@Tyler Belliston
Congratulations on your pursuit of becoming a wholesaler! It's nice to see that you are getting into REI at a young age. I was 27 when I started...
I will asnwer the question about how to find cash buyers. I have about 20 ways and below I will list 10 of them for you to get started. I hope this helps you and good luck!
1) Craigslist: Go to Craigslist and look under the “apartment/housing” category. This is the section that shows rentals. Anyone who has a home for rent, rent to own or “lease purchase is an investor. Contact them. If they have homes for rent, they may need other rental properties to add to their portfolio. Look for terms like “completely renovated” You can also place ads for properties you have for sale as well as “Ghost Ads” to build your buyers list.
2) Google Search: Google is my secret weapon. Really. If I can’t figure it out, find it or just need more information, I almost always just “ask Google”. And, I do the same thing to find buyers for my wholesale houses. You can just type in, “we buy houses” or “cash for houses” in your area or city and you’ll find plenty of A-plus buyers. I’ve flipped many houses to buyers in under 3 hours using this simple search alone.
3) ListSource: Probably one of my favorite (paid) sources online. Finding the correct filter is the key to getting cash buyers from ListSource. These records cost approximately .08-.10 each. You can search for free until you get the list tweaked, then purchase with a credit card and download the list. If I were just starting I would buy a list from here and mail them a postcard right away!
4) MLS Cash Sales: You can also have an agent pull all cash transactions where no mortgage was recorded. Most MLS systems have this filter but you'll need to establish a relationship with an investor friendly agent to get this information emailed to you in a spreadsheet. You'll have to sort through the data and there are paid alternatives to this that will save a lot of time.
5) Postcards: I’ve been using postcards for over 15 years. They don’t have to be fancy or expensive. What they do have to be is targeted and show the benefit of using you to the investor. So forget about telling the investor all about you and how great you are, and focus on telling the investor how you’ll solve all his or her problems by finding the very best deals. Example: “save time and money by calling us and have us do all the work for you”.
6) Other Wholesalers: This is a little trick I use to find investors. Many wholesalers list the homes they’ve recently sold. Guess what, many of these homes are sold to investors. So simply copy and paste the address and then see who bought it. And Viola! You’ve got a new investor you can contact. And you know how much this investor paid for the property and where he’s buying.
7) Bandit Signs: Put up bandit signs in the neighborhood’s you want to sell homes in. And here’s the key, don’t make them all fancy. I use black magic marker and hand write all my signs. Actually, I hire people to do it, but you get the idea. Make it look like you’re an individual, not some fancy company. Buyers pay attention to these signs. Do this every time you have a property for sale. If you don’t still do it with a “ghost” property or another wholesalers property until you have your own inventory.
8) HUD Landlords (Section 8): Get a list of Section 8 properties for rent from HUD. This list will have the property addresses, bedrooms and more importantly the investors name an phone number. You can then call them or mail a postcard to these investors letting them know that you have discounted properties for sale in the area near where they already have a house. Ask them if they would mind if you contacted them when you had a great deal. Most will say "YES". Then add them to your list of lower end houses. We buy and sell all price range houses!
9) HUD Foreclosures: The HUD home store is a great source of investors. All you have to do is go there and look at previous bid results. Record each sale in a spreadsheet, then cross reference the property address in public records to get the investor name and mailing address. We use the property appraiser website in our area. You can also record the agents name in the transaction as many times they specialize in HUD Foreclosures and
10) Flat Fee MLS: Pay a flat fee to get your listing into the MLS. This way, every real estate agent with access to the MLS can potentially show your properties to investors. It's a small fee to pay for all the exposure you get. In the remarks section put the following - "Investor Special" or "Handyman Special" to insure you get investor activity. Make sure to put "will work with buyers agent", or "will pay co-op" if you want them to show your property. Use your lock box and make sure you or your assistant is the point of contact.
