Manassas, VA · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 3 votes
Hello all,
I am just starting out and very interested/excited in wholesaling deals in the Northern Virginia area.
I own two rental properties but have never done any wholesaling. I have been doing a lot of research about wholesaling in general and was wondering if there is anyone who has been successful in the area that wouldn't mind helping out a fellow investor.
@Asif Ahmed 2017 proved to be another good year for NOVA wholesale deals. Anything in Alexandria, Arlington, Vienna, Falls Church, McClean, etc flies off the shelf. I am also seeing a good amount of activity further out like Springfield, Woodbridge, Sterling, Ft. Belvoir, etc
Demand is still very high but inventory is low compared to the DC and PG counties of the wholesale world. If you are going to take on VA have your systems in place and be prepared to fund a sizeable campaign.
Northern VA is a great place to wholesale. There is a huge demand for properties in NOVA so if you get a good one under contract I have no doubts you can have it assigned in a few days.
As I tell everyone that wants to wholesale, you are in essence starting a marketing business. It takes a good amount of time to build your pipeline, create an effective follow up system, and get a steady inflow of deals. Just be sure you are ready to put up the funds and give the necessary time. Wholesaling is not the passive business they make it out to be.
Thank you for your insight Andrew! My biggest hesitation in starting all this is finding the cash end buyers for a contract I assign. I'm sure there are many out there but not too sure how to connect with them.
Hi @ Matthew Perez, as a wholesale newbie do you think it's a good idea to go ahead and shell out some funds on designing a website for your business?? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated
Hey @Matthew Perez! Nice to meet you man. I'm also considering trying out wholesaling in NOVA myself. I was wondering if you have had much success in the area since your comment a year ago? Thanks!
@Asif Ahmed 2017 proved to be another good year for NOVA wholesale deals. Anything in Alexandria, Arlington, Vienna, Falls Church, McClean, etc flies off the shelf. I am also seeing a good amount of activity further out like Springfield, Woodbridge, Sterling, Ft. Belvoir, etc
Demand is still very high but inventory is low compared to the DC and PG counties of the wholesale world. If you are going to take on VA have your systems in place and be prepared to fund a sizeable campaign.
Thanks for the response @Andrew Michael! I understand that wholesaling is a massive marketing undertaking. But I was thinking of just doing one or maybe two wholesale deals just to get my hands dirty and decide if the whole thing is really for me. Like, instead of prepping this huge pipeline by investing a few grand, could I just try wholesaling 1 or 2 deals first? Do you have any advice on how I could go about doing that? Would you recommend that approach at all?
I'd also be interested in trying out DC and parts of Maryland as well. I'm a MD native but currently living in Arlington, VA.
@Asif Ahmed you need a pipeline of leads to do even 1 or 2 deals. There is a great wholesaling meetup in VA run by @Brad Chandler. I know you've seen his commercials - "Express Homebuyers, we buy your house in 7 day or less!" Who hasn't in the DC metro area.
@Matthew Perez, finding buyers is easy! Just attend any and every REI meetup in the area and pass out and collect business cards. Boom, you have your list!!
@Amahl Miller, do you mean what's my budget for getting a wholesaling deals pipeline started? I suppose somewhere in the $2000-3000 range. So my question to any experienced wholesalers would be this: what were the steps you took when you first got started? What might've been the biggest pitfall you didn't expect when you first got started?
It's possible I should be starting a new thread for this haha
@Amahl Miller, do you mean what's my budget for getting a wholesaling deals pipeline started? I suppose somewhere in the $2000-3000 range. So my question to any experienced wholesalers would be this: what were the steps you took when you first got started? What might've been the biggest pitfall you didn't expect when you first got started?
It's possible I should be starting a new thread for this haha
For that budget, I would take a patient route and do a letter campaign. Going to take time for it to show results. Check out books on lead generation in addition. Bigger pickets just published on recently. There is a cheap book on Audio.com 24 off market ideas.
@Asif Ahmed 2017 proved to be another good year for NOVA wholesale deals. Anything in Alexandria, Arlington, Vienna, Falls Church, McClean, etc flies off the shelf. I am also seeing a good amount of activity further out like Springfield, Woodbridge, Sterling, Ft. Belvoir, etc
Demand is still very high but inventory is low compared to the DC and PG counties of the wholesale world. If you are going to take on VA have your systems in place and be prepared to fund a sizeable campaign.
Can you go into more detail re: how you find motivated sellers and investors? Also which platform(s) are you using to market your services?
