How long does it take to get into wholesaling?

[Reid Balmelli]

Hello, my name is Reid Balmelli and I live in an area south of Olympia, WA. I've recently been learning about real estate and would still consider myself very new. I took an interest in wholesaling as a way to start making capital as I am 18 with low amounts of capital. I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to get into it now, or wait because I will be moving to Phoenix, Arizona in about 3 months. I will be having lots of time in the next 3 months to put into it, but I wanted others' opinions on what I should do. Thanks!

[Randall Alan]

@Reid Balmelli

Hi Reid,

A few words of caution for you towards wholesaling.

I know wholesaling can seem like a great avenue into real estate because of the low financial barriers to entry... but wholesaling can be tough to get started in.  It can be even tougher when you are at the age you are at.  Wholesaling's main driving force is people in desperate situations.  Could be divorce, foreclosure, lost a job, lost a loved one, and often people who just 'can't deal with reality well' anymore.  At 18 it might be hard for you to connect with people in those situations, because you likely haven't dealt with much of those situations yourself. 

Frankly speaking, the business of wholesaling is about being able to offer someone less for their property than they could get by selling it on the open market... enough to cut both you - the wholesaler, and an investor in on the deal to make enough money to make it worth everyone's while.  

At 18, I think it is going to be hard to command the authority to people - even though you are probably fully capable, and that would worry me for you.  

Next, realize that finding deals isn't nearly as easy as it sounds.  You pretty much have to transform yourself into a marketing company.  Your tools are either cold calling, posting snipe signs around town (that code enforcement probably prohibits), or purchasing lists and doing mailers, etc.  Obviously all that takes money up front.  Then it takes the business skills to leverage any opportunities you drum up... communicating with the people, and being able to meet people in person, handle objections, and close the deal.  Keep in mind the "not dealing with reality" part I mentioned earlier.  There is going to be a pretty big "Why should I trust you / I don't trust you" vibe going on - especially if someone feels like their property is worth 50% more than you are offering them.  So it will take salesmanship on your part to pull that all together.  

I obviously don't know you whatsoever... but wanted to caution you that it can be a tough business, with complicated (depressing) situations, and lots of rejection.  People measure their success rates in the low single digits per thousand phone calls from what I've seen on these forums.  That's a lot of effort to get a deal!

If you are up for the challenge, I guess go for it.  But I would be careful not to invest too much money into your efforts before you know if you are going to like it or be successful.  Don't go order 1,000 signs and then 2 months later not like the business and have 800 signs left over, etc.

Depending on your financial resources, even if it means partnering with family members, I personally might suggest trying to get into a rental property.  It will take more money than wholesaling to get into... but it is a lot easier of a road to travel in my opinion if you can muster the financial resources.

All the best!

Randy

[Bryant Brislin]

@Reid Balmelli I'm happy to talk some time if you want to hit me up, but basically any time someone asks me how long it takes to get a deal done in wholesaling, I ask them how much time they are willing to put into it, and are they the focused type?  If you put at least 40 hrs a week into it (or more, if possible), you should be able to get a deal done within a few months, and hopefully, it will be a few deals at once and not just one.  But you really have to be focused.  I would say that 95% of the young men I meet today are not focused enough and are constantly looking for the easiest/quickest way to make money...those types don't have the patience for wholesaling.  Also, you should align yourself with someone who is experienced and a veteran.

[Eliott Elias]

As long as it takes you to find your first deal. The law of attraction is real in wholesaling, the more outbound you are, the more deals will come your way.

[Reid Balmelli]

Thank you for all of your wisdom! It was extremely helpful. The more I thought about it, I think I'm going to wait until I'm not time-crunched. In the meantime, I'm also going to make sure it's something I want to really get into before going too overboard. Thank you again!

[Nathan Harden]

Wholesaling is not as easy as some gurus may make it out to be, especially for a rookie. Advice, do not get down on yourself when you aren't closing deals left and right, stay the course, the deals will come with experience and network.

[Andrew Rodgers]

I've been wholesaling in the Phoenix market for 5 years now.

I'd recommend doing two things:

1. Just start, it's not very expensive to just start talking to FSBO sellers and getting your reps in now. You'll learn what people have objections to pretty quickly.

2. The second option is to work for someone. I worked for one of the "gurus" - I learned how to wholesale, got paid to do it and made money for the company.. They're always looking for motivated and hungry employees.

Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions but you can do it, even at 18.

[Julien Jeannot]

I’d agree with the folks here. Its about focus and dedication to the art. 

Find who is killing it in your market and work for them to jumpstart your career.

[David Ramirez]

It took me 6 months of consistent marketing before I got my first deal. You have to test different marketing channels for a long period of time to assess the conversion and ROI. Put a lot of focus on your communication and sales skills. You have to be super patient and disciplined to get consistent results. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions!

Good Luck

[Anastasia Osorio]

My advice would be to network, network, network. Get your rolodex full of investors you can call for information. What one guy might not know or have experience in, another will. Look for Real Estate Investors networking mixers to meet people tat have been investing for many years. 

Whether you're here in WA, or have moved to AZ, you can do this from anywhere and knowing people everywhere will help you tremendously! Good luck!

[Jerryll Noorden]

Everyone, please stop for one moment and hear me out.

None of the advice here is accurate. This is not coming from an opinionated standpoint. I come from a factual standpoint. Data.

Wholesaling is extremely easy. It takes a lot of work, yes, but it is easy. Everyone thinks it is hard because everyone is listening to everyone else saying it is hard,  and because they just do it wrong.

Look, everyone.

The amount of time you have been doing it means absolutely nothing. You can be catching fish for 15 years by swimming after them with a paddle trying to beat one to death with one. 

Doing this for 15 years doesn't make you good at fishing if you have just been doing it wrong for 15 years right?

A pet peeve I have here is that everyone talks a good talk as if they are the experts and all-knowing about the topic. But please everyone, try to honestly seperate mere opinions from fact. 

And especially stop dressing up "incompetence", as impossibility (sounds rude, I don't mean to be. I am just direct). Because YOU are having a hard time with it doesn't mean it is not possible to do it. YOU may simply be doing it wrong. That is no reason to label something as "don't you do it".

Look at my leads coming in:

Does it look like I have trouble generating a HUGE quantity of leads?

No

Now, look at the deals I am making:

Obviously, the quality is there too!

Every single time I wholesale a deal my assignment fee ranges between $50K and $100K, consistently. Look at my numbers.

Do you really think I am "lucky"? Of course not.

Everyone, please listen carefully.

Wholesaling is only difficult if you think that you need to network, or if you think you need to do it for 5 years, or if you need to go after the foreclosures, and absentee owners, and jobloss and divorce.

All this is completely wrong folks. 

Please start to think on your own and use actual intelligence to do anything.

If you have to send 1000 mailers, calls, or texts to get ONE deal,  what do you conclude?

YOU conclude: "I need to send 10000 mailers to get more deals".

What do I conclude?

Well, if you have to send 1000 mailers to the foreclosure list to get one deal, it means 999 people on my list of 1000 said "NO" to me, and only 1 (if lucky) said "yes). To me, that means a 0.1% conversion rate. That means that 99.9% of the people on your foreclosure list were not motivated. The exact same applies to the absentee owner's list, probate list,  and inheritance list, ..

I conclude that people on those lists are NOT motivated. Wrong audience. 

You all DO see this is so obvious right? I know it is. You didn't see it because you all turn your "thinking" off. You simply assume that the way everyone has been telling you how to do it is absolute truth, indisputable universal law, never to be questioned, or doubted. You take that as truth and everything after that you will question.

You send mailers to the foreclosure list, doesn't work: "ohh maybe instead of a yellow card, I should do a blue one?", "ohh maybe m a doodle or a scribble on the card, is the magic trick?" Or maybe JUST MAYYYBE, I should do a handwritten letter?

You flat-out assume the only thing that matters is that the person needs to be tricked into opening the mailer so they can see your message. You FLAT OUT assume that your audience is correct. motivated. You think that if they see it, open it you are done.

"ohh no it couldn't POSSIBLE be that someone in foreclosure is not going to sell their house below market value. I just need to make sure he opens the letter ..."

See my point?

You start of assuming you have the right audience.

If foreclosures, absentee owners, and probates were motivated, why are YOU, why is EVERYONE experiencing a 0.1% conversion rate? Do you think it is a coincidence that all these lists have the exact same conversion rate?

It is not that they have the exact same conversion rate of 0.1%.  No! 0.1% simply means  ZERO, "it doesn't work". Wrong audience. 
But instead of drawing the right conclusion that this is the wrong audience, what do you all conclude? Let's spend MORE Money to reach MORE wrong people, to make MORE deals. Damn it folks, thats friggin retarded! Stupid. You DO see this yes?

