Why is Your Real Estate Wholesale Deal Not Selling?

Last week I got an email from a beginning wholesaler asking me for advice. He told me he was considering doing deals virtually in another market because there were “no buyers” in his. He had recently put three properties under contract with the intent of wholesaling them to end buyers, but ended up backing out of all three contracts because he could not find buyers for any of them.

Unfortunately this is not the first time that I’ve heard of this problem, and while it might seem like a great idea to pack up shop and move your operation to another location in search of greener pastures, the truth is that the problem is most likely not because of a lack of buyers. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that if your wholesale deals are not selling it’s because of one of the following two reasons:

The price is too high

While this might seem obvious to some, it is a factor that is overlooked by many new wholesalers. While I’ll admit that I’ve seen some properties that I don’t think I could move even if I was giving them away, in most instances you can get rid of a property quickly by simply lowering the price. How far you will need to lower it will depend on what the active investors in your market are willing to pay, and this is something that should be learned before you start putting properties under contract.

If you find yourself in a situation where your deal is not selling, make sure to use it to your advantage by asking the investors who are passing on the deal why they are not interested. Find out how low the price would have to be to make the deal attractive to them and keep that in mind the next time around.

No one Knows About Your Deal

If your property is priced right and it’s not selling, chances are, you haven’t done a good job of getting the word out about it. Once you get a deal under contract, your job as a wholesaler is to market the living crap out of it! If you’re serious about getting it sold, you should be doing everything on the following list (at the minimum) to find an end buyer:

*Send the deal to your buyers list (if you have one)
*Put ads up on the online classified sites every day
*Place signs around the property
*Pass out flyers at any REIA meetings in your area
*Contact other wholesalers about the deal to see if they will help you market it
*Call every For Rent sign in the area and see if the landlords would be interested in your deal

If after doing all of the above you still haven’t found an end buyer, chances are that it’s priced too high!

If you’re having trouble selling deals in your own market, you might want to consider what I’ve written above before you jump ship and relocate. Keep in mind that there are investors buying property in every market, and you may just have to tweak your approach a little bit in order to get your deals sold!

Photo: Salvatore Vuono

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.