@Daniel Pitta there is no magic answer here or secret formula. This is years of networking, flipping, lending, wholesaling and building relationships in DC, MD and VA. The longer you stick around the more opportunities you will be presented with. Most of my deals at this point are products of people who do not have systems or processes in place and need help with negotiations, contracts, finding buyers, title companies attorneys, etc. I will either JV with them or pay them the fee they are looking for and take over the deal from there.
My organic deals are much the same. At this point all of my friends and family know exactly what it is I do. Be sure to brand yourself this way, referrals should be a big part of your business. In addition I also do mailers, have a really good follow up system with past clients, cold call, build my own lists, etc.
If your looking for specific criteria to target there are tons. Divorce, probate, absentee owners, tax delinquent, equity position, age.....
Platforms I Utilize:
Marketing/Prospecting - MLS, Craigslist, FB, Zillow, BP (I have easily done 20+ deals due to BP), Jerry Pucket Mailers, Open Letter, Remine,
@Daniel Pitta there is no magic answer here or secret formula. This is years of networking, flipping, lending, wholesaling and building relationships in DC, MD and VA. The longer you stick around the more opportunities you will be presented with. Most of my deals at this point are products of people who do not have systems or processes in place and need help with negotiations, contracts, finding buyers, title companies attorneys, etc. I will either JV with them or pay them the fee they are looking for and take over the deal from there.
My organic deals are much the same. At this point all of my friends and family know exactly what it is I do. Be sure to brand yourself this way, referrals should be a big part of your business. In addition I also do mailers, have a really good follow up system with past clients, cold call, build my own lists, etc.
If your looking for specific criteria to target there are tons. Divorce, probate, absentee owners, tax delinquent, equity position, age.....
Platforms I Utilize:
Marketing/Prospecting - MLS, Craigslist, FB, Zillow, BP (I have easily done 20+ deals due to BP), Jerry Pucket Mailers, Open Letter, Remine,
CRM - Hubspot, Microsoft Dynamics, Excel
Can you message me your contact info? I just moved from Bethesda to Falls Church and would like to pick your brain if possible.
@Matthew Perez congrats on getting started. The best advice I could possible give you is "conduct your business with integrity." There are to many wholesalers in this area that really put a damper on the market and are making it harder for true investors to conduct business because they are giving real estate investors a bad name by doing the following:
1.) Getting properties under contract without disclosing they will assign
2.) Marketing properties that they do not even have under contract
3.) Getting something under contract, not being able to assign the contract because it is really not a deal and then the seller is skeptical about future investors that are trying to pursue the property.
@Daniel Pitta there is no magic answer here or secret formula. This is years of networking, flipping, lending, wholesaling and building relationships in DC, MD and VA. The longer you stick around the more opportunities you will be presented with. Most of my deals at this point are products of people who do not have systems or processes in place and need help with negotiations, contracts, finding buyers, title companies attorneys, etc. I will either JV with them or pay them the fee they are looking for and take over the deal from there.
My organic deals are much the same. At this point all of my friends and family know exactly what it is I do. Be sure to brand yourself this way, referrals should be a big part of your business. In addition I also do mailers, have a really good follow up system with past clients, cold call, build my own lists, etc.
If your looking for specific criteria to target there are tons. Divorce, probate, absentee owners, tax delinquent, equity position, age.....
Platforms I Utilize:
Marketing/Prospecting - MLS, Craigslist, FB, Zillow, BP (I have easily done 20+ deals due to BP), Jerry Pucket Mailers, Open Letter, Remine,
Where do you get your contracts? (p&s agreements, assignment contracts and memorandum of contract)? Also what language do you put in these contracts so that you don't get screwed if the deal with the end buyer falls through?
Team, I am just getting started in wholesaling real estate here in NOVA. Good to know that wholesaling is legal. I am in Front Royal. How do I find out where the nearest REI meeting?
I'm curious, do you use one LLC when wholesaling deals in DC, MD and VA? Or do you have a different LLC in each state. I ask because I recently moved from MD to VA and have an existing LLC in MD, but I'm looking to start wholesaling in NOVA and would rather not deal with the hassle of registering in VA.
Also as far as earnest money deposits on your p&s agreements, how much are you typically putting down? If you're unable to find an end buyer within 15-30 days, how do you deal with the situation? Properties are obviously not cheap in this area so I'm curious. Thanks in advance
Do you all send one canned message to all of your leads, or do you personalize your mailers depending on the type of seller? Probate, divorce, pre-foreclosure and absentee owners are all so different that I would think you have a slightly different approach to each of them when you're marketing.