Is there anything else I need to know to make my first wholesale?

Here’s where I am at:

*read up on wholesaling from several different sources (Robert Kyosaki, Russ Whitney, and this website)

*did the “driving for dollars” and found 11 boarded up houses (obviously I plan on finding more)

*located all the info on those houses through my county tax assessors office online

*attempted to contact the home owners via phone, no such luck

*post cards are going in the mail as soon as all my ducks are in line

*contacted 2 buyers so far

*have copies of both “purchase and sale agreement” and “assignment of contract” (I will have my lawyer review these before I put an offer in to make sure I don’t need to change anything on them)

*looked at the comps on zillow.com

*contacted several different realtors, but none seemed interested in working with me after I told them what I was doing, and explained to them that I would not be willing to sign a buyer/agent agreement

*had a reservation to meet with my local REICLUB this month, but had to cancel do to my employer not giving me the time off from work :banghead (I really can’t wait until I can fire my boss so I can do this full time)

The things I am still hazzy on is the title company and closing agent. Does the closing agent work for the title company? Who’s job is it to find a company to close the deal; mine, the seller, or the buyer? Also should I be working with a realtor at this time or would it be a waste of there time?

Any :help would be greatly appreciated :biggrin

I’m pretty much in your same boat.

Quick question…how did you find your first two buyers?

I’m placing and ad in the paper starting Sunday and am hoping that gets me some calls, and will attend the local REI club meeting in January, but what other ways have you come up with to build your buyers list?

I found both of my buyers from calling for rent signs. One buyer seems very reliable, the other I am not so sure about. I am not real worried about that though, because finding the buyers has been the easy part so far.

Other things you can do to find buyers are:

Call on 4Rent ads and signs. Don’t call the ones from property managers or real estate agents, but the ones where the landlords rent out themselves. This is actually double duty - many landlords are always looking for good deal to add to their protfolio, so they can be good buyers. Also, many times landlords can either get over their head or get tired of landlording, so they can become motivated sellers.

Develop a letter or flyer to send to people with disposable money: doctors, lawyers, accountants and such. Explain the situations you come up with and ask if they would like to be notified if an exceptional deal comes available.

Contact Property Management Companies. Let the agents know the types of properties you come up with and ask if they have any owners who are open to expanding their portfolio.

Keep an eye for any advertising of the “We Buy Houses” variety. Many are wholesalers like yourself, but many also are the direct buyers who have a huge appetite.

Don’t forget to check with some of the national groups that may be active in your area like Homevestors. Many consider them competition, but if you are wholesaling and you can make a quick $5k with Homevestors…

The best way is to get flyers and business cards and spread them out wherever you can. Not only “I Buy Houses” stuff, but also “Cash Investor Wanted - Buy My Real Estate at 70% ARV”

Whenever you contract a property, get permission to put an “I BUY” Sign and a “4 Sale” sign in the yard.

That’s a great idea salverston, I never thought about contacting lawyers, doctors, accountants, and other high salary people.

I am still kind of stumped on this though:

The things I am still hazzy on is the title company and closing agent. Does the closing agent work for the title company? Who’s job is it to find a company to close the deal; mine, the seller, or the buyer? Also should I be working with a realtor at this time or would it be a waste of there time?

You need to get a Real Estate lawyer to close the deal for you. This should cost under $500. This is much cheaper than using a Real Estate agent if you’ve already found the deal.

Jeff

I hate to burst your bubble but don’t waste your time looking at boarded up homes unless you have buyers who want to buy boarded up homes. Many newbies want to jump right into looking at homes because:

  1. homes don’t reject you

  2. homes don’t know that “you don’t know your butt from a whole in the ground when it comes to real estate investing”

Does it make any sense to look for buyers after you find homes? How do you even know what type of homes to look for if you don’t know what your buyers are buying.

The list that you have put together is like many other “Getting ready to get ready” lists that I have seen. I don’t mean to sound harsh but wholesaling is pretty easy

  1. find buyers
  2. Find homes that your buyers want.
  3. Put home under contract with an escape clause
  4. Show your buyer
  5. Escape or assign/back to back/seller nego

That’s it. Best of luck

Well you didn’t really burst my bubble…I know I need to find buyers. Reguardless of what kind of properties they’re looking for, I still need to find motivated sellers. Where else am I going to find motivated sellers other than houses that are boarded up?

Boarded up houses are some of my best money makers. That’s b/c I have buyers who want them, and I can usually get them under contract for really cheap.

Usually, Sellers don’t realize they are sitting on a cash source.

I find that the foreclosure auction/sheriff auction/tax lien/tax sales are the best place to find buyers. Go there & ask them what type of properties they are looking for. I always wait till after the auction & talk to those who bid or won the bid and paid the cash!

