All Forum Posts by: Ryan Igbanol

Hi BPers,

First, thanks to all who replied to my first post about possibly walking away from my wholesaling "mentor," who I suspect is holding me back.  

As I continue learning about the wholesaling business while ramping up my marketing and expanding into new geographies, I wonder about the fundamentals of the business model.  In my experience, there are A LOT of failure points that stand in the way of moving from finding leads to closing day a.k.a. getting-paid-day.

When folks say that wholesaling is hard work, I haven't yet seen anyone describe it as so because of all the failure points built into the model.  Specific to my situation, I'm finding that unreliability is the most significant failure point.  I'm seeing unreliability among prospective sellers, folks who say they're serious buyers and folks I send to look at a property to take photos and analyze it, etc., yet don't actually visit the property.  With sellers, I've seen some who proclaim their dire need to sell yet don't return phone calls or  give you phone numbers that are disconnected within days or go to voicemail boxes that are full.  With buyers, I'm experiencing, among other things, folks who give me their contact info, tell me they're interested, yet don't return e-mails. 

Frankly, it seems the only reliable aspect of wholesaling is vendors - list vendors, mail vendors, etc - who gladly take my money for services rendered.

So BPers, I'm hoping something's gotta give, but I'm also not trying to hit $10,000 grand out of pocket on marketing and other expenses, and still not have done a deal.  I'd appreciate your insight into my conundrum.

Excellent idea, Lucas.  So that I don't post these prospective deals in the wrong forum area, is this the proper topic to do so?

@Dwain Beckford I won't say that I'm learning, but I learn much more from the BP forums and the treasure trove of free information that I consume online.  

I wouldn't be as wary if the deal rejections were more structured and consistent. For example, some times she says there are too many boarded up properties on the block. Other times, she will offer up only a single lower priced comparable and state that because that single property sold for less, we won't be able to move the prospective deal. Consistent responses should feature analysis including ARV, 3+ comparables, etc. - not just stating an offer price with a brief mention that some other property down the block took X days to sell.

As for comparables, anyone with access to Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, Redfin, Findcompsnow and others, can run them.

And finally, I'd rather make a few mistakes by offering what might not be a great deal or two to my buyers list if it helps me determine a good deal from a lousy one.  I don't believe in making perfect the enemy of the good.

Happy Friday, BPers!

This is my first BP post, which I am compelled to write based on my experience attempting to wholesale with a mentor.

The background: I signed an agreement with local (Philly) wholesaler that says we must use her LLC, her buyers, and her contract for my first three wholesale closings in exchange for her "mentoring" me.

However, I am concerned that the arrangement is stifling my personal growth and money making ability.  Over the past two months, I've been securing leads through mail marketing, bandit signs and driving for dollars.  I pay for everything and do all the running around meeting with prospective sellers.  Our agreement requires that I take all incoming seller calls, schedule property visits, take photos during property visits, research outstanding taxes and utilities, and run all of it through the mentor.  Unfortunately, she is slow to respond to this information and sometimes sends contradictory information about whether and for how much to make offers.  

During the past two months, I've secured about 40 leads, but have only signed one contract with a seller in large part because the mentor torpedoes the leads - either through prohibiting offers or making outrageously low offers, which aren't even in the same ballpark with what the sellers ask.

While I realize it's wholesaler suicide to sign a bad contract, i.e. price is too high, with a seller, I am concerned that the mentor's buyers list is very small and inactive.  Actually, it seems that if she can't match a specific buyer, in advance, to a potential deal, she scuppers the whole thing.  And since I must do three deals with her before I can do one with my own contracts and buyers, we could be playing this game a year from now and not have done three closings together.

So that's the skinny.  I'm looking for some seasoned guidance from the BP Nation on how I can improve my situation and move from this ponderous approach to closing on good deals.  I've been building my own buyers list for the past month and it's near 6,000 entries (obviously, I need to build rapport with buyers, but I can't do that if I'm prohibited from sharing deals with them).  Should I suggest to the mentor that we try marketing to my buyers list?