Networking?!

Let's talk about networking.

99.99% of investors have no stinking clue how to generate actually motivated seller leads. What do you gain when you take 1 blind person and put them in a busy city with 10 more blind people? Will they see better when you group them together?

No. Networking does nothing when the people you network with also have no clue how this is done!

All, wholesaling is hard for you because ALL of you still think you can target motivated sellers.

Read my lips.

YOU CAN NOT TARGET MOTIVATED SELLERS.

No AI, no software, no gadget no nothing.

No one knows when YOU become motivated and that is why nothing can target motivated sellers.

The ONLY way to reliably get in touch with motivated selelrs, is for THEM to find YOU!

The only way to get in touch with motivated sellers is for YOU to make it extremely easy for THEM to find YOU!

The longer it takes you to get this, the more money you are wasting on what ever it is you are doing that is obviously not working because all of you are complaining how hard it is.

I don't understand people honestly.

Everyone, her eon BP is clinging to opinions as long as they like what that opinion says. But I have been here for years, spitting out data facts common sense and logic, and just nothing.

Stop seeing what you WANT to see and start accepting what truly is in front of you.

I hope this serves as a wakeup call to some. This is not meant to offend. This is meant as a rough wake-up call.

Do you want to succeed? Yes or no.

If yes, STOP friggin listening to BS and use your head. Use analysis, Data, and common sense. logic. numbers.

It is not about "consistency". It is not about "keep doing it". It is about doing what works.

[Tom Gimer]

@Jerryll Noorden I generally agree with your posts but in some markets SEO just isn't going to work. One of our largest investor markets is Baltimore City and I can assure you if the sellers do not or cannot use the internet to complete the closing process they definitely are not using it to try to find buyers.

In some markets old school paper, phone calls, bandit signs, etc. are still the only way to get leads as well as deals closed.

[Anastasia Osorio]

@Jerryll Noorden  Although your response read like a spam email, I read the whole thing. You make great points and could probably help this guy much quicker than any of us if he is willing to work your formula. Thanks for the contribution.

[Jerryll Noorden]

Quote from @Anastasia Osorio:

@Jerryll Noorden  Although your response read like a spam email, I read the whole thing. You make great points and could probably help this guy much quicker than any of us if he is willing to work your formula. Thanks for the contribution.

 I truly appreciate that. And I know my message reads like spam. I think it's because all the show-off pictures I post with it. Believe me when I say this. Even with the concrete proof show-off pics I post , no one believes it. Without the pics, with all the impossible to believe claims I make , no one would even bother to consider what I am trying to convey. Thanks for letting me know your opinion. I do value yours.

[Jerryll Noorden]

Quote from @Tom Gimer:

@Jerryll Noorden I generally agree with your posts but in some markets SEO just isn't going to work. One of our largest investor markets is Baltimore City and I can assure you if the sellers do not or cannot use the internet to complete the closing process they definitely are not using it to try to find buyers.

In some markets old school paper, phone calls, bandit signs, etc. are still the only way to get leads as well as deals closed.

 Hey Tom, thanks for that. I appreciate you are one of the people who sees logic in my posts.

I am a bit confused by your reply though. Not sure if you have the right understanding of what SEO is.

SEO doesn't depend on a "market". SEO depends on whether or not someone is using the internet to do a search for information, a solution, entertainment or what ever. It is about using Google (or other search engines) to perform searches on. Are you saying people in Baltimore do not use Google, or the internet in general to search?

SEO is not about "using the internet to complete a closing". SEO is about GOOGLE ranking websites #1 on the search results page. This has nothing to do with completing a closing online.

This is what you said:

I can assure you if the sellers do not or cannot use the internet to complete the closing process they definitely are not using it to try to find buyers.

That is like saying, if people can't use the internet to find apple pie recipes, using oranges, people are not going to use internet to find reviews on the latest iPhone.

Intenet searches make live easy. Why wouldn't anyone NOT use the best tool on the planet to easily find cash buyers, just because they can't use internet to complete a deal? Why woudl anyone purposely make their lives more difficult?

No, I do not agree with this.  Be careful because you use an opinion to prove a point. Your opinion is factually wrong.

Here is how I know. I myself am not using the internet to complete the closing process, and none of my other investor connections are either except for a few virtual wholesalers, and all of them ARE using Internet to find cash buyers. Again, this makes what I said a fact. Not opinion.

