New to Wholesaling, any suggestions on a good place to start learning?

Question

I am totally new to this. I plan on reading all of the posts and replies here as a starter. I just signed up for the 3 day class by Fortune Builders (Than Merrill) hoping it would give me a good basis / foundation to start learning on. It's only $197 so I think I will get my money's worth out of it.

Other than going to seminars and reading the forums here, is there any other good sources that I can learn from?

If anyone in Louisiana is Wholesaling and would like to learn about Property Tax Sales, maybe we can help each other out.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Will, at the cost of repeating myself over and over (lol, boring for the old members here) IMO people need to start real estate by studying real estate, not sub system or guru progarm. Swing by the LSU or McNeese book store and look for Principles of Real Estate, a college class on RE, it's an easy read. You can also buy the state license exam book for agents in La. You need to understand what an encroachment is for example, that won't be in a guru prorgarm and there are many other issues in RE that are ommited that can fould up any deal. You need to know what a Realtor can and can't do so that you don'tlook like some scammer or ask them to do something unethical for them or even illegal.  Get a hold of the state RE sale contract or the MLS contract in your area and understand what's in it.

Then look up how La. has adopted the SAFE Act, it's important to know what you can do with regard to installment contracts and seller financing as it can be the keys to the door for you.

Then go to your lenders and see what they require for financing and what kind of financing they will provide. This is not only for you but for your buyers, it could be where your money comes from.

This is what i'm going to call a conventional education in RE, get that under your belt and then you can look at systems and programs and you'll have a better idea if someone is blowing smoke and if it would work in your area. Good luck

Will Sifert · Answer

That's the plan. Im looking to understand the basics right now and get a good a good foundation started. Then like you said I can do research, ask questions here, etc to fill in the holes as I moved forward and become more knowledgeable of the entire process. Until I learn the basics, the more advanced stuff would likely go over my head anyway.

Michael Lerch · Answer

Will Sifert I was just at that same 3-day training seminar that Fortune Builders does last weekend here in Grand Rapids, MI and I think they do a pretty good job of covering wholesaling, but as a somewhat experienced wholesaler already there were A LOT of gaps they don't explain. They tell you just enough to wet your appetite and make you want to join their mastery program (nothing bad about getting great coaching and training), but based on what you want to know I'd say a lot of your questions will be answered when you attend that 3 day seminar. All the gaps can be explained by doing a little homework of your own here on biggerpockets or elsewhere on the internet.

Account Closed · Answer

Ok I can definitely agree with those statements. I was just coming from the perspective of strictly wholesaling where you are not putting any of your own money down. In my case, and in other wholesalers cases, you don't have to worry about the details about the property (neighbor's garage being over the boundary line.) That is the job of the end buyer to worry about.

Will Sifert · Answer

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. I appreciate the feedback.

I apologize for not giving more information in my original post. When I said I am totally new to this I meant specifically wholesaling.

My Real-estate experience isn't vast, but in general I have a pretty good general understanding. I also agree 100% that you should get a good basis of knowledge before you jump into something. I purchased my first home in 2000 and I had no clue what I was doing but I lucked out and was able to rent it and make a positive cash flow from it for a couple years, then sold it for a nice profit, mainly because the market prices shot up at the time. From 2003-2007 I was the "finance" half of a partnership with a small local contractor who was building spec houses. We built about 20+ houses before the market went soft and he eventually stopped building. Over that time I took the class to become a licensed real-estate agent twice, but never got around to taking the state test and getting my license.

The last 4 years I have been going to property tax sales and have been learning as much as I can as I have been purchasing tax liens. I have zero experience or knowledge with REO, foreclosures, wholesaling etc. I enjoy the tax sales but that only happens one time a year so I was hoping to find something I could do 24/7/365.

I also agree a mentor would be the best option but I don't know anyone locally who would be willing to teach me, however I do have a few people who would be interested in buying deals from me, if the deal was really good. I started reading the sticky thread in this forum and the information there has been very helpful.  My area of "expertise" and what I make the majority of my income from right now is internet marketing. So since wholesaling deals with finding buyers and sellers I feel I can apply a lot of my internet marketing knowledge to generating real-estate leads.

Steve Babiak · Answer

Start by reading the "sticky" posts in the Wholesaling forum.  Then read these (and links in the threads too):

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/79/topics/6100-how-about-a-course-or-book-on-wholesaling-but-something-

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/93/topics/70516-structure-of-wholesaling

James Hiddle · Answer

Start by reading up the info here on BP.

Bill Gulley · Answer

I could agree, I don't want someone studying for a year, BUT, before you sign a contract you need to know the basics and that dang sure isn't from any guru. You can easily fall flat on your face and lose money as well as your early reputation if you do something that is pitched and find it's not allowed in your state.

If you look at a property and see three feet of the neighbor's garage appears to be over the boundry line, you have a problem. How many wholesale deals get a survey? Not many, but they may when you want to sell and your title insurance will not cover that without a proper survey you may have bought a rental or incurr legal fees trying to get that garage moved or exempted.

I don't think 30 days of studying before you leap is unreasonable or will keep anyone from eating that much later.

What I'm saying is get some conventional wisdom before you jump on some guru program, free or not.

Learning is a constant requirement in RE, even I continue to study subjects after 40 some years of it....

Account Closed · Answer

Bill Gulley, I have to agree but also disagree with you. I agree that newbies should get a good base of general real estate knowledge. And I also agree that they shouldn't be buying guru programs but there are plenty of free guru resources out there that can give a good overview of how wholesaling works (Sean Terry and Eric Medemar to name a few.)

They will learn how wholesaling works specifically by these resources. You don't necessarily need a huge general background on real estate. You just need to learn the basics of wholesaling and then get out there and start doing stuff and taking action. You will learn way more by taking action than by studying all the real estate courses in the world.

New to Wholesaling, any suggestions on a good place to start learning?

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