Working with wholesalers

[Misty James]

Hello Everyone. I am looking at working with my first wholesaler to acquire a property (by way of a tip sent to me by a friend on fb). The wholesaler's page is general directed towards RE. The wholesaler is requesting pof as a way to prove that I'm serious. I've never acquired property this way, so is this normal procedure for wholesalers? Is there anyway to verify the wholesalers credentials? I believe I read somewhere that they do not have to be licensed real estate agents, so before I get caught up, is there a way to determine that they are on the up and up? 

Thanks in advance.

[Karen Rittenhouse]

@Misty James

Great questions and really good answers here.

I am a full-time wholesaler. We always have proof-of-funds available because we always have funds and, when a seller wants proof that we can make the purchase, we're more than willing (and able) to provide it. 

We also want proof-of-funds from anyone making us an offer (if we haven't worked with them in the past) because that's the only way we know they're able to buy and we don't want to take our property off the market if they are not qualified.

I would add that your questions are part of the reason we always need to be networking with local investors. They can tell you if this seller is legit and also help you qualify the property. Every market is different and you need to be networking locally as well as here on BiggerPockets. Find local groups through MeetUp.com and NationalREIA.org

Know your own numbers, don't trust - verify ALWAYS, no matter who the seller is.

Good luck!