All Forum Posts by: Gary Leonard

 YOU ARE INCORRECT, MA'AM, AND I TRUELY SAY THIS WITH THE UTMOST RESPECT. REAL ESTATE WHOLESALING IS NOT "BROKERING WITHOUT A LICENSE," AND IT'S NOWHERE NEAR ILLEGAL... PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU GIVE OUT YOUR DOGMATIC ADVICE AND STATE IT AS TRUTH... 

MY CREDENTIALS ARE BELOW:

BROKERING WITHOUT A LICENSE WOULD BE IF THEY REPRESENTED A SELLER OR BUYER IN FACILITATING A DEAL WITHOUT ANY RISK AND/OR INTEREST EQUITY IN THE DEAL before CLOSING.  FOR EXAMPLE, IF THE GENTLEMEN ABOVE APPROACHED YOU WHEN YOU ARE SELLING YOUR HOME AND SAY'S "IF I FIND YOU A BUYER, AND BRING HIM TO YOU TO BUY THIS HOME, CAN I GET PAID, AND VICE VERSA WITH BUYER.  A BUYER, "HEY, MR. BUYER, I CAN SHOW YOU THIS GUY UP THE STREET WHO'S SELLING A HOME THAT MATCHES YOUR STYLE COMPLETELY; I'LL BRING YOU TO HIM IF I CAN REPRESENT YOU AND TALK TO THE SELLER FOR YOU?

NOW WITH WHOLESALING REAL ESTATE (MA'AM I AM A MASSACHUSETTS LAWYER AS WELL BROKER WITH A REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT DEGREE FROM BOSTON UNIVERSITY)

WHOLESALING THE LEGAL WAY

"HE MR/MRS/MS SELLER- I AM A INVESTOR, I OR ONE OF MY BUSINESS ASSOCIATES WILL BUY YOUR HOME AT NO CLOSING EXPENSES ON YOUR END... THE WHOLESALE INVESTOR SIGNS THE P&S AS A BUYER OR INTERESTED PARTY WOULD DO... UNLIKE A BROKERING A DEAL, THE ENTITY (INVESTOR) HAS WHAT IS CALLED EQUITABLE TITLE IN THE PROPERTY (LIMITED TO LEGAL TITLE OBVIOUSLY) UNTIL THE CLOSING THEN LEGAL TITLE IS TRANSFERRED. THINK OF EQUITABLE INTEREST AS A "I AM ABOUND TO BUY THIS PROPERTY UP TO CLOSING DATE- IF I DON'T EXECUTE ON DATE OF CLOSING I FORFEIT MY EARNEST MONEY DEPOSIT"... I HAVE A KNOWN RISK IN THE DEAL - AN EQUITABLE INTEREST THAT I, UNDER A STATE ISSUED ASSIGNMENT CONTRACT, CAN TRANSFER LEGALLY TO ANOTHER ENTITY AS LONG AS P&S IS ASSIGNABLE. IF THE CONTRACT IS THAT OF A FANNIE MAE OR FREDDIE MAC, I MAY ASSIGN THROUGH UTILIZING THE SOLUBLE CONFINES OF A BUSINESS CREATED ENTITY (LLC MAY BE TRANSFERRED WITH THE EQUITABLE INTEREST UNDER IT)... ANYWAYS- I AM CONCERNED YOU ARE THIS MISINFORMED WHEN YOU TOO ARE A LICENSED REPRESENTATIVE OF YOUR STATE. SOUND LIKE YOU HAVE A VENDETTA TOWARDS THE INVESTMENT STRATEGY WHICH IS MAINLY YOUR OWN ISSUE AND NOBODY ELSES. WANT TO KNOW WHAT I'D SAY TO YOU IF YOU CAME TO ME ASKING FOR REPRESENTATION FOR AN ASSIGNMENT? I WOULD ASK YOU, "DO YOU HVAE A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL P&S" AND " DO YOU HVAE A COPY OF THE ASSIGNMENT"- IDGAS IF THE SELLER WAS UNAWARE OR NOT (ALTHOUGH THEY SHOULD BE AWARE FOR MORAL AND ETHICAL PURPOSES)- IF THERE IS NOTHING IN THE P&S STATING THAT IT CANNOT BE "NOMINATED" IS THE MASS BOARD OF REALTORS NAME DESCRIBING A NON-LICENCED ENTITY (A NOMINEE)... SO PLEASE ADMIT YOU ARE JUST CRAPPING ON THE STRATEGY BUT KNOW THAT CALLING IT ILEGAL MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE YOU ARE CLUELESS YOURSELF.

