All Forum Posts by: Jacob Michaels

@Kathleen Miles One of the previous posters gave good advice: find a new, hungry agent to work with to write lowball offers for you. 

I'm a wholesaler but I don't work with agents this way, however. Rather the best value-add is to source off-market deals yourself through marketing direct to potential sellers, put them under contract at a great price, then you can use an agent to sell the property at a top price on the MLS.

You create no fiduciary pitfalls for the agents, as the only agent you are working with is the one who works for you. They will try to get you the price you need, in the time frame you need. Also, they benefit doubly by being able to both collect on the buyer's agent fee as well as the seller's---approx 6%. 

@Gabriel Perez I want to second your recommendation. Sean Terry is a big time wholesaler out of Phoenix, and his flip2freedom course is very detailed and worth every penny---although you can get most of the info from him for free through his 100+ podcasts and youtube videos. Seriously. 

I would highly recommend newbies get some quality training, and I do privately recommend people check him out. There's also a lot of other big time wholesalers with great quality info out for free. Just google them. 

I don't get paid anything for saying this, it's just good advice for newbies looking for direction. 

@J Scott All very good points you've made. As a wholesaler, I can appreciate exactly where you're coming from, and agree with most of them. 

I actually use some of the techniques you suggest with good success, like bouncing deals and prices off my good buyers. And I let them know that I'm giving them first crack at it. I like to keep a collaborative relationship with my buyers, making sure we both can make money off the property.

For newbie wholesalers: I have my buyers introduce themselves as one of my "funding partners". 100% true and accurate and everyone feels comfortable. I believe my buyers are in essence, my partners in my business, and I try to make a win-win all around. 

I've been trying to offer the other side's perspective, for education purposes. I do not do email blasts, and my deals are my own negotiated deals. 

And my deals are usually decent deals. 

Two I'm selling/closing on this week for $20k and $22k have so much meat left on them that my buyer---actually another wholesaler/investor, to give you an idea of the meat--- could slap $10k on top of each and sell them as-is to hispanic cash buyers looking for a good deal to fix up or live in.

And it would be a great bargain for these buyers. ARV would be $50k+ with moderate work needed.

But sometimes the deals are not that good. Wholesaling brings a mixed bag, and the market is the judge, not the wholesaler. 

Maybe you're right. Or "crap-salers" or "junk finders" or "trash pushers". 

But again, apparently some people are actually buying that crap. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Who are we to judge. 

Buyers have different criteria. Someone might be willing to "overpay" simply because they live down the street and want a house for their mother, for example. 

 Again, I understand the sentiment. Wholesalers trying to get as much out of the deal as possible. This does not mean that they should be skinning the meat off the kill and sending you the bones, I mean wholesalers need to be trying to get the highest price possible, while still leaving a deal for the buyers. 

But let's make it clear, they are working to make the most profitable business possible. They are working for their own short & long-term interests, which are not always aligned with individual buyers' interests.

This is the same as a rehabber trying to sell their rehabbed house for the highest price possible. The realtor they sell through might think they shouldn't ask for as high a price, as they can get it sold faster for cheaper and it'd make the realtor's job easier. True, but their interests are not necessarily always aligned. 

And I use the word "need" loosely. But generally, businesses should charge the most that the market will support to be as profitable as possible. "What the market supports" is the key point here.

@Brandon G. Google "Dallas CAD" (county appraisal district) or any county "CAD"

@Muhammad Sharif I'm a DFW wholesaler. PM me with exactly what you're looking for, cash price budget, stomach for repairs, towns/zip codes, etc and your contact info.

I've got several properties under contract right now, closing on 3 this month, but I don't know what you want.

@Ryan Mullin There are going to be newbies in everything. Rentals, rehabs, wholesales, even non real estate related. The first couple days for baristas in a coffee shop make them look bad. But isn't that life?

If a wholesaler isn't putting out good deals, everyone has the freedom to ignore them. If the coffee is consistently bad, don't go to the shop. 

I think what is more likely is that you will see some of these wholesalers start to put out better (more accurate) deals over time. 

 I completely understand where you're coming from Chris. As a wholesaler myself, who does not do email blasts but sees what other other wholesalers send out, I can see that a lot of the deals are not that great. 

The challenge as a wholesaler is that we need to get as high a price as possible, and in order to do that we need to put the deal out there to anybody and everybody. 

Because maybe not you, but that crappy deal might be a decent deal to someone else. And they'd be willing to pay more because of it. 

Wholesalers are putting those marginal deals out there at those prices because it works. Otherwise if it didn't work, they wouldn't do it. There are buyers willing to pay those prices