Wholesaling Unethical? Why or why not?

[Jacob Fussell]

I’ve wanted to start a flipping business but I know that limiting myself to only flips locally won’t be as easy to scale unless I include wholesaling abroad. Although I struggle with starting because I’m unsure of whether or not it’s okay to get a lowball offer accepted and then try to find a buyer when the seller could’ve gone directly to a flipper. Open to hear everyone’s opinion

[David Ruhlman]

Hi Jacob,

Honest question you posted there. In regards to the flipper being able to go directly to the property owner without being charged a fee, yes they 100% could. But, the wholesaler is providing a service to the flipper that they are obviously willing to pay for. The flipper has their own business to run whether they are doing the flip themselves and run a construction company, or are doing whatever else they do to give themselves enough capital to be able to flip a house. Either way, the flipper is not wanting to pay for the marketing, do the cold calling, set the appointment with the seller, negotiate price. They just want to find a property and flip it. Could they do all of that themselves and pay less to buy the property directly from the seller? Yes. But they are willing to pay that assignment fee to not do that work.