YOU ARE WRONG ABOUT THE FOLLOWING:

IF THE WHOLESALER FOLLOWS THE ABOVE - ANY COMPLAINT TO THE BOARD WOULD BE IGNORED HMM HOW DO I KNOW THIS- I AM A REPRESENTATIVE HERE IN MASSACHUSETTS...

ALSO, LAW TRUMPS ANY MOVEMENT FROM THE BOARD. IF THERE ARE NO LAWS about IT- ALL THE BOARD WOULD SAY "OK PLAY NICE NOW LEAVE US BE"

THE ONLY TIME THE BOARD WILL GET INVOLVED IS THROUGH COERCION AND DUES BEING MIS-ALLOCATED

SORRY AS A MEMBER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF REALTORS, I MUST SAY, YOUR COMMENT IS BY FAR THE MOST INCORRECT REPLY I HAVE SEEN SINCE NANCY PELOSI ANNOUNCED THAT OUR MONETARY ISN'T FIAT. 

Billy is 100% correct. Many real estate wholesaling methods cannot be summed up with a simple assignment of the equitable interest to an investor. What if you had a buy and hold investor? Do you know what to do then? Do you know the parameters one must follow to build a portfolio without playing the "the landlord" game? There are many ways to skin a cat in this business, and value will trump all! If you can go a step further and eliminate headaches for your cash end buyer after the assignment is executed, well, you want to fish for life, correct? One doesn't have to, but it is almost worth getting your license and learning the trade first, then knowing the principles of business structuring and management. This is what will discern you in what one would call a "saturated" field. It may be saturated with people calling themselves wholesale investors. However, I can tell you this: 200 "so-called" investors in my county's REIA, including myself, and 6 of those 200 are currently doing deals. Meaning, out of the 200, there are only six of us that are always a common face, and there are 194 new faces at almost every meeting. The 194 are people that come and go into the business. The main reason is that they lack the functions and the business aspects of the trade.

Good question! However, to answer it, and for you to understand where I am coming from, one must put everything down, step back, relax, and pay attention to the business's functionality. It's like any other business at its most basic core, just like a sales transaction in all types of industries has the same basis. That base is to provide a service or utilize your knowledge of service to obtain an asset you can resell or rent for interest and profit. Within each business lies tokens of valuation rendered on top of the goods and services already formulated in doing the interaction, well, a company. For example, my real estate wholesaling business, Massachusetts Home Buyers LLC, at its very core, does what? Yes, you are correct; it's in the business of buying significantly low and reselling low. As time passes by, the business owner must get acclimated and flexible with the times, or they will experience a decline, simple as that. For example, numerous times this year, I was able to outbid other investors in the area (when I say "investors," I mean other entities related closely to my own business like that of "Home Visitors Franchisors).

What was my secret in outbidding all of these real estate investors? These are competitors that spend 10x the amount I do in ad spend, and some advertise on other media sources, such as television and billboards.  So how does a small town sole proprietor gain a foothold within a very competitive type of business?  You see, before delving into the beautiful world of real estate investing, I have some advantages.  That advantage was my pure knowledge within the industry.  No, not because "I am a know-it-all," but preferably have obtained a real estate license ten years prior and, for the most part, understood the semantics of the entire process.  Once you have the underlying processes down and memorize the functionalities within each of those processes, you will see that there will always be areas of strategical advantages that will give you a quick foothold on your competition (NO MATTER HOW BIG YOUR COMPETITOR IS OR THEIR EXPERIENCE)...

Now I have been a real estate broker within Massachusetts since I was 21 years old (as of the typing of this answer, I am 36 years old). Since the age of 21, I have owned and operated the same brokerage up until I began learning what I considered illegal at one time, the art of wholesaling real estate.  After learning the operation of wholesaling and our advertising online, I a little more than doubled my business revenue within an eighteen-month duration.  This increase was from $5,950,000.00 of overall sales volume (4-6 agents working at any given time) to $12,920,600.00 (of which I take home after expenses, rents, 60% of agents commissions, etc.), about 12-13% of that total revenue.  Thus, as you can see, I have seen massive changes in my life by incorporating a real estate wholesaling business within my well-established luxury home real estate business.  Wholesaling opened my mind up to create opportunities, all of which aligned with local and federal statutes.  

