Question about wholesaling

[N/A N/A]

I'm very new, and plan to get some books on REI and wholesaling this weekend, but I just wanted to ask:

I assume that an investor is only going to be looking for a really good deal if he/she is going to buy a property through a wholesaler. I presume that the investor has already combed the MLS, newspaper ads, etc., and is already familiar with what's out there. The investor is essentially looking to the wholesaler to come up with something that he/she has not seen or found anywhere else. In other words, why would anybody buy a property through a wholesaler and pay them a commission if the investor could've just as easily found the property themselves by looking on the MLS? So essentially, your job as the wholesaler is to find deals that the investor would otherwise not find out about--is that how it works? Please let me know if I have this all mixed up somehow!

Another question I have is, how widespread is wholesaling? How many investors get their deals this way, and what percentage of the time? IE, is it a rare, every once in a while thing, or do some investors buy primarily through wholesalers, or what?

[Ryan Webber]

Think about it, a wholesaler focuses all of their energy on finding deals, but a rehabber focuses most of their energy on what? Fixing houses. Yes when the rehabber is done fixing the house they refocus their efforts on finding another deal, but the wholesaler has momentum on their side. Consistently focused energy is very powerful.

Plus most investors suck at finding deals. Wow was that too rough? Well its true so I'm going to just throw it out there. Most investors (rehabbers, landlords, or even most wholesalers) aren't very good at consistently finding deals. It takes a lot of work to consistently find deals, and most people don't put the effort in to get the needed result.

In reference to the MLS, you will NOT find many deals on the MLS. I found about 2% or 3% of my deals last year through the MLS. The MLS is NOT the way to find deals. Now if you work it consistently and persistently you can find a deal or two every year from the MLS. Consistently and persistently means 2 or 3 times a week for an entire year you search the MLS and make offers. The MLS is a retail outlet. That's it. If an investor buys most of their houses off of the MLS, they aren't buying deals.

In reference to how common is wholesaling, it would depend on your market. If your market has some good wholesalers in it, then there might be quite a few investors that buy many of their deals from wholesalers. The better the deals that a wholesaler offers the more business they will have. It seems simple, but I see so many people offer "wholesale" deals at retail prices and they wonder why no one buys them.