What course do you recommend for learning about wholesaling?
Real Estate Investor · Madawaska, ME · Member since 2009 · 2 posts · 1 vote
What course do you recommend for learning about wholesaling?
Most Popular Reply
Real Estate Agent · Tampa, FL · Member since 2009 · 456 posts · 123 votes
17ydon't waste your time / money on a course. just read this site till your eyes bleed, and you'll be ready
29 Replies
- Real Estate Agent · Tampa, FL · Member since 2009 · 456 posts · 123 votes17y
don't waste your time / money on a course. just read this site till your eyes bleed, and you'll be ready
- 17yCurt DavisBusiness MemberFlipper/Rehabber · Memphis, TN · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
Paul, first thing you will need to do is change your mind-set. $800 is a lot for a course but when you can wholesale 1 deal and make $10,000-$15,000 the $800 is nothing. Besides, you need to educate yourself about this business. You might want to do research on the different course material about this and then make a decision.
I think you should buy a course but make sure you buy one that is worth the money. Everyone has their own opinion about who to consider. Maybe consider Larry Going course about wholesale investing. Here is the link to view his page.
http://www.ultimatebuyingmachine.com/
If you buy it great, if not great. If you buy let me know what you think of it.
Curt Davis - KAIZEN Realty538 Reviews - Altus, OK · Member since 2008 · 2k+ posts · 690 votes17y
Well as Corey said read up on here and soak up all the info but if you want my opinion on courses there are 2 that have gotten a lot of praise with very few if any negative responses and they are:
Steve Cook's Wholesaling 2.0 and Vena Jones Cox's Wholesaling course.
Also our own member Andrew Massaro aka The Maestro has an ebook you might want to check out.
- Real Estate Investor · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2008 · 190 posts · 91 votes17y
I recommend Steve Cook's materials.
His wholesale course is under 300 bucks. I bought it and also went to his boot camp a few years back, and give both a thumbs up.
Steph
- Commercial Lender · Ocala, FL · Member since 2008 · 60 posts · 4 votes17y
First...you might want to talk to local RE Investors, & see if there are TRULY any who have THEIR OWN CASH, & are willing to BUY....now.....
If you do, just find a Deal, get it under Contract, & bring it to the Investor with the cash.
If you work with an all cash transaction, they can pay you a fee....but, not so with a Title Company & a Lender involved....they just scream: "FLIP", & want to run away from you. - Real Estate Investor · Memphis, TN · Member since 2009 · 1 post · 12 votes17y
Interesting...
Such polar opposites in advice given to you on this topic. 'Courses are valuable', or 'they are a waste of money', etc. etc. Probably best to ignore everyone's advice. Or, you could consider their advice to be solid if somehow they could send you their tax returns privately for 2009 and if they reported more than 200k in gross income from the business of wholesaling - then maybe buy the course they recommended.
Assuming that doesn't happen(or couldn't, because no posters who replied here could furnish this information because they don't meet these requirements), then maybe a few ides could be of value, instead of such concrete opinions.
1) Education and study with real estate professionals does carry substantial merit, if you can independently verify that other people have applied themselves and met with success from such courses and study. John T. Reed's website has some very blunt opinions about the value contained in certain courses. Remember, people today invest 40k - 200k in a college education to get a career that pays 40k annually. So, Curt's post on spending $800 to be able to perform and understand how to structure wholesale transactions that can generate you 10k - 15k/transaction is very astute - it may be worth the investment.
2) Just because $800 is a large amount of money to you personally does not necessarily detract from the product's inherent value, if you can verify it has the critical information you need and find other people who speak of it's ability to help create value, and who have demonstrated that by doing deals in the manner that the course describes.
3) I would bet, and I think that Curt would agree, in this industry it is extremely difficult to find individuals that have integrity. This applies especially to the wholesale business, because the barrier of entry is so low. As such, you have to evaluate all the possible information information for yourself and only then determine that validity of people giving you any advice. Many people who call themselves 'wholesalers' belong in jail...
d) Anyone offering to be your 'mentor' should be avoided. The people who you want to be your mentor try to avoid such situations, because it is so time intensive and unprofitable.
e) People who say they are 'professional wholesalers' should, as a rule, be asked how many properties they own. If the answer is '2 or less', then it would be hard to give them the credit necessary to accept their opinions/ideas/knowledge etc. Suppose someone called themselves a wholesaler, or even worse, the 'founder' of a wholesale 'company', but the only investment property they own is 'some great condo deal downtown near the river', then perhaps we need to examine why such a person would get into real estate? What, they just want to find the best, most highly discounted, 'secret' deals but never, ever, want to own them? They are full time real estate investors who find deals that are JUST SO GOOD they feel bad about owning them?
I think not.
Generally, it is hard to become an excellent wholesaler if you don't have a true passion for real estate. Just because you have a degree in finance and you worked at some random entry level job for a corporate financial firm like Fidelity or something doesn't really give you any qualifications as a real estate investor. Hard to really discern such things in anonymous forums such as these, though. People who have no integrity will tell you ANYTHING to facilitate a sale, whether a course or a house. But don't take my word for it here - just ask them two questions:
1) How many properties do you own?
