All Forum Posts by: Brian L.

I won't comment on other opportunities as others have expressed very well, but would like to share my experience starting out as a wholesaler.

It's hard. The people telling you that it's easy are lying. I sent out 1200 letters my first month. I don't know how I could have handled any more calls than I received and I have no deals to show for it. I'm not expecting anything different next month. While a lot of people do wholesaling without any/much money, I suspect most of those that do give up. It's hard work and no budget makes it that much harder. Then again, that's the same for any business. You have to want this more than anything and be prepared for constant rejection. There is also no guarantee of success and future payment. In my short (~1 month) wholesaling career, I've been kicked in the gut a couple times. I've picked myself off the floor and gotten back into it. Most people would give up if they don't see immediate success. I know that I'll be successful as long as I don't give up, as I want this very badly.

Whether it's wholesaling, a different career in REI or a different career altogether, success is some combination of extreme hard work, money and luck. I would never bank on luck as it is the longest shot to success. If you don't have money, you have to work that much harder at whatever you do. There are plenty of people here that started a RE business with nothing. Maybe some were lucky, but I bet that is few and far between. They did it by an insane amount of hard work and resolve. DOn't ever bank on luck and if you have no money, you must be prepared to work harder than everyone else.

The problem is, people generally don't like working hard. My buddy complains about being broke all the time and whines about how lucky everyone else is. He watches tv for 4+ hours a day, does the barte minimum at his job, never betters himself and tries to improve his situation.

You sound intelligent and eager. My advice to you is to choose something, make sure you focus all of your energies on that and never give up-- especially when you get kicked in the gut. Be laser focused on what you want to do and don't let others tell you that you are crazy for working towards a dream.

Best of luck to you! Wish you much success. If you do decide that you want to try RE investing, there is no better place than here.

Tim G., hobby isn't the right word. By "hobby", I mean that I haven't made money yet doing it, but no means indicates the way that way that I'm treating this business.

I am very actively working on leads, improving my phone skills, improving my negotiating, improving my systems, etc. I'm sure this gets easier at some point, but I know that I have a lot more work to do to get to that point.

AFter one month, where do I stand?
~1200 letters sent (the last batch of ~300 should hit today/tomorrow)
-107 calls so far (will be higher once the last batch hits this week)
-Vast majority are retail sellers
-Many are just curious about how my business works
-Many won't give me any price guidelines and just tell me "make me offer". (still trying to figure out how best to handle these)
-8 potential short sales (farming these out)
-1 potential wholesale. Pristine townhouse ARV 290-300k that I think I can buy for 200k. I think I botched this a little early on, which is why it's not under contract. I also have a couple other sellers that want to sell cheap, but not cheap enough yet. I'm sure that this number would be better if I didn't botch a lot of calls early on.

Response rate is very good. While I understand that it takes several months for most people to do a deal, I'm not too happy with myself. I didn't expect a deal, but realized I was a lot more unprepared than I thought prior to my first mailing. Call volume was much more than I anticipated and with a full time job, it's just not feasible to answer every call. 3 weeks in and I got slapped on the wrist at work for taking too many calls on my cell in the hallway.

What did I accomplish so far this month?
-Gained mentor and then upgraded to someone else whose interests are aligned with mine.
-Have also been able to leverage mentors' systems
-Now have a full buyers list (from my mentor)
-Got much more proficient on the phone
-Can do "quick and dirty comps" via free resources
-have VA to weed out unmotivated sellers

Overall, I'm in a better place, but the more I learn, the more I want a deal. I can sense motivation, but all the motivated sellers I have spoken to are all short sale candidates.

Braden C., yes I work fulltime. Right now, this is just a hobby.

Wendell De Guzman, I am still looking for my first deal. 3 weeks into my dm campaign. Have mentor and outsourced yl campaign. I'm looking to expedite the process

"You can't make a seller become motivated."

So true. I'm getting tons of calls. I whined to Jerry Puckett earlier today that I wasn't getting calls from this weeks mailing. Almost immediately after, my phone started ringing off the hook. Sorry, Jerry. :)

I can now easily differentiate callers as to whether they have any motivation whatsoever. I am also much more confident on the phone now. The trick is trying to get off the phone with unmotivated sellers quickly. A few more weeks and I'm thinking of ramping up my marketing and using my VM to prequalify sellers. I know, I know, I will miss some leads, but I want to have a large volume of DM going out and I can't possibly talk to everyone. Why not only deal with the most motivated?

Right now, the vast majority of my calls are some variation of:
"I wasn't considering selling until I got your letter. What's your offer?"
"I don't need to sell. When I do, it will be with a realtor."
"I wanted to see if you were a scam."

A small percentage, only 2, were VERY motivated so far. However, these are both shortsales.

If I can differentiate motivated from unmotivated and am comfortable on the phone, should I ramp up marketing now or wait? Currently doing 1200 yl's a month and thinking about 3-4k.

Thanks Rick Baggenstoss. Think you are right. He's definitely in my follow up group.

Been fielding a lot of calls and definitely gewtting better on the phone. Once I'm proficient on the phone, likely passing off initial qualification to a VA and will ramp up marketing.

My advice is to jump in and market. Get on the phone and mix it up. You will never know enough prior to jumping in. You will learn it much quicker when you have to.

Last week, I was scared to get on the phone with anyone. Today, I had a seller of a $15M house on the phone. I went all out on this call because I knew I had nothing to lose. What came out of it? Absolutely nothing. But, on the other hand, if she did bite.... who knows? I have to treat every call like this one today.

This is dead on. Prior, I had been against upfront fees as I thought it didn't align the interests in a mentor/mentee relationship. However, he asked for a very small amount (compared to most fees I've heard) only to ensure I was serious.

I haven't even written the check yet and he has guided me to push a conversation that I would have let die on my own. I think it's 50/50 I get it under contract.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Financial-roof-falls-in-on-pair-of-house-flippers-4559692.php

Thanks Jerry. Wish I got the $14m house under contract though.... :)