SO TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION " And who typically pays...closing costs? Title fees? Title insurance? Surveys? etc. etc...." THE ANSWER IS, TRADITIONALLY, THE CASH END BUYER. THE WHOLESALE INVESTORS VALUE IS JUST KEEPING THE DEALS FLUID AND CYCLICAL ON THE CASH INVESTORS RADAR.  ALMOST LIKE THE CASH BUYERS SECRET AGENT NINJA THAT WHEN THEY ARE TIED UP ON A FLIP, IS STEALTHILY LOOKING FOR THEIR NEXT PROJECT, AND ANOTHER AFTER THAT AND ANOTHER, BREAKING THE USUAL LULL BETWEEN AN INVESTORS FIX AND FLIPS.  I believe everyone should put in their fair share; however, it is what it is.  

1) A wholesaler pays for marketing and other lead generation activities.  

2 They qualify that leads they obtain

3. They execute a purchase and sales agreement between themselves and The Seller of the Property 

4. Now, having an equitable interest, the wholesaler's sole responsibility would be to finding a buyer and executing a second contract known as an assignment.  Once that agreement is complete, the wholesaler's obligation to close with the seller transfers to the cash end buyer.  The Buyer will then be responsible for closing with the seller and subject to all the costs associated with closing real estate.  Once transferred via an assignment contract, the cash end buyer will then conduct and pay for surveys, title inspections, etc., onto the cash end buyer.  Accept if there is a double escrow, then the wholesaler will need to pay for the closing fees when buying directly from the seller. 

STOP... Now # 5 is where I beat all those other competitors in my town!   I pay for title exams, inspections, survey the property, obtain the MLC's for the buyer, line them up with my attorney, or work with an attorney.  This CUT'S out a lot of work for the end cash buyer; They like that!  Most wholesalers don't because they simply DON'T HAVE TO. 

6. After finding a buyer, they execute an ASSIGNMENT CONTRACT WITH THE WHOLESALER.  I charge a higher premium to my assignment fee to cover some of the costs associated with the appraisals, inspections, title exams, etc. (the stuff the buyer doesn't have to do after executing the assignment with me). 

7. Traditionally, after the assignment executes, the cash end buyer gets insurance, inspect the home, run title, examine the executed P&S (the one your name is on), etc.. Meanwhile, the wholesaler doesn't HAVE TO pay anything in regards to the buyer's side for the closing. They would have to, however, if they couldn't find a buyer.

8. RECAP THE WHOLESALER CONDUCTS THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS: GENERATE LEADS, QUALIFY THE LEADS, CONTRACT WITH THE SELLER, EVALUATE THE DEAL (EXACT OPPOSITE FROM A TRADITIONAL STANDPOINT WHERE YOU WOULD WANT FIRST TO EVALUATE THE DEAL THEN DECIDE WHETHER TO GET IT UNDER CONTRACT OR NOT), PLAN EXIT STRATEGY (ASSIGNMENT OR DOUBLE CLOSE), CLOSE- REPEAT

COSTS OF EVERYTHING PAST THE ASSIGNMENT  

Tell him to call anybody he wants! I highly doubt he even has the attorney generals phone number without googling it LOL. I’d probably tell him where to go rudely and tell him to shut his mouth and I want to speak to his broker. Because I am a Massachusetts licensed broker and I could tell you right now with absolute certainty that it is not illegal and you are fine. 

I see this was years ago but still iMessage to people who are doing this. I have more confidence in yourself and what you were saying to the realtor don’t be afraid and don’t stumble over your words either. That just tells me that you’re a novice the guy probably thought this kid is a novice and when I head to scare you off of the deal. Guarantee if it was me over the line and he knew my background he would never even say that I could guarantee it at school if he did. Matter fact I’d have them get the attorney general on three-way call with me if you get a hold of him lI see this was years ago but still iMessage to people who are doing this. I have more confidence in yourself and what you were saying to the realtor don’t be afraid and don’t stumble over your words either. That just tells me that you’re a novice the guy probably thought this kid is a novice and when I head to scare you off of the deal. Guarantee if it was me over the line and he knew my background he would never even say that I could guarantee it at school if he did. Matter fact I’d have them get the attorney general on three-way call with me if you get a hold of em so I can make him look like an idiot.  i’d probably lie to them and say I didn’t have a license either just to have him go through the trouble looking like an idiot.

