BiggerPockets

Hi Everyone!

I was wondering how long it took you that wholesale to do your first deal? I have been doing this for a little over 2 months with little luck.

I have made a lot of contacts, have been building my buyers list and plan to start my first mail campaign this weekend. Sometimes I get frustrated and feel like I am making no real progress.

I would like to know how long it took for you to get your first deal. 6 months ago I never knew a thing about wholesaling or REI in general. Is it wild to expect to get a deal this quickly?

Thanks!

Ryan,

I appreciate your reply. Although I would love quick succes (who doesn't?) I relize that this will take a while to get the hang of. Your reply helped to put this into perspective.

I really want to provide help for those who need to sell and great deals for those who want to buy. I also look to use the money from creating deals to start buying my own property.

I am focusing right now on learning the business, marketing, and general netoworking within my local REI community.

I am concerned that the buyers I have talked with think that I not serious because I am not constantly producing deals. I have been as honest as possible with them that I am just starting out but still worry.

Hwo did you deal with this when you were just begining?

Thanks again.

Jon-

Thanks for chiming in. I do not discuss my ethics with the buyers that I have talked with. In all honesty though, these are things that are important to me persoanlly and the way I go about my business, not because of anyone elses opinion on what wholesaling should or should not be.

The deals that I have turned up so far that have not worked out:

1) An old assisted living facility that was halfway converted to apartments when the owner ran out of cash. Very little equity and still needed to be either fully converted to apartments or converted back to a facility. I had not spoken with anyone who showed interest in the property.

2) Two properties on the outer banks of NC that somehow came through my website. I have no buyers that are looking for vacation rentals and these are about 12 hours from my area. The seller has a little bit of equity but I dont know if there is enough to be a good deal for the end investor. These are not houses that would rent year round. The seller may be willing to do a subject-to but I still lack a buyer for that area and type of property.

3) A small single family home that had no equity but actually needed to sell. I bird-dogged it to another more experienced investor at our local REI club who is in the process (last I knew) of doing a short sale with it.

Other than those I am finding that a lot of the sellers are not motivated enough to sell the house for what it needs to make a good deal. I am learning how to structure subject-to deals for the investors that have said they would be into those.

I went to the treasury office on friday and should be getting my list from them on Monday of properties with back-taxes. I will be doing my first mailing as soon as the list comes in.

I do not have access to an MLS yet.

I would appreciate any other feedback you have.

If you find an agent who will work with you, and who uses electronic contracts, you can easily churn out dozens of offers. Low likelihood of acceptance, but its a potential source of a deal.

One wholesaler in our area who actually consistently has properties gets quite a few of his deals from HUD. Those are all on the MLS, and all go through the bid process. I've had another guy tell me he was also having some success with that.

Another wholesaler who seems to get a fair number of deals is the local Homevestors franchisee. They advertise a LOT.

I see a lot of bandit signs. Don't know if they work or not, but I do see them.

Direct mail is a long term proposition. Plan on sending multiple pieces to the same prospects.

Out of area owners, and non-owner occupied properties are candidates.

Code violations and fire damage are candidates.

Calling for rent signs can work both ways. You might find the disgruntled landlord who's interested in selling or you might find a potential buyer.

I believe wholesaling is MUCH more difficult than the gurus lead you to believe. I've not even tried because I think its just a JOB same as (and a lot like) selling used cars. Make a deal, you get paid. No deals, you don't. I have a regular job that pays me pretty well and that I'm pretty good at. I don't really want to take on another one that requires a lot of people interaction (not my thing) and that I don't know very well.

Hi Demos,

I agree with you completely. The poor deals are a result of the poor job I was doing marketing and calling on the wrong crowd of sellers.

I am learning as I go and realize that I have a lot more to go through before i understand it all. Luckily I have this board and a good local group who are willing to help.

Would you care to share your marketing strategies that help find your deals? As I mentioned above my first mailing will start witha letter followed up with postcards to owners behind on their taxes.

Thanks.

Ben - I get deals from the following:
- ads on Craigslist
- people contacting me directly from my website
- bandit signs

Although I do direct marketing with postcards, I haven't gotten a deal from them yet.

I have also gotten a lot of motivated seller leads that I didn't want, because they were upside down and I don't do short sales. You don't have to put an offer on every lead you get.

Luis - I don't think Sub2 deals are the kind of deals Ben should be doing at this early time in his career. They're risky.

Originally posted by Jon Holdman

Code violations and fire damage are candidates.

Jon, how do you find properties with code violations and how exactly do you go about correcting those violations? I've seen someone else mention this tactic too and I'm interested in trying it.

Ben

It can be any amount of time. I've known investors lucky enough to connect on day one and others over a year. But it is not time that counts, it activities that count.

If you tell me you put in 20 hours a week the first question I'm going to ask is doing what and why. Amount of time is relative.

Once when I was an executive with a blue chip company I had an employee come and ask me for a raise. I asked him what he thought he was worth an hour.and he told me. I responded he was already making much more then that.

I told him he only worked 50% of the day so he was making twice what he thought he was already making and when he started working full time we could discuss a raise He objected and I outlined his typical week. He showed up for his 40 but worked at his job for half that.

And that is the way it is with many investors. Set goals for prospecting production and keep track. If someone tells me they contacted face to face so many possible leads, that means something but telling me they put in 4 hours means nothing. I know an investor that loves to talk and he can spend the day with one lead so he had one contact with one prospect not the 8 hours he thinks he worked.

My thoughts keep building your buyer list but also qualify them. A list of a 100 buyers that can't deliver is useless, but a list 2 that can is worth something. And pick one good source of prospects and work the hell out of that source and when its in place add another. Don't be like the hunting dog that chases every leaf that the wind blows.

Just me, but I would take a second look at that assisted living property. I did a couple of those that other investors had passed on and they turned into profitable deals..