Biggest challenge, fear, or obstacle in your Wholesaling Biz?

Question

I'm curious to hear from both new and experience investors.  What is your biggest challenge, fear, obstacle in your wholesaling business.  How do you plan on blowing through it in 2016?

I'd love for everybody to invest in this thread and I will do my best to contribute as best as I can.

I'll share mine and my idea for tackling it in 2016.  Can't wait to hear yours.

Todd Toback · Answer

Jeff,  the easiest way to start is to get the list of tax defaulted homeowners in your county. You can also get a list from list source, which we do but going to the county (for the tax defaults) is the hottest list.  Be aware that you will most likely get a "this list does not exist" before you get a yes.  Prepare to hear "no" from 5 people before getting a yes.    Hope that helps!

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Todd Toback  I wish it was only 5 no's for every yes we would all be long ago retired :)

I think the biggest disconnect is wholesaling is not Investing.. it sales and marketing. why anyone thinks its an investment vehicle I am not sure.  like your thoughts so far

Bill Gulley · Answer

The only thing you have to fear is fear itself! (My rendition)

Fear comes from the unknown.

Knowing overcomes fear.

Knowing comes from a good education.

A good education requires:

Effort

Attitude

Research

Time

Habit

(EARTH) A well laid foundation is anchored in the earth.

When you know, you grow.

Now, you introverts, or anyone who  hesitates.......try Toast Masters!

It's also much easier when you really believe you can help someone, confidence that you can help also comes from your education.

When you know that you know you can help someone you'll have confidence. They will also sense that you know and begin to trust you.

The reason you don't know real estate is because you haven't learned it yet, guru's don't teach real estate, you learning about how to be a deal maker but you're not sure how to apply steps of a deal. That also means there is a lack of confidence, because you don't know.

Last tip, be very careful about advertising as a wholesaler, understand the way you have been taught isn't smiled upon by regulators. Advertising can get you into trouble.

Learn real estate and all the best to you in the new year! :)

Devin Morgan · Answer

I almost get uncomfortable when people call wholesaling a cash cow. To inexperienced and people new to wholesaling they get this unrealistic expectation of how they'll have to do little then get this massive return. Can it be a cash cow? Sure, but it becomes a cash cow from feeding it. Generally people that are making HUGE and consistent returns are those constantly pouring money into marketing, cold calling, door knocking, networking, etc. So I guess in a sense any strategy can be a cash cow if you put enough time and money into it.

@Jeff Amore search "yellow letters" or "direct mail" and you'll literally get TONS of hits. I use listsource (a lot of people here do as well) but there's other sites. After tweaking your criteria you can go for absentee owners in certain areas with a certain amount of equity etc. There's countless ways to find buyers and sellers. Sometimes I sit on youtube watching wholesaling videos taking notes.

I haven't gotten my first deal yet but I'm pretty comfortable talking to sellers and feel pretty confident with the help and expertise of others I can close on my first deal when ready.

As for my biggest fear is time. What if it takes 6 months.... 9 months.... a year to get my first deal. I know it's very well possible that it can happen I just don't want it to lol.

Van Flowers · Answer

I'm a newbie too. My biggest fear is that I've found a couple of owners looking to sell but not comfortable with crunching the numbers to determine if it's a good deal and making an offer to earn a  profit. Plus I've only been contacted by one cash buyer looking  in a certain county that I'm not familiar with. You can put an ad on Craigslist, set up a Facebook page and create a website to find potential cash buyers and/or motivated owners. Another way is to go to Meet up.com and find local real estate investers that meet in your area to network with. Stay away from those that will try to get you to buy into their systems. And lastly, the old fashion way is to drive around certain areas for about an hour or so to find address of distressed properties. Then look them up on your counties property info website to get info about property and owner. Hope this helps.

Jeff Amore · Answer

@Todd Toback ,

For me, it's finding the motivated sellers in an efficient manner. As of now, I'm just placing ads online, which I know isn't enough. I'm in the midst of trying to create a website to bring in some leads as well, but that's taking some time. I'd like to do a direct mail campaign, but have no idea how to get a targeted list of potential motivated sellers (absentee owners, vacant properties, pre-foreclosures, etc.). I think I have enough contacts on the backend of this to be successful (contractors, realtors, cash buyers, etc.).... then again, I won't know for sure until I get that far. If anyone has any direction, I'd love to hear it!

Jeff Amore · Answer

A little update from me, if anyone is interested. I sent out my first batch of direct mail last week. It was 500 postcards sent to out of state owners with at least 50% equity. I got the list from listsource (thanks for the recommendation @Devin Morgan), however, I haven't received any calls yet. I'm guessing a) it may still be a little too soon to judge and b) this probably isn't the best time of year to send a direct mailing. I also may have screwed up by designing my own postcard on vistaprint. I may do that differently next time and find a more tried and true postcard. The cost of the mailing list, the postcards, and having them sent for me through vistaprint totaled about $300.

I was also able to get my website up and running.... at least it was until bluehost, my hosting company, went down. It's definitely a work in progress as I've never created a website before or used Wordpress. Feel free to check it out and provide feedback (whenever it comes back up). The address is www.japropertyinvest.com. Now the challenge, as @Andy Cross mentioned, is getting traffic. I've been through several articles about SEO and marketing, but I think I may need to talk to a professional to help me further. If anyone has any helpful hints, feel free to let me know. I'd prefer not to have to pay someone, but that may be what it takes.

Bhekizwe M. · Answer

Follow ups were a challenge.going forward more will be needed until i put the deal under contract and close

Stephen Nicholson · Answer

my biggest fear is the financial aspect of investing. A near bankruptcy left me with difficulties raising credit and I worry about closing on a rehab and not having the capital to complete the project.

Biggest challenge, fear, or obstacle in your Wholesaling Biz?

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