On the other hand I’m really not sure what transpired before this. You have to remember here when you get a property under contract no matter what it is you are not selling that property you were basically marketing the contract of your rights to buy the property yes you can add some amenities to the property to your listing basically giving the investor information about the home you are wholesaling but that is it you are basically marketing the contract of which the property is connected to not the property itself. Because if you were marketing the property itself they will be brokering without a license and that’s illegal.

On the other hand I’m really not sure what transpired before this. You have to remember here when you get a property under contract no matter what it is you are not selling that property you were basically marketing the contract of your rights to buy the property yes you can add some amenities to the property to your listing basically giving the investor information about the home you are wholesaling but that is it you are basically marketing the contract of which the property is connected to not the property itself. Because if you were marketing the property itself they will be brokering without a license and that’s illegal.

After reading your explanation above you are totally in the right and he’s an idiot. He was just trying to scare you off of the deal because he probably doesn’t wanna deal with a wholesaler and probably doesn’t have confidence that you will come through on your deal. However, regardless what he thinks is not up to him to be judge jury and extra execution on this matter. You shall submit your offer to his client and that’s it.

And don’t say you thought something. You did fine! Don’t get analysis paralysis people where you’re just learning and learning and learning and you’re never good enough or you’re too scared to move forward if you’re like that and you think you’re going to get arrested or in jail then wholesaling is not for you and you should stay away. The laws aren’t difficult to follow some are more stringent than others but they are easy 

Don’t be afraid to fail

forward.  And I’ll tell you what, it is not of his business what your exit strategy is just as long as you move forward with the deal if he asks you tell him I am not sure what my exit strategy for this for I am an investor and I have many other avenues I can take I can assure you that I will make sure that it is executed on day of closing. That’s all you say kind of leave the whole wholesaling thing out of the terminologies because honestly I hate that word and so does the real estate community keep the word “wholesale” for Amazon drop shipping.  what you say is I am an investor without most capability to close on this deal on day of closing and I am very interested at this price however due to my stringent schedule and multiple listings I may have to assign to one of my business partners were under the same umbrella that shouldn’t be a problem Willat? Watch how he stumbles over his own words and say yes. See how our utilize different language to get a different result? So what you wanna say always to another realtor do not call it wholesaling say you want to pass papers over to a business partner if indeed your schedule doesn’t allow for it. Tell him you’re doing it to ensure that it is closed and closed on date then be quiet let him talk. I can tell you this right now that wholesaling will never be illegal ever no matter white even in Chicago where people say it is “illegal“ it is not. If anybody would ban wholesaling this would be a communist country. However, as a wholesaler or wholesale investor you need to be careful the way you use your term Termanology and how you market your deal.  Never say “ I have a property under contract“ a proper way to say this is “I have a deal that is on assignment of contract”

 I will have to agree with @Mark Monroe with this one @Ryan Phu... To be honest with you, it sounds that you are just beginning to learn about wholesaling and creative finance tactics altogether.  Basically, it sounds like you just got your learner's permit to fly a small personal non-commercial plane, and instead, you went out and bought a fighter jet...  It was your first day at the Karate dojo and you entered signed up for the Mui Thai one on one mortal combat fight to the death...   The reason why Joe's material seems like that to you is that his courses are made for people who have done this stuff for a while... I am totally not judging your either, for all I know you have been doing this for 20 years, however, by what you're saying, well, it's sorta a dead giveaway...  For example, I have done over 200 deals in my life including a current subject to a portfolio of 12 homes and counting all but 2 with lease option wraps...  I Will be cashing out on more than half of them in January (which all were obtained before the heightened seller's market and covid 19)... It sounds like you need a less advanced system which is totally not a bad thing, and Joe, although is awesome and a great asset to the industry, if inherently a slob-like dude, who before having success with this lease option stuff, had a "good enough" type of attitude...  I met him many times before awesome GUY but you can definitely tell the dude is the biggest slacker in the world (for example: if he knows that going the long way will benefit him greatly but will be hard in the process, but cutting through the backyard to avoid the long-distance of wearing will be better, he will most definitely take the short cut!

He's a great investor and I can't knock him- he's just trying to capitalize on the era of online explicit coaching and guru representation CTA campaigns... But he is the real deal!  But to be honest my man- Joe is an awesome dude and means no harm, but I could have taught you 99.9% of the stuff you paid $1,500.00 FOR FREE...

