Originally posted by @Mindy Jensen:
Hi @Carla Harris.
Getting started can be really frustrating. There is so much you don't know.
I'm tagging @Russell Brazil, who is an agent in DC. Send him a note and ask if he will sign you up to receive MLS listings. That's one of the best ways to learn your market - what houses sell for both fixed up and before repairs.
So here are some things to do:
1. Decide where you want to invest. Do you have a particular neighborhood that appeals to you? Keep it small at first, because you'll need to learn it before you can analyze deals.
2. Learn your market. You have to know what the going rate is for properties in your target market, so you'll know a good deal when you see it. A 2-bedroom shack for $75,000 might be a smoking-hot deal. It also might be ridiculously overpriced for your area.
3. Analyze deals. Real estate is individual - every property is different. There are different levels of repair necessary for each property, each will appeal to a different type of buyer. Just because it is priced at $75k in a neighborhood that is selling for $150k doesn't make it a good deal if there are $100k of repairs.
4. Learn basic rehab costs. J. Scott's The Book on Flipping Houses comes with The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs. While you said your intent is wholesaling, you will most likely be selling to rehabbers or landlords who need to rehab to make it rent-ready. Knowing approximately how much it will cost to rehab will make you a better wholesaler.
5. Write an amazing letter. While you can technically wholesale properties from the MLS, your deals will have more meat on their bones if you can find them off-market. Write an amazing letter, then start sending them out. Start really small at first, driving for dollars and then mailing when you find an interesting property.
This is excellent! One thing that I would add is WHY do you want to wholesale? You say you don't have much capital which is why you wish to pursue wholesaling as many others in your shoes do. However, wholesaling can often be the most difficult out of all of the strategies. You have to excel in multiple areas (marketing, analysis, networking, negotiating, etc) and on top of that you have to find deals that are so good that not only can you take a cut out of the deal, but also leave plenty of margin for the investor.
As Mindy suggests in #2, I would start out by learning your local market and also write down what your goals are with regards to what you wish to achieve with REI (J Scott's Book on Flipping Houses also has an excellent section on how to analyze your local market). Once you understand those two things, you can then work backwards to your goals. Based on what you know about your market, what strategies would be best suited to helping you reach your goals within your market.
