Wholesaling as a college student in Pensacola...help!
Member since 2018 · 37 posts · 12 votes
Hey guys, this is LeAnna. I am a college student in Pensacola Florida at Pensacola Christian College. I am brand new and don't even have one deal under my belt. I have talked to a real estate agent who said that wholesaling is my best way to go for my first deal since it requires no money down. I have noticed a couple houses for sale on facebook. I don't know if facebook would be ok to start looking on or are there other places I can look. Houses for sale by owner are harder to find. I have looked through a couple fsbo websites and only found two really expensive houses for sale. What would you say to a newbie who hasn't even started? I want to graduate debt free and want to have done at least a couple deals before I graduate. Is this unrealistic? How can I be sure I am doing everything right??
See the agents BiggerPockets members work with in Pensacola, FL.
See agents@John Thedford This is a COMMUNITY for real estate INVESTORS. If you can't conduct yourself as one in a community and your primary interested is curtailing real estate investing, perhaps you could find another place to air your grievances.
@John Thedford I am buying FSBO properties. In other words they can do what they want with their own properties. If you have questions feel free to inbox me.
I can't help you with FL laws on wholesaling, but I can say... thinking FSBO sellers can "do what they want with their own property" could land you in trouble. There are laws, and if the law says you cannot advertise a house you don't own without a license, it does not matter what the FSBO seller "says" you can do... laws are laws.
@Kate J. maybe I should clarify a few things. I am a full time college student at PCC in Pensacola FL. I have a drive to work and hate being bored. I have plenty of free time on my hands and have a 4.0 in one of my classes. The rest of my 8 classes are all above a 3.5 and I still have free time even though I work library here for 13.5 hr a week and also housekeep for four separate people. This Saturday and Sunday alone I will be working 17 hr. I have been looking into real estate for a while now. I would like to quit my college job and possibly get a car. Also to drop housekeeping would be nice. But my major is Elementary Education. This is not so I can teach but I feel strongly led to get that degree so I can homeschool and invest (key word invest) into my own children and family someday. This is a goal I have that I want to accomplish. I want to invest in my future family, my future children. I have no intention of quitting, but it never hurts to try harder. Trust me- if I find any sort of real estate stuff to be impossible while I am at college I will choose to wait for a later date. But I am not planning to get a job teaching at a school unless worst comes to worst. I ran my own small business before I started college and loved it. Now for some time I have been wanting to get into real estate. Hope this helps see things from my perspective.
LeAnna,
I really like to see people who are smart, curious and excited. This is the best way to be!
In my opinion, a great way to start the realestate ball rolling for yourself would be a "house hack."
Choose a price range, find out exactly how much cash down you'd need, and start working like crazy to save it. Start digging around for good deals on a place that you could live in and rent part of it out (roomates, etc.).
You'd end up getting a crash course in finding and buying, plus the adventures in owning and fixing, and hopefully living for less because others would help you pay for the place.
If I was starting in my twenties, I'd pull some variation of this!
Cheers!
@Bleu Turrell I would definitely do something like that except they don't allow non town students to live off campus. We have to stay in the dorms:(. Shout out to you though- see you are from Bend, OR. I'm from Salem.
@LeAnna Davis Having begun my career while in school as well, much of what the previous posts have said are correct. Focusing on wholesaling while you're in school may not be the wisest choice. Consider the idiom, "Riding two horses at once." I found that both school and REI required my undivided attention, and I couldn't perform well at either while doing both.
My suggestion is to find active investors in your area (either wholesalers or buyers) and find ways to bring them real value. Join REI meetups and introduce yourself to the right people. Ask questions like, "What are the things in your business you find yourself spending too much time on?" or, "As a new investor, what are some of the most important skills I should be developing?" Hopefully these conversations offer insight to how you can offer value, and more importantly they lead to friendships, because these are crucial to any investor's success. An investor is nobody without the right people in their contact list. Spend your time in school building relationships and bringing value so that come graduation, you're primed to make those big money moves.
I think you should consider school to be "your job" but REI as "your hobby". Have fun, be active in your REI community, bring value and LEARN!!
Thanks @Joe Mueller. I see what you are saying. I will definitely be doing my homework in this!
@LeAnna Davis I wished I learned about REI when I was getting my engineering degree. One thing I would recondmend is get good and finding leads, no matter what business you're in finding leads is the name of the game. Look around at any business (lawyers, doctors, auto repair, realtor ect..) we all needs leads to funnel into our business. REI is the same its all about finding leads. Take this time to learn and connect with people and add value. When you're lead generating activities bring forth results now you have people you connected and built relationship with to help you put a deal together. A really successful investor friend of mine once told me "be like a farmer plant seeds, water and nuture it, and the harvest will come"
I wish you all the success in your real estate endeavors :)
It is actually a bit hard to find good meetups, which are attended by real investors - not just another vendor rally aimed at new prospective investors.
Go to your local meetups, but honestly, the best connections I have made locally in real life are the connections I have made right here on BP. Connect with others here on BP.
I'm not getting into the 'wholesaling is legal' discussion -- not a lawyer, and I don't even play one on TV. Frankly don't care. The best way to do this, honestly, is to BUY THE HOUSE and then do something with it. That removes the whole discussion. Yes it takes some money, and it takes some help. But those are two key ingredients that you can be working on now. So go find it.