ALL HE DID WAS THE BASIC FORMULA (JUST WITH HIS "GOOD ENOUGH" RUSH WAY OF DOING THINGS)

1) HE DEFINES LEASE OPTION

2) AND DREW YOU IN BE GIVING YOU A SMALL VALUABLE VIDEO EXPLAINING THE STEPS

3) LEFT YOU WITH A CALL TO ACTION 

4) HE COMPILED ALL HIS VIDEOS (YOU CAN SEARCH THE NET AND GET THEM ALL ANYWAY FOR FREE)... HE JUST CONSOLIDATED THEM ALL ALONG WITH HIS PDF CONTRACTS (WHICH ARE ALSO ALL OVER THE INTERNET) INTO ONE CENTRALIZED AREA... 

5) He ADDED MORE OF THE SMALL NUGGET VIDEOS TAKING A SIMPLE PROCESS AND BREAKING IT DOWN LITTLE BY LITTLE (NOT SO MUCH FOR UNDERSTANDING PURPOSES) BUT MORE TO MAKE PROGRAM MORE ROBUST AND EVENTFUL 

6) AND USED SIMPLE JSON CODING AND SQL (LIKE ZAPIER AND GLOBIFLOW) which can be done by using WordPress quite easily and created a lease option customer data entry base (CALLING IT THE LEASE OPTION THIS AND THE LEASE OPTION THAT DATABASE) It's basically the large packaged smoke and mirrors with a little touch of value and abundance simultaneously being thrown at you that will cause you to do one of two things (which is kind of the goal)  1) You get overwhelmed instead of focused and quit, or 2) you ignore all of his "upsells" and focus on the material you have and use what he gives you to the utmost extent... You don't need a freaking system that costs $1,500 to do lease options, my man... I guarantee I can get you 2 deals by FEB (NO COST TO YOU) and dude, I am not kidding you!  Matter of fact, I bet my sons college fund, that I can guarantee you a deal (specifically lease option deal) within 2-3 weeks MAX... 

Very poor advice I must say on this thread. My name is Gary and I am a Real Estate Broker and Wholesaler, the advice given here is utterly false.  No offense to anyone on this thread for I am sure you are all sharp as a tack, enthusiastic as hell and experts in your field and I am in no shape or form downlplaying your opinions.. I respect your opinion, however, extremely disagree.  

Questions: Can a person wholesale pretty homes that need little to 0 work?

Answer: Yes, and I have done it countless times.  

Now instead of going off on a tangent, I’m going to briefly list the positives and negatives of doing so, followed up with how to do such a deal.  

Again, I am a Broker in (2) different states (MA and RI) for the last 25 years.  So I would like to think I know a thing or two about that subject.  Not to mention also my brokerage has been awarded the best service in Plymouth county MA by the National Board of Realtors 4 years consecutively and counting.  

I digress, back to the underlying question of “Can one wholesale pretty houses”.  

Concrete answer (with proof): Yes you can!  Also, the failure rate in both real estate salesperson and Wholesaling is nowhere near 99% so do not worry about that one.  It is NOT illegal in the slightest.  People say it’s illegal because they ignore its parameters and look at it in a different light.  Sort of like a person with tattoos on their face but dedicates their life in assisting the poor and unfortunate. People knock wholesaling before learning actually what it is.  

Let’s Define the differences 

Brokering A Deal: Is when a person who MUST be licensed and either independently or with a firm, who’s primary action is arranging  transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed.

Wholesaling a Deal: Is the process of getting a property under contract and then assigning that contract to another buyer – one who plans on rehabbing it themselves.

See the difference.  Unlike a broker / Realtor the wholesaler is actually a principal in the transaction because the wholesaler is bound by the terms of the purchase or option contract and has money (a/k/a consideration) or the risk of causing damages on the line if they don't close. Whereas a broker / Realtor simply lists a property for sale and if it sells they earn a commission and if it doesn't sell then they typically earn nothing. Bigger risk equals bigger reward.

If wholesaling was illegal, a person wouldn’t be able to sell their home for sale by owner.  A wholesaler is actually establishing a controlled amount of risk in the transaction, whereas the  Broker, has no risk vested in the transaction accept losing their client (whether buyer or seller)...

A Broker and/or agent is hired by a buyer or seller to bring bother parties together through marketing .

A wholesaler isn’t hired by anyone, instead, actually controls the property through what is called “equitable interest”.  Equitable title means, that unlike the hired agent or Broker, the. wholesaler is in the deal independently and not representing FOR ANOTHER.  

Where people get them confused is that both acts connect Buyer and Sellers but in complete different ways.  

