New to Real Estate · Columbus, GA · Member since 2025 · 38 posts · 18 votes
One question I’ve been thinking about as I build my wholesaling business:
If someone is starting a wholesale real estate business, what should their hiring priorities be?
At what point should you stop trying to do everything yourself and begin building a team?
If you could only hire a few people in the beginning, which roles would you prioritize first?
● Cold callers?
● Acquisition Manager?
● Lead Manager?
● Disposition Manager?
● Transaction Coordinator?
● Virtual Assistants?
● Marketing?
And which tasks should be delegated first to maximize ROI while allowing the owner to focus on growing the business?
I’d love to hear from wholesalers who have successfully scaled. Looking back, what was the first hire that made the biggest difference, and what would you do differently if you were starting over today?
Looking forward to learning from everyone’s experience!
Cold callers are the default first hire but the bottleneck is usually disposition, not acquisition. More leads don't help if you can't move contracts. Get the back end tight before you scale the front.
My first answer to your question would be don’t hire anyone, you don’t need that alligator.
As a wholesaler, you cannot have too many leads, so if you’re going to spend money on something, what is the best value for getting leads?
The number one job of a wholesaler is to know what products, people will buy from you.
Your question is asking how do you start a wholesale business but yet part of your question is how do you manage an existing thriving wholesale business which is way different.
Cold callers are the default first hire but the bottleneck is usually disposition, not acquisition. More leads don't help if you can't move contracts. Get the back end tight before you scale the front.
One question I’ve been thinking about as I build my wholesaling business:
If someone is starting a wholesale real estate business, what should their hiring priorities be?
At what point should you stop trying to do everything yourself and begin building a team?
If you could only hire a few people in the beginning, which roles would you prioritize first?
● Cold callers?
● Acquisition Manager?
● Lead Manager?
● Disposition Manager?
● Transaction Coordinator?
● Virtual Assistants?
● Marketing?
And which tasks should be delegated first to maximize ROI while allowing the owner to focus on growing the business?
I’d love to hear from wholesalers who have successfully scaled. Looking back, what was the first hire that made the biggest difference, and what would you do differently if you were starting over today?
Looking forward to learning from everyone’s experience!
From what I've seen running outbound operations, cold callers should usually be the first hire, before lead managers or acquisition managers, because until you have aconsistent volume of conversations happening, there's nothing for those other roles to manage or close. A lot of new wholesalers try to do everything themselves too long and end up bottlenecked on their own calling capacity before they ever get to the point where a lead manager or acquisitions role would even matter. Once calling volume is consistent, that's when a lead manager becomes worth it someone has to keep the follow-up pipeline from falling through the cracks.
@Lucas Flowers you're right! I am the guy who reached my maxed capacity with cold calling. I will take your advice into consideration! Thank you!
That's exactly the wall a lot of people hit great problem to have honestly, means your list/follow-up is working well enough to outpace what one person can dial. BTW what's next for you hiring your first caller, or trying to systemize it solo a bit longer first?
@Lucas Flowers my focus is to hire my first caller. I reached my capacity with that part of the business. I think it'll help me put more time and effort into CRM management and dispo.
@Lucas Flowers my focus is to hire my first caller. I reached my capacity with that part of the business. I think it'll help me put more time and effort into CRM management and dispo.
That makes sense, once you're maxed out on calling, your time is genuinely worth more on CRM/dispo than on the phone. Good luck with the hire, hope it frees up the bandwidth you're looking for.
I’d be careful hiring too early. In the beginning, I think the owner should learn how to generate leads, talk to sellers, make offers, follow up, and get deals closed themselves.
Once you can consistently do that, start delegating the lowest value and most repetitive tasks first.
For me, that would usually be cold calling, data work, list pulling, CRM management, and other admin tasks. I’d keep acquisitions close to the owner for as long as possible because learning how to talk to sellers and convert leads is one of the most valuable skills you can develop.
Don’t hire because someone told you that you need a team. Hire when you have a proven process and your own capacity has become the bottleneck.
@Travis Goodwin Thanks Travis! Your advice is what my approach will be. Cold calling, CRM management and other tasks is what I'm looking to hire. Acquisition and dispo are two things I want to continue to handle.
I think it depends on where the bottleneck is. A lot of people hire too early because they think they need a team, when in reality they haven't built a repeatable process yet.
If I were starting from scratch, I'd delegate the lower-value, repetitive tasks first. Things like cold calling, lead management, or admin work can free up a lot of time. I'd want to keep acquisitions in-house for as long as possible because that's where you're sharpening your negotiation skills and really learning the business.
Once your lead flow becomes consistent and you have systems in place, then it makes more sense to bring on acquisitions or dispositions to help you scale.
My mindset has always been to learn the job before hiring someone else to do it. It's much easier to train, manage, and hold people accountable when you've actually done the work yourself.
All the best! Feel free to reach out and connect with me - my DMs are always open!
I wouldn't hire. If anything, you should scout while running solo. Word of mouth and build relationships, or even family and friends. With those relationships, put out there easy finders payout based on the deal closing. Give them a simple buy box and continue working. If they want it they will work to get it. 1k minimum is nothing to you. So if they know they can make that just by bringing you matches to your buy box with opportunity to close, they will make themselves known. Then in the future you will know who to give not a job, but opportunity to join your team.
Before you hire cold callers, make sure your lead SOURCE is exclusive. There's no point paying callers to work the same PropStream or BatchLeads lists every other wholesaler in Columbus is calling.
I wholesale in Broward County, FL — and I pull leads directly from county public records instead of aggregated platforms. Tax delinquent lists from the tax collector. Code enforcement violations. Probate filings from the clerk of court. When you cross-reference those three, you find owners with stacked distress signals that aren't on ANY paid platform.
Here's why this matters for your hiring decision: when your callers are working exclusive county data, they're calling people nobody else is calling. No competition. No "I already talked to 3 wholesalers this week." That changes the conversation entirely.
The hire priority should be: (1) secure exclusive data sources first, THEN (2) hire callers to work those exclusive leads. The order matters because callers working stale aggregated lists will burn out your reputation in any market.
One more thing — you mentioned $500-$1500 EMD with 7-10 day closings. That's solid. But make sure you're verifying ownership at the county appraiser's office BEFORE your callers dial. Nothing kills credibility faster than calling the wrong owner because your list was 6 months stale.
DeQuantay, don't hire until you've closed a few deals yourself. You can't train someone on a job you haven't done, and you won't know what good looks like.
Once you're closing, look at where your hours go. For most solo wholesalers it's the phone. Dialing, leaving voicemails, talking to people who aren't ready. That's the first thing to hand off, usually to a VA cold caller or a VA who handles lead intake and follow-up. It's the cheapest hire and it buys back the most time.
Keep acquisitions yourself as long as you can. Talking to sellers and getting contracts signed is the money job. Nobody will care about it like you do until you have a proven script and a proven process.
Rough order: VA for calls and follow-up first, then a transaction coordinator once you have multiple deals going at once, then an acquisitions rep when you have more good leads than you can handle. Dispositions last. If your buyer list is strong, that part goes fast.
The mistake to avoid is hiring a team to create deals. Hire to handle the deals you already can't keep up with.