Pamela it is just this one topic. It pops almost daily, and they do get heated. There are several individuals here on BP that are known to be vocal supporters on either side of the discussion. At least Mr. Thedford offers some cases as evidence for his statements. Others are less objective.
Let's leave it there.
Learn your market and learn to market. Wholesaling doesn't age discriminate.
Bingo.
Somebody used the plant-grow-harvest analogy, and it reminded me of Carrot, the website guys out in OR.
Go ahead and get a name, get a website, and get started doing SEO. You won't have time for much more than that while you are in college. You'll get a bunch of calls from vendors trying to sell you stuff you don't need, so just ignore them. You got no marketing budget to start with, and that's fine -- you honestly don't have the time you need to do much anyway. Good SEO takes time to build, so now might be a good time to get started with that, before you really need it.
Meanwhile you get busy analyzing deals and just learning the market. What deals are others buying? Why? What made them pull the trigger? Learn the valuations part of it, this is not trivial either.
If by some stroke of crazy good fortunate you get a lead on a real deal from your website or driving around, then be sure you have some local investors lined up to take them and run with them. Work something out with them in terms of compensation. Maybe they pay you a finders fee, maybe they let you partner with them in the deal. Lots and lots of ways to structure all that, ASIDE from wholesaling.
I would also think about getting a car... I imagine most wholesalers meeting at houses, viewing houses, meeting contractors or buyers are driving there and back and needing uber/taxis.
You also are getting your degree in a field you don't plan to work? I know you said you plan to get this degree to "homeschool and invest in your family"... but what does that even mean? Why get a degree you don't plan to use for a career? How do you plan to make money when you graduate if you don't plan to get a job in the field of your degree? I can say trying to be a wholesaler will be very tough to use as your sole career...
Hi @LeAnna DavisIt's exciting to see you thinking about real estate investing so early! I went to PCC as well, so I know the struggle. LOL - just kidding. I enjoyed my time there, got a good education, and made some life-long friends.
I read through half the posts on here and just got exhausted. I'll briefly give my 2 cents.
Wholesaling is great for a lot of people. I thought at one point I might get involved, but didn't because of two reasons: 1. I didn't want to be door knocking, mailing cards/letters, and talking on the phone 24/7.
2. Let's say that it's 100% legal - it seemed to me I would still have a lot of people who I would make unhappy (ie - people who think it is illegal, every real estate agent who ever lived, people that I have called/mailed dozens of times....). As a Christian first, and RE investor second, I don't want to do that.
Please, please don't think I'm discouraging you or anyone else - its just my own conviction. :-)
I started listening to RE podcasts and reading books a little more than two years ago. I started an LLC and bought my first investment property a few months later. Since then, I have wholetaled a house ($50k profit), and own 10 units in 4 buildings (cash flow around $3k/month - split between partners). I have a low paying job, so have partnered with people who have better income than me. All the cashflow goes right back into buying the next property. It's beans and rice, rice and beans for right now, but the future is looking bright!
Hey @Brian Pulaski good questions and I have gotten them many times before. I still have a gut feeling to get El Ed as my degree so that I can be better equipped to raise a family. I plan to be a real estate investor, not just a wholesaler. I want to landlord, and especially flip. Landlord for the cash flow and flip for something to do. By the way I should clarify something else. My current program of work and study actually has me graduating debt free. However, the leaves me with a balance of zero. I kinda would like to reach higher than that....
And yes, working on that car thing.. trust me. I've put it off long enough trying to get by without one. Now that is on my to do list as well.
Wholesaling is one way to get started in real estate but it isn't the only way. I think I might be a good idea to think about why. Why do you want to get starting in real estate? Is it to make large chunks of money?
If so then wholesaling might be the way to go. If you want to get started in real estate to generate income and build wealth then you may want to consider income properties like rentals and with that what type of rentals? You can generate income from single-family homes by renting those or via AirBnB. Or do multifamily units like apartments or even other commercial properties.
I know it's a lot to think about right? The Bottomline is don't just get into real estate without having a plan and set goals. That way you will have a better understanding of what you need to do, how you will do business and invest in real estate.
Good morning everyone!
I am very interested in wholesaling. But having trouble finding leads. I have put out bandit signs in certain areas and haven't got any bite. Then come to find out they get taken down do to neighborhood HOA's I guess. And I'm trying to save up for yellow letter service. I feel I need to just take action and hopefully I find a good deal. Then just wing it lol. I know finding the deals would be the hardest part and finding an investor would be easy if the numbers make sense. I pretty much know the foundation of wholesaling but I just don't have the experience.
Hey @Kyle Ransom thanks for the advice. And yes, I want to get into more than just wholesaling. I am still looking at other ways and forming a plan. I like to plan ahead and plan 5 times before I take action. It is just me and the risk is bigger for me as a college student you see.
@Rendall Mash yes! There is the PIG Professional Investors Guild and I am considering joining them. I work at the college and unfortunately work when they meet. Also don't have a car. Am working on getting that shift cleared and finding a ride. Have you heard of PIG? If so, what is your take on them?