1. The Broker advertises the PROPERTY that they list to attract buyers and or their agents.  

2. The Wholesaler advertises the DEAL executed on a purchase and sales agreement to another investor for a profit. 

Some people wholesale without even knowing it. For example, my aunt put a nonrefundable earnest money deposit down on a property in the amount of $2,500.00.  She had all intentions to buy obviously because she wouldn’t have put down $2,500 EMD if she had not.  Mind you she doesn’t even know how to spell real estate nevermind knowing how to wholesale.  In any event, she was diagnosed with cancer and needed a emergency surgery to rid her body from the tumor.  During this time, her son tried to back out of the deal with high was fine but she was told that the EMD was nonrefundable and that his mother had signed a P&S Agreeing to this.  Out $2,500 and desperately needing money for hospital bills, he remembered that his best friend was simultaneously looking for a home similar to the one his mom had under contract, as well as wanted to move in that area as well.  Stead of taking a loss of $2500 he assigned the deal to his friend for a fee of $10,000... The homes Purchase Price was $260,000 and his friend had $300,000 to buy a home... The home was actually $325,000 (seller originally deducted the price due to the home needing just outside paint of which his friend could do himself   So, without a Broker or Agent, his mom gracefully assigned the deal to his friend for $270,000 of which he successfully closed 2 weeks later... Now if the son was advertising the “Property”, then by law, he would be breaking the law for that is “Brokering Without A License”.. However since the woman gave her son “power of attorney” when in the hospital, he acted on her behalf , which was the “party who controlled the equitable interest”...  In essence, they simply assigned their right to buy the home the sons buddy who stepped in their shoes as the Buyer... When the friend closed they recieved $10,000 since the difference between $260k and $270,000... 

Where some novice investors get it wrong is when they advertise the Property instead of the discounted deal they have.  Anyone can sell their right to buy something. Also, there is no such thing as a “wholesaler” but rather a “investor who wholesale’s real estate”... One can get a better grasp looking at it as a investment strategy conducted by a real estate investor.   Not illegal unless one does it incorrectly and who doesn’t have a vested interest.  

To answer your question, a wholesale strategy is to project value for both buyer and seller utilizing your own risk in the deal. So that being said, you can wholesale a pretty home just have to ensure the number works for all parties and the right Buyer is lined up... This buyer would either be a buy and rent out buyer or a investor as well who wants to add a couple of hundred SF to the home or another bathroom to increase its value then resell quickly... Example: The seller is listing a property that has a Fair market value of $385,000 The seller bought the home 6 years ago and did major renovations. The seller purchased the home for $165,000 is reselling 6 years later for $410,000.00. Since you are aware the FMV in the area is $385,000 you offer the owner $320,000 even... After working your negotiation strategy you get it under contract for $335,000 and has roughly $5-6,000 worth of renovations left to do... You then find a buyer who fits description above or a retail Buyer who would pay in cash using private loan etc for $350,000... That - $35,000 equity for that buyer...

-You Win by assigning the retail deal at a discount of $35,000 off of FMV. You make the difference between $350,000 and $335,000 which is $15,000

-The Seller makes $170,000 profit and their home sold 

-New Buyer purchase home for $35,000 off of fair retail price... 

Win Win Win   

The trick is, no matter what kind of gone home it is, if you can buy at a price that works for the seller, is lower than listing along with the overall FMV and pass that negotiated discount to either a investor or retail buyer, that my friend, is value added

As long as you are making a profit while simultaneously making sure all parties will be happy at the end of the day- you can wholesale anything.  Just with broken down fixers, a investor has a ton more negotiation power and more flow of investors rather than a particular purchaser.   Make sense? 