Mind you, I am not trying to convince you that you need to change your opinion. Everyone can have their own opinion, but it still remains a fact that that opinion is factually and proven to be wrong.

Not being able to complete a closing online has nothing to do with using Internet to find buyers.

[Tom Gimer]

@Jerryll Noorden A certain percentage of our Baltimore sellers either

-don't use email

-don't have a computer

-don't speak English

If they cannot log in to our closing platform to upload sensitive documents/information to help us clear title, they aren't searching Google. Does that mean nobody in Baltimore uses the internet to search? Of course not. But some sellers do not and therefore old school methods are the only ones that will possibly work to reach them.

[Kerry Noble Jr]

why put off tomorrow, what you can do today??

[Jerryll Noorden]

Quote from @Tom Gimer:

@Jerryll Noorden A certain percentage of our Baltimore sellers either

-don't use email

-don't have a computer

-don't speak English

If they cannot log in to our closing platform to upload sensitive documents/information to help us clear title, they aren't searching Google. Does that mean nobody in Baltimore uses the internet to search? Of course not. But some sellers do not and therefore old school methods are the only ones that will possibly work to reach them.

 That I agree with. Yes absolutely.

Again, this is not location-based. This is audience-based. Everywhere has a % where people don't have computers etc. etc. Not just Baltimore.

My response to that is this. A huge percentage of people who do not use computers have family or friends who do. Plenty of times elderly in need to sell their house ask their kids for help. We get contacted by their offspring and they do it that way.

Also. the computer is not the only means for internet and SEO. Internet is. Although some (a very small percentage) of people may not have a computer, almost everyone now has a smartphone with internet on it.

Then the language thing, is irrelevant. SEO has nothing to do with language. They may not pick YOU if you do not speak their language, but they ARE going to internet , doing searches on internet in their language and find people that speak their language to sell their house to. So that is not an SEO thing. That is an end user limitatio thing. 

Lastly.

Let's pretend I didn't say what I said her ein this message.

I would STILL say "who cares", becuase only a TINY TINY percentage of the population is not using internet. 

Although I may not specifically be targeting Baltimore here... I don't care if I miss out on 8% of the people that SEO won't reach.  I am good with the other 92%,

[Tom Gimer]

@Jerryll Noorden That is a national estimate.

We deal with some of the most active wholesalers / investors in this city and others and the most successful ones are not using the internet to find sellers... they are using the telephone.

You're leaving a lot of meat on the bone relying only upon the internet to find sellers in some markets.

[Jerryll Noorden]

Quote from @Tom Gimer:

@Jerryll Noorden That is a national estimate.

We deal with some of the most active wholesalers / investors in this city and others and the most successful ones are not using the internet to find sellers... they are using the telephone.

You're leaving a lot of meat on the bone relying only upon the internet to find sellers in some markets.

I just wouldn't call the small number of people that do not use the internet "a lot of meat on the bone". Besides the topic here is not about whether or not non-internet users are a significant portion of transactions.

The actual topic here is that "because sellers do not or cannot use the Internet to complete the closing process they definitely are not using it to try to find buyers."

This simply is not true.

But I am totally cool with agreeing to disagree. 

But consider this: I know this because when I first started this I did do DMM, and the results sucked. Secondly, 90%+? of the people here on BP do DMM, and 90%+? of the people here are on the forums complaining they aren't getting anywhere. Coincidence?
I think not.

But like I said, if you are happy with chasing after people that do not use the internet, by all means, go for it.

Not because a seller can't complete a transaction online does it mean they are not going to use Google to find a way to sell their house. Can you really sit here and tell me in my face you seriously believe this? I am so shocked you actually believe that bro!

Have you ever considered that sellers will go to Google BEFORE they even have the slightest understanding of how it works? Before they even KNOW they can't close using the internet, they would have to have gone to the internet FIRST to even find out they can't close online.

And lastly, if you knew and understood motivated sellers, you would know that NONE of that mattered. All they want is to sell their house fast and hassle-free.

So what do you expect a motivated seller to do?

"Ohh wait, I need to be PRESENT at the closing?!.. screw that, I will drive to my nearest cash buyers office and see if I can sell my house to them without using traitorous Google that didn't allow me to close the deal online"?