If the answer is 'two or less,' then ask them why they are selling such a great deal instead of keeping it?(Hint: the answer of 'because I have my money tied up in lots of other deals' or 'because buying houses is like eating, you can only stomach so much', then you might want to run the other direction because who is that person to give you counsel on wholesaling??????????????2) What was the greatest and most influential wholesale course you have ever owned? What was the specific technique that you adopted? When was the date and time you attended your REIA group and saw that speaker?
When you look at highly successful national speakers like Wendy Patton, Don Derosa, and Pete Youngs, these individuals ALL credit their success to financial hardship that made them want to change their situations and immersion in home study courses.
The 'wholesaler' who is the 'founder' of the 'wholesale company' president of these companies, CFO/CEO etc. etc., well, that's lots of titles for someone if they own less than 4 houses. So discipline yourself to embark on a journey to find someone you can trust and who has led by example. If you can't find that, research your local legal paper and find someone who is buying lots of real estate. If you can't find that, well...read John T. Reed's reviews or just call him up for a recommendation - I doubt you will go wrong.
I would guess, though this contradicts posts here and no offense is meant, that just surfing the bigger pockets forums as your sole source of information to become a successful wholesaler or real estate investor would leave you with an incomplete education, at best. The founder of the site will probably agree with me, and he can pm me and let me know if he doesn't, which I doubt will happen.
In the end, this industry is filled with so many poseurs, you have to be extremely careful. If you want to be a true wholesaler, learn about wholesaling simply as a tool of your real estate investing career as opposed to a career path itself. Become voracious as a reader and absorb information. Question everything.
You can do it!
- Lender · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 166 posts · 46 votes16y
Education is a essential for success as a wholesaler. I believe you should budget for education monthly. Through books, seminars, and course materials, or what have you.
Ebay usually has some pretty awesome deals. Check em outOne course that keeps coming up without fail is Steve Cooks wholesaling course.
- Real Estate Investor · Savannah, TX · Member since 2009 · 19 posts · 4 votes16y
Wow! That was a lot of info.
Wholesaling always seemed like a means to an end, but I guess it depends on your personal goal. I saw it as an easy way to get started, in this wonderful world of houses and numbers. Knowledge is definitely power, and cost is relative like Mr. Davis said. You don't have to spend a lot of money, if you don't want to. There are a number of used book stores, this website, or, if worse comes to worse:
Go to Barnes and Noble
Grab a latte
Grab a chair
WooHoo free info!As far as courses and bootcamps go, figure out what you will get out of it. If you like it, do it.
Just never stop learning and learn as you go. Best of Luck!
- Real Estate Investor · Lafayette, CO · Member since 2009 · 9 posts · 0 votes16y
Originally posted by Corey Demuth:
don't waste your time / money on a course. just read this site till your eyes bleed, and you'll be ready
Exactly what Corey said lol Paul, first off find out if there is a wholesaling market in your area. It's not happening everywhere.
Next, find out who the local investors are either by attending a local REI club meeting or digging through courthouse documents.
Then network with these people. If you are serious and you are finding great deals they will be GLAD to hear from you.
- Pleasant Hill, CA · Member since 2008 · 428 posts · 43 votes16y
I have to disagree courses are not a waste of time or money as long as you put what you've learned into real action. The info on this site is great but I recommend getting out to some real estate meetups in your area. Find a local wholesaler and offer to work for free (make phone calls and process transactions) in exchange for mentoring. Check out your local real estate investment club or look on meetup.com
- Real Estate Investor · Springfield, MA · Member since 2009 · 142 posts · 103 votes16y
I like Than Merrills course and bootcamp on Marketing and Wholesaling.
Reading websites, books, and courses is good, that is how I got started, but nothing beats a live, hands on, 3-4 day intensive bootcamp, surrounded by other people that are actively doing the business. For me, that is how I learn the best.
Seminars and bootcamps are not cheap, but if they can take you from doing 1-2 deals per year... to doing 20-30, then it is well worth the money. :D I agree with Feol. I also happened upon JohnTReed.com but, it was not before I ran up significant debt following the advice of, what he calls, "fake gurus."
It is because of him that I have gone back to the basics and have taken a real estate course to learn about investing in my local area. Also, you can never go wrong with local real estate investment associations. Stay local. This way you will learn everything you need to know about getting started in your area.
The biggest complaints from us new investors is that after spending $900 to read a course, the information inside is not helpful in getting us started in our local area. Well, these courses are not designed to be that specific, which is why they fail so many of their customers.
I have learned to take things slowly and learn as much as I can about real estate investing. I am not going to rush things. Patience, perseverance, and being observant are extremely important in this field.
Unfortunately, I learned that the hard way.
I agree with Matt, Than's wholesale program is great. Every employee that I hire to work at my office gets put through Than's program before they can do anything.