As far as comps are concerned, I do not trust zillow. Try to find a “new” RE Agent to give you comps.

I saw that you couldn’t make it to an REI Club meeting. Here’s some ideas:

Go to the Club website & see if they have events separate from their general meeting that fit into your schedule and attend it. Then network, network, network. You should be able to find an RE Agent that can give you comps. They might end up being one of your buyers, or a source for buyers.

Most REI Clubs have networking sites on the web, whether its via email or whatever. For some it’s free, for others there’s a cost. If you can’t physically be at the meetings, join the networking groups and form your Team (RE Agent, Buyers, etc.) virtually. I found the Title Company that I use just be putting a request on the network asking “what’s a good Title Company to use to assign contracts?”

Thanks rgchamb! Finally someone that is actually wholesaling w/ specific answers to specific questions. The auctions are a great idea. I will definately start attending them. That was also good info about the reiclub website. I will start frequenting it more often :biggrin

I sent my postcards out already, but I haven’t been able to find one owner of a boarded up house yet. Could you tell me what was the most effective way for you in finding motivated sellers…especially the ones that no longer reside at the house you are looking to wholesale?

1st, I find their address using the tax records. Go to www.netronline.com to find the appraisal district where the house is in.

Then I find a phone number to match the address using a reverse phone search. You can call them to follow-up your postcard.

If I still can’t find the owner’s address, I run a skip trace. You’ll have to fork over some $ to run a skip trace. But it’s worth it if you can find them.

*read up on wholesaling from several different sources (Robert Kyosaki, Russ Whitney, and this website)

Just a suggestion, but you may want to find some different materials to study. Try stuff specific to wholesaling from people who actually do it. Whitney and Kiyosoki are probably pretty generic info. I would suggest Vena Jones-Cox or someone similar.

*did the "driving for dollars" and found 11 boarded up houses (obviously I plan on finding more)

Again, just a suggestion, but you would probably get farther quicker with a more efficient lead generation system. Check online…there’s plenty.

*located all the info on those houses through my county tax assessors office online

You’re really doing a lot of extra work with no clue whether or not you have a deal. Again, more efficient lead system.

*attempted to contact the home owners via phone, no such luck
see above
*post cards are going in the mail as soon as all my ducks are in line
see above
*contacted 2 buyers so far

Based on other replies, many will disagree…but why waste time with this when you do not even have a solid deal? Your time is very valuable, especially since you are also working a 9-5.

*looked at the comps on zillow.com

Again, time wasted…you havent even been able to reach the sellers yet.

*contacted several different realtors, but none seemed interested in working with me after I told them what I was doing, and explained to them that I would not be willing to sign a buyer/agent agreement

Pretty understandable

*had a reservation to meet with my local REICLUB this month, but had to cancel do to my employer not giving me the time off from work (I really can't wait until I can fire my boss so I can do this full time)

Just keep in mind that most of those associations are filled with scared newbies who will probably never do a single deal.

The things I am still hazzy on is the title company and closing agent. Does the closing agent work for the title company?

Closing agent works for the title company or is a subcontractor for title company.

Who's job is it to find a company to close the deal; mine, the seller, or the buyer?

You always want to work with your title agency because you have a relationship with them i.e. they are more likely to help you. Also, as a wholesaler you want to keep a tight thumb on every part of the transaction to solve all of the problems that will inevitably pop up.

Also should I be working with a realtor at this time or would it be a waste of there time?

Waste of their time and everyone elses. Probably would muck things up even more than necessary if history serves an indicator.

One last thing…you may want to consider using a state realtor purchase and sales agreement. You won’t need to waste money on an attorney reviewing it that way. Attorneys muck things up about as bad as realtors. They create problems to solve them to justify their existence in the transaction.

P.S.- I noticed a reply saying you should use an attorney to close your deals. In my experience, for whatever that’s worth, things will go much smoother with a title agency than an attorney.

Best wishes,

Sean Flanagan

The 11 boarded up houses are a good start. Just one deal from the 11 could provide your marketing budget for a year!

Also, even though REI Clubs tend to have a lot of newbies that are scared to do a deal, they also tend to have a lot of rehabbers looking for deals. Plus, you can find out from other investors there what title company to use for your deals.

One other thing, if you have the time & driving for $ works for you, go for it.

If you want to market & sit back & wait for deals to come to you, go for it. Whatever works for your situation. Or of course, you can do both.

even though REI Clubs tend to have a lot of newbies that are scared to do a deal, they also tend to have a lot of rehabbers looking for deals. Plus, you can find out from other investors there what title company to use for your deals.

Definitely could be correct. I am in Central Florida and I know the REI club here is a joke. However, for other parts of the country I have no idea. Most of what I hear is that they are about the same, but I’m sure there are a few good ones out there.

Thanks alot guys. Both of you have been a tremendous help!
:beer