This because when someone becomes motivated they are not going to sit ansd wait till they receive a mailer right? When you suddenly crave pizza are you going to sit next to your mail box to wait till some pizze place sends you a mailer with their special? Or will you pick up your phone and start looking for something?
Your mailers can not target motivated sellers in the first place. Can't. No list can target motivated sellers. So this entire conversation is moot.

Understand that the need to go to Google is to get fast answers, not as a condition to be able to close the deal online.

Trust me on this my man. this is the case. But like I said. If you still don't believe it.. its cool either way. 

[Tom Gimer]

@Jerryll Noorden You quoted me accurately but you misunderstood what I meant. It's not about closing online, it's about using technology to share information necessary to get the file to the closing table.

Our closing software gathers non-public personal information (SSN, banking, loan and other financial info) from sellers in a secure manner. You need to be able to use email, complete forms, upload files. In other words, sellers need to be able to complete lead forms similar to the ones your sites gather. If a seller can only use snail mail, fax or phone to attempt to provide the information required... well I've said it already. I'd say 25%+ of our investor deals in Baltimore City involve this type of seller.

[Russell Brazil]

Quote from @Jerryll Noorden:

Quote from @Tom Gimer:

@Jerryll Noorden That is a national estimate.

We deal with some of the most active wholesalers / investors in this city and others and the most successful ones are not using the internet to find sellers... they are using the telephone.

You're leaving a lot of meat on the bone relying only upon the internet to find sellers in some markets.

I just wouldn't call the small number of people that do not use the internet "a lot of meat on the bone". Besides the topic here is not about whether or not non-internet users are a significant portion of transactions.

The actual topic here is that "because sellers do not or cannot use the Internet to complete the closing process they definitely are not using it to try to find buyers."

This simply is not true.

But I am totally cool with agreeing to disagree. 

But consider this: I know this because when I first started this I did do DMM, and the results sucked. Secondly, 90%+? of the people here on BP do DMM, and 90%+? of the people here are on the forums complaining they aren't getting anywhere. Coincidence?
I think not.

But like I said, if you are happy with chasing after people that do not use the internet, by all means, go for it.

Not because a seller can't complete a transaction online does it mean they are not going to use Google to find a way to sell their house. Can you really sit here and tell me in my face you seriously believe this? I am so shocked you actually believe that bro!

Have you ever considered that sellers will go to Google BEFORE they even have the slightest understanding of how it works? Before they even KNOW they can't close using the internet, they would have to have gone to the internet FIRST to even find out they can't close online.

And lastly, if you knew and understood motivated sellers, you would know that NONE of that mattered. All they want is to sell their house fast and hassle-free.

So what do you expect a motivated seller to do?

"Ohh wait, I need to be PRESENT at the closing?!.. screw that, I will drive to my nearest cash buyers office and see if I can sell my house to them without using traitorous Google that didn't allow me to close the deal online"?

This because when someone becomes motivated they are not going to sit ansd wait till they receive a mailer right? When you suddenly crave pizza are you going to sit next to your mail box to wait till some pizze place sends you a mailer with their special? Or will you pick up your phone and start looking for something?
Your mailers can not target motivated sellers in the first place. Can't. No list can target motivated sellers. So this entire conversation is moot.

Understand that the need to go to Google is to get fast answers, not as a condition to be able to close the deal online.

Trust me on this my man. this is the case. But like I said. If you still don't believe it.. its cool either way. 

 Large swaths of the city dont even have electricity to say nothing of internet.  Huge sums of owners that dont even know how to read. It is unlike any American city youve set foot in. Hundreds of thousands of vacant and abandoned properties. And Im not exaggerating. The population has tumbled from 1 million to 500,000. 

Even outside of the problem in contacting owners, there is unique real estate problems this city has that others do not. Buildings owned by 1 person and the land by someone else. Water bills that are higher than the value of the properties. Properties that change hands a dozen times in a few years being traded by unscrupulous individuals and facilitated by corrupt title companies causing numerous title issues. 

[Tom Gimer]

@Russell Brazil Almost spot on except I think the figure is 15,000 vacants... and we're not talking about vacant as in ready for tenants! Vacant as in blighted, abandoned, condemned, infested, etc.

[Jerryll Noorden]

Quote from @Tom Gimer:

@Russell Brazil Almost spot on except I think the figure is 15,000 vacants... and we're not talking about vacant as in ready for tenants! Vacant as in blighted, abandoned, condemned, infested, etc.

 Thats's horrible!