All Forum Posts by: Christy Barton

Hi Jerome!  Welcome to BP! My husband and I are wholesalers in Indianapolis and we've been on this journey for just over a year now. There are tons of resources here on BP that you can use to learn more about all aspects of real estate. I'd highly recommend checking out the podcasts 12 & 18. There's also a lot of good reads on the blogs so check those out, too. 

There are plenty of pros here that would be happy to help you along your journey so don't try to go at this alone.  Do you know any other wholesalers in your area?

Since wholesaling is all about marketing, can you share what you are currently doing or planning to do to bring deals your way?

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Whatever you don't, just don't give up!

If you do mailing, know that it's a numbers game.  You can expect to get about a 3% response rate for the letters you send and out of those, few will be motivated enough to sell.  Don't be discouraged by this, though.  One thing we did in the beginning was post flyers in places like laundromats and other places that allowed us to hang our flyer.  We also posted ads on Craigslist and guess what - we got our first and best deal yet from the free ad on Craigslist.  It's all about consistency!  

If you don't have the money to spend hundreds or thousands on sending out direct mail,  you could always print out the letters yourself and handwrite the envelopes.  This is another thing we had to do in the beginning.  Is this time consuming?  Yes.  But I was able to handwrite about 40 envelopes an hour.  There's postage to consider but despite what the gurus say, it's very difficult to start out as a wholesaler without investing a little into your business.

Keep me posted on your progress, ok?  You can do this!

Hi there Brandt!  Welcome to BP!  My husband and I are wholesalers in Indianapolis and we've been on this journey for just over a year now.  There are tons of resources here on BP that you can use to learn more about all aspects of real estate.  I'd highly recommend checking out the podcasts 12 & 18.  There's also a lot of good reads on the blogs so check those out, too.  If you haven't already set up key alerts you can use those to track topics or people posting in Nashville or about Nashville.  

What is your plan for marketing?  If you haven't already figured it out, wholesaling is all about marketing!  :)  We learned the hard way and sent out tons of letters without having a good system in place to track and follow up on leads.  I'd highly recommend tailoring the amount of mail you send to the amount of call volume you can handle.  

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.  

Whatever you don't, just don't give up!

First off, I love the fact that you are putting in serious work and mustering up the courage it takes to go door knocking.  I also really admire the persistence you're showing by handing everyone you know a business card and telling them about what you're looking to do.  I need to get better at this.  

The only thing I'd question is this: do you think you could get better results by sending out mail to motivated sellers?  I know you want to focus on your neighborhood but honestly, you might have better luck if you broaden your search.  

Don't be so hard on yourself.  Your tenacity is inspirational!  I just don't want you to get burnt out and quit within your first week.  Hearing a lot of no's and getting doors slammed in your face is bound to wear on you over time.  

This is just my two cents.  Whatever you do, don't give up!

Very nice job!  I really like the tile work you did in the kitchen and bath.  Looking at these pics makes me really look forward to our first flip.  Keep up the good work!

I don't live in Houston but there were a few other companies we checked out before eventually going with Listsource.  I think their prices are fair and their site is very user friendly.  

Thank you Tom V and & Manolo D for the helpful advice.  I realize if I'm constantly changing my mind about some of the cosmetics or constantly adding additional work to the contract that things won't finish on time - but it's still good to know that penalties per day being late are somewhat common practice and I definitely plan to use them for our rehabs.  I'm used to seeing very detailed contracts from A/E clients I have and plan to use some of their techniques when budgeting future deals.  Again, thank you for your responses!

Wholesalers have a bad rap for a list of reasons.  We're not all bad, though.  My husband has his RE license and soon I will have mine.  Wholesalers definitely provide a service to investors that most agents can't, and that's good deals.  Agents think of the short term commission for one sale and not the long term commission to be had by investors willing to buy multiple properties.  @Stephen Barton is a bit different because as an agent with an investor mindset, he wants to help his end buyer get the best value without taking advantage of the homeowner.  Why?  Because he understands the best marketing is word of mouth and repeat business.

Wholesalers (like agents) have clients too, and if they don't provide a good service, they will die out. It's all about bringing people together. A good wholesaler finds motivated sellers (typically these are landlords who have already made their money and looking to retire) and help them sell fast. Most of these motivated sellers have no desire to deal with listing on the MLS and dealing with persnickety buyers. Other motivated sellers are in bad situations because of cirmcumstances either beyond their control or unwise decisions they've made. Regardless, the chances of an agent finding them is rare. The chances of connecting these sellers with an all cash buyer is even more rare.

As someone who's had some exposure to the A&E industry, I know how important it is that projects finish on time and on or under budget (preferably the ladder).  This same rule applies when trying to manage contractors on flip projects - yet I see very little in the forums/blogs about the importance of a timeline.  Are others budgeting their flip projects down at the phase levels, then created subphases and tasks with est. start/completion dates?  If so, how well do contractors respond to such detail and does this level of budgeting really help to keep things moving at the right pace?  Are incentives used to keep your contractors on target?  Are there penalties for missed deadlines?

Thanks @Andy M.

After thinking about this more, I realized that we really don't follow a hard-fast rule (like you suggested against in your first post).  We always look to at least get 5k, otherwise we most likely won't touch it.  On a deal back a few months ago, the fee was $15k because the deal had enough meat on the bone to help make that happen.  We have only been doing this for just over a year and you're right, the margins here are lower because the overall price of the homes is smaller. 

I appreciate your input!  :)