Yes you can!  However, like others have stated on the thread, unlikely if you’re brand new.  Also it would be creativity that would need to be the deciding factors as well as offsetting capital gains hits.  If you are just starting out, do one deal at a time.  Fill the white space up on your calendar.  When everyone else is out partying having a good time, be home thinking and brainstorming your next plan and TAKE ACTION.  My wife and I have made well over $1 million actually near $2.5 million at the moment however, we still currently live as we did before we began wholesaling real estate. Albeit, it has taken us to make almost $3,000,000.00 since we both started in 2013 up to today (not quite 1 year) but accelerated pretty beyond what others would have imagined. How? Thinking outside the box. This past year (2020) we still wholesale real estate however have  began to  sublet rental units which we are trying to scale for cash flow -( just creative stuff and lease optioning  now since corona virus ).  As of now we have over 16 rental units producing us around $42,500 per month of cash flow.  It’s basically us making money off of properties we don’t even own.  Now i’m not talking that Air bnb stuff (although we will tap into that world after the shaky virus precautions). We are now beginning to make cash flow and to be honest, we are now aiming, like we did wholesaling, to scale our lease option business.  But, it all depends how creative you are and how much WILL power you have to succeed.  Sadly these days, with the generation after mine, it’s like they don’t know how to think.  Right now we are currently at 6 lease options a month picking up with a certain niche we have.  We leverage our “close escrow downpayment deals” usually anywhere from $25,000-$50,000..... We will pay our from there however again, consistency is key and creativity.  If you cannot afford the man power, think to yourself “how can I afford the man power” and it will come together from there.  We are determined to act as if (act as if we have no money to pay, we act as if we are living paycheck to paycheck - we do this so bad that at night before going to sleep we look at each other like we seen a ghost and say “imagine”... We will move into something more comfortable in the next 3 years.   That was out goal and all money made is either in a 1031 to grab up more or put into other asset producing engines.  We only put $10,000 in retained earnings in our business only. and the rest is history.  So anyway, making a million within a year, sure anything is possible, I just don’t see too many people these days with that drive unless of course your making $100,000 spreads and with wholesaling , spreads , as it was for us averaged $15,000 per deal however every 20 deals or 25 deals we would have a HuGE spread - So about (now) 4 large deals in 2020 - One being $165,000, $85,000, and the last $56,500.00- We are due 3-4 more (hopefully ) scattered anything over $50,000.00.  But a majority we do are average $15,000.  now that’s only avg.  - Like for instance last week we closed on a deal for $9,000.  So of course there are anomalies. However, we are focusing more on creative style now using least amount of our own money if not none on deals.  So making a million in one year, yes doable but highly unlikely.  However, making $120,000 in a year most def doable! Then you increase - wait until you hit that big BREAK!  All successful investors will find that “ Break”.  Like a niche, an advantage over the rest, a head start amongst competition.  Ours came our 2nd year which pertained to how we get a steady flow of leads (sellers) that are either failed loan modification, failed refi, and/ or preforeclosures come  come to us.  Why though? Because we genuinely want to HELP others and referrals are KING i tell you !  There has been many times when leads come to me in preforeclosure, ready to sell their home for next to nothing and I, with their permission, work out a loan modification with their lender helping their payment plan and writing them our tactics that I tailored made to eliminate debt by using a few trusted applications.  I dig deep with these leads and have helped a lot of people.  One fanily we didn’t end up flipping their home however I was able to literally stop their foreclosure process.  I looked like a hero and felt like one.  People will say, “you didn’t make money moron” well that maybe true, however do you understand how many referrals you get from one person? It’s mind blowing. So we are known to genuinely help those in need ( the $3,000,000 well $2.5 million honestly is just a byproduct of helping others and finding solutions when others cannot in stressful times). My best advice “Stay away from those coaches and people promising to make you millions just to sell you a course or the next “ shiny object “ ignore it ! Take action and don’t get analysis paralysis 

 Also to add to your eloquent statement above, not only learn, but TAKE ACTION while you learn.  Fail Forward!  Don’t get too caught up in “the books” because what you will get is analysis paralysis and never get as far as the last chapter.  Yes knowledge is only half the power, but is rendered useless if you do not take action!  

Yes, read, but take ACTION on what you read almost immediately.  There will never be a “perfect time” to do it.  I’ve been in Real Estate for 25 years and own well over a $25 million rental portfolio.... I learned as I went while others “weren’t quite ready yet- or didn’t read enough”   My first successful deal I practically didn’t even know what a purchase and sales agreement was.  But I was determined to learn and not afraid to fail.  Those who wanted to “play it safe” are safely mediocre and middle class, that with one more swipe from natural disasters such as another pandemic would wipe them out.  

I beg the differ - As you can see, I am

wheeling and dealing.   