Also, if you want a quick easy great read, buy Preston's ely's wholesale ebook. Its like 49 bux and its really good to.
I know preston's approach at times are odd, but apply it and you'll be amaze at how well it works.
- Real Estate Investor · San Marcos, CA · Member since 2010 · 1 post · 0 votes16y
Originally posted by DJank:
Originally posted by NC Mark:
Paul, first off find out if there is a wholesaling market in your area. It's not happening everywhere.
how do you do this? how can I find out if there's even a market here?
yes, I'd like to know that too :wink: - Inspector · Alsip, IL · Member since 2008 · 361 posts · 75 votes15y
The only way to do that is to get out there and network. In theory, wholesaling is happening everywhere. If it can happen in Detroit of all places, you know it's happening somewhere near you. Talk with other investors in your area and see how they buy. If none of them use wholesalers, find out why.
Also, get to know your local market. Whether through a real estate agent, searching through county records, whatever. Get to learn the values. If you don't know what houses in your area are worth, you wouldn't know a good deal if bit you in the butt. Don't be discouraged. Especially in this economy, there are deals to be found. I learned about wholesaling from creonline and an ebook by Preston Ely. Browsing through this forum I would say you dont need to pay for anything, its all right here.
One of the coolest things I read about wholesaling was that its better to find a house for a buyer than it is to try to find a buyer for a house.
- Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes15yTruer words have never been spoken!
Originally posted by Jimmy Neutron:
One of the coolest things I read about wholesaling was that its better to find a house for a buyer than it is to try to find a buyer for a house. - Landlord · Seattle, WA · Member since 2010 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes15y
I knew relatively little about wholesaling until finding Bigger Pockets. I have learned a couple of things though from the time I have invested here.
1) Building RE connections is vital to RE investing in general.
2) Good communication skills are important. The ability to negotiate and apply active listening skills will help immensely.
3) Finding and building a solid buyers list is necessary. This list shouldn't be just a list of names but include important information such as what these buyers are looking for.
4) Knowledge must be acted on. You can be the most knowledgeable investor out there, but if you don't act on that knowledge you won't profit from it.
Before investing in any program, I would seriously look at areas that you need or want to improve. Understand your goals and build an action plan. Experience comes only from doing. Experience and knowledge builds understanding and can lead to great success.
You have to define what success means to you. It helps to understand many of the basics first and Bigger Pockets is a great place to learn and ask questions.
A mentor or education program might be right for you, but take the time to evaluate the programs and what you are looking to get out of them.
- Real Estate Consultant · Leesburg, FL · Member since 2008 · 110 posts · 9 votes15y
I have stated on here before that I got my start working on deals with an experienced rehabber that was great to learn from.
Partnering with a local person who is doing it day in day out will be a great benefit.I was involved in close to 10 deals before I considered getting a "course". My first book was Robert Allens original book "Nothing Down" Not sure if its still relevant today, but the basics still apply. Find a home that the current owner wants to get out of, and then make a deal.
Over the years, and more than over 60 buy and hold rentals later, I have bought dozens of courses off Ebay, flea markets and garage sales.
Most recently, I bought the Eric Medimar Course and loved the current knowledge of someone who does it every day.I also just bought the Phill Grove course, and love the whole system laid out for you including web sites, auto responders, and a lot more.
But most importantly, you have to get up in the morning and go apply what you have learned.
Finally, Joining local REI clubs are probably the best 100 dollars you can spend in this business.
Get off the couch and go to work!!!!!!!
Hi Paul,
If you're still looking for a wholesaling course, I've updated my list of Used REI Courses Available and Steve Cook's wholesaling course is on the list. Though, it's the first edition. It was one of the first wholesaling courses that I bought when I first started out. If you're interested, I posted the link awhile back in the "Classifieds" section. Hope that helps!
- Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes15y
Course or no course, seminar or no seminar, books or no books, Biggerpockets or no Biggerpockets. The truth is, NONE of the forementioned is worth squat UNLESS YOU put what you have learned into action.
Secondly, as others stated, the person or material giving you instruction should only be credit worthy if the info it/they provides comes from actual and vast experience (not one or two properties as another poster eluded to).
Anybody claiming to be a mentor or a professional wholesaler should be asked to "prove it" before you take the advice.
- Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 7 votes9y
Before you invest $100's just spend $10, $20 per course on udemy.com and learn some basics.
It all boils down to your motivation and implementation, it doesn't matter how many courses you take until you take some action.
1) Spend one or two weekend to complete these courses.
2) Build and strategy and start implementing it.
3) go to local REIA meetups and do some networking.
4) Its very important to surround yourself with like minded people.
Here is a sample list currently for $10 each.
https://www.udemy.com/barriers-breakthroughs-of-re...
https://www.udemy.com/wholesaling-investment-analy...
https://www.udemy.com/virtual-real-estate-wholesal...
https://www.udemy.com/introduction-to-wholesaling-...
Good Luck
chaganti
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