyer will show up. But the reality is that it isn't that easy.
We have had to build our list slowly and with a lot of effort but our list is composed of true buyers that either have added themselves to our cash buyers list by visiting our landing page website or people we have personally met and asked us to include them on our list. You can always ask around the local REIAs and some people would offer their 37,950 buyers list for only $997 but to me that is the "easy way" and probably those addresses came from a car dealership or McDonalds or god know where. I won't sell my list and I won't buy anyone's list (period).
Regarding your question about frequency of mailers, every 4 weeks works for most of our clients. Some that are doing a lot of volume send every week but to different areas in order to keep their acquisitions team busy with calls and appointments every week. But that is long run when you get to send 10,000 - 20,000 letters every month.
Tomball, TX · Member since 2018 · 28 posts · 0 votes
8y
Hello Brook
I am in the Tomball area looking to wholesale also. I am very new to all this and would be very interested in how you are trying to make it all work. My issue is capital but strength is time I work 40 hours a week but I have plenty of time to research and create. If I can be of any help to you let me know.