Actually although I Wholesale, I’m a license realtor 2010.  People confuse the whole “wholesaler” label like it’s a profession.  The word is only to describe in present tense during a transaction, the wholesaler in a transaction is called a real estate investor and it could virtually be anyone.  Wholesaling real estate is like any other business who retails a good or service.  So basically, wholesaling real estate is done by either an investor, agent, broker, or anyone. Wholesaling is the most basics form of property transactions.  Just ignoring it.  As a salesperson all that is that you usually make (although it negotiable) 2-3.5 % agency commission whether you rep a buyer or seller under a brokers lead generation.   The Broker can either deal directly or disperse his lead flow to satellite sales people aka real estate agents.  Agents, unlike investors, do not have to control a property, rather they represent FOR ANOTHER individual (either buyer or seller) and facilitate the property directly as a liaison to either buyer or seller For property directly.  Now a non licensed investor ( What you guys are calling a wholesaler is equivalent- to calling a barber a Fade  or a plumber a  pipe, cannot directly represent For Another but rather for themselves.  Which unlike realtors, they need to CONTROL the deal to see a profit. So, when investor truly wholesales they are not marketing the property they are marketing the paperwork to purchase the property.  so in layman‘s terms the investor is basically shouting “hey everybody look at this paperwork I have with this awesome discounted deal on it anybody want it anybody want it? If you want it it will be six to $10,000 fee but you can make over $100,000”.  A non-licensed investor cannot market a property unless he or she owns that property. And I’m not talking about having control which is also called equitable interest although that does give them a right under law to market the deal not the property directly like that of a sales person. The only time an average Joe without a license could market the property directly is if he or she actually owned the property directly then they could market it as the property they have for sale. If this was illegal then FSBOs would be illegal or selling your house would be illegal without using a realtor.  however, if your neighbor was trying to sell their house but couldn’t and you went over there and you signed a purchase and sales agreement saying that you will buy it or assign it to somebody else I would buy it then that’s perfectly fine but when you present this deal to somebody you present to them the paperwork the paperwork will indirectly collect the actual tangible real estate you cannot market directly the real estate only the paperwork unless you had a license.  so again wholesaling is only a method in the big world of real estate and it’s part of real estate a big part of it actually so it’s best not to just ignore it it’s like knowing everything about math but you never learned how to subtract but you know how to divide you know geometry and you know how complex trigonometry but you don’t know how to simply subtract that is almost equivalent of ignoring the art of wholesaling real estate. As for wholesalers, again big misconception, there are no such thing as a wholesaler. Investors conduct wholesaling transactions or maybe they’re referred to in a transaction as a “wholesaler“ but that’s just equivalent of calling somebody owner or buyer or assignee or assignor it’s not really the art the art is reflected as an investor. Again it’s equivalent of calling an electrician a light switch.   and the reason why most newbie Investors I washed out within six months is because they’re sold on just about everything that the Internet throws at them. I see it today almost every YouTube channel has a get rich quick scheme to learn people and promised them quick money. I’ve made hundreds of thousands of dollars in both retail RealEstate and Investor arbitrage RealEstate both sides of the spectrum and I can tell you that I personally know a lot of these girls and I could address this right now that they are millionaires and they know exactly what they’re doing. However they know they just feeding people that really don’t know real estate too well other than they saw a commercial about it and found out they can make a lot of money, they just want that first paid credit card payment you times that by 100,000 people pawn you got yourself another revenue stream in addition to real estate so that’s the problem. A lot of people that never really had any interest in real estate per se, watch these YouTube gurus who fancy up their videos with colorful thumbnails in them living the highlife showing the simplicity of it but do not show the hard work, actually talking to people in which I think millennials have a hard time doing, interacting, as well as not getting held up on analysis paralysis. The worst thing one can do when starting real estate is taking course after course of the course of the course and not doing anything. Of course always in enrich your knowledge in real estate but at the same time take action quickly do not wait even if you don’t know something 100% free stylet kick it out and take care of it as you go along fail forward that’s the only way you’ll become successful in both being a real estate agent and being a real estate investor. You must act regardless if you don’t know something 100%. The fact is you will never know it 100% and you will get caught up in analysis paralysis which human nature finds very boring after awhile.  Coupled with this analysis paralysis, they see no money coming in - why even tell some new investors, at least get an on market property under contract and I go Chiate it down at least 10 to 20% below median make sure it needs TLC then assign it just make sure it’s not an Oreo assignment for low money like 150 $2000. Even though they don’t know it and I know they at least got a check for $2000 what that does is incentivize them to learn more however to move forward as they learn.  People get washed up because they have the mindset such as, “OK this one more audiobook and this one more seminar then I’ll do my first deal, wait let me do a couple more seminars let me study this for about six months then I’ll do my first deal I’ll be ready then-during this time they’re not getting any money and they’re losing interest as they keep learning the same repetitive routines over and over because every book no matter how fancy the marketing is if it’s about real estate investing, it all touches the same methods.