My Wholesaling Journey-- hopefully this will be a LONG thread.

[Brian L.]

Hi all,

I am in the process of starting wholesaling. After a previous stint financing a couple real estate projects in '08, I petered out. Recently, I've since decided to focus again, but this time in wholesaling. My intent with this thread is to keep me focused. I've been inspired by many of the success stories on various threads and hope being engaged on this thread will help push me through the trials and tribulations.

I've read a TON of posts and here's where I am:

Knowledge: Reading the BP blog, BP posts & BP Podcasts have been very valuable. I have also read every blog post by Sharon Vornholt ( [REMOVED]) & Seth Williams ( [REMOVED]). I have also read a couple books and recently very stupidly bought a $700 guru course in my local REI club on subject to. It was stupid because the course overpromised and really under delivered. There was no substance whatsoever.

Interestingly though, it was a good thing I bought this course because it was a good reality check: I can spend a ton of money on books/courses that may or may not be worthwhile, OR I can spend that money on marketing and gain real knowledge when I need it. I learn much quicker when a potential check is on the line. I recently heard that "Knowledge without action is entertainment". So, I'll figure it out as I go.

Marketing: I will be sending a monthly DM YL campaign to absentee out of state SFR owners. I plan to hit this group every month as a sustained effort over time. Initially, I will be sending ~1200 per month broken up weekly. My first drop will be end of next week. My goal is to effectively work as many leads as possible and will be testing my CRM, phone dialogue and negotiation. Once I get up the learning curve, I want to scale my marketing up much more. I plan to focus on other criteria as well.

Because there is a huge learning curve in too many aspects, I am outsourcing my YL campaign (thanks Jerry Puckett). Yes, I could do it cheaper myself, but I want to leave this aspect to someone who is an expert. I do not want to wait months and money to find out I had the wrong starting point (wrong list, wrong message, wrong font, wrong stamp, etc). I really admire the people handwriting many YL's weekly-- there's no way I could do that and learn the other aspects of the business well. My goal is to become successful at wholesaling and I am fully aware of the many difficulties. I want to accelerate my learning curve and suspect too many newbie's give up because there's too much to chew on.

Lead collection: I am using Zoho as my CRM. It is free, has a lot of features and gets some pretty good reviews. I use salesforce.com in my normal dayjob and Zoho seemed comparable in terms of features. Salesforce isn't worth the monthly cost for a one man shop, IMO. Zoho handles direct mail campaigns and lead tracking. What I like is that I can automatically attach correspondence via email and can really focus on my leads.

Website/Squeeze page: In the process of building both. I bought Chris Cho's squeeze page and for $67, it seemed like a no brainer-- no need to reinvent the wheel. I will be building a more detailed and elaborate website for buyers/sellers and investors.

Networking/Mentors: I've met a number of people at my local REI clubs. Some more helpful than others. I have one full time wholesaler that is willing to help me through deals. She and I farm different areas, so it seemed like a good fit. I also have a rehabber that wants to "help" me wholesale deals, in return for 1/2 fee. I may use him as I know that he is a local player and the education on tougher deals may be worth it. I also want to rehab, so I am thinking that I can get him to teach me to rehab for a first look at my deals.

Where does that leave me?
1. Need to learn the process a little better
2. Need to get comfortable on the phone talking to seller
3. Need to learn comps and rehab costs better
4. I don't have a buyers list, but am i wrong in thinking that in this market, a good deal will sell itself? I do have a few contacts from my REI club.

That's about it for now. Sorry for the long post, but hoping that there's many more to come.