Marketing for new wholesaler

Wholesaling
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Marketing for new wholesaler

Alex Bradley
Flipper/Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2018 · 46 posts · 47 votes
Hello my name is Alex and I just got my LLC to start wholesaling in San Diego, CA. I am going to start knocking on a few doors today using the lead sheet that I got from my local title company rep. However I am looking for some advice on how to best use my marketing budget to get new leads. Should I just send out hundreds of mailers? Focus on building a website ans driving traffic with a blog? Drive for dollars? Any other creative ways to let people know what we do? Any advice is greatly appreciated! I would love to hear what others have found successful in the past. I know it's not going to be easy and I'm okay with that. Nothing worth doing ever came easy! Thanks in advance - I look forward to connecting with more people here on BP.
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Michael Guzik
Real Estate Agent · San Antonio, TX · Member since 2017 · 523 posts · 362 votes
8y

@Alex Bradley Welcome to BP brother and good on you for taking action! My advice would be since you are just starting out is to get involved and plugged in. Start going to every meet up in the area that you can and network with other investors, wholesalers, and cash buyers. Join the real estate groups on Facebook in and around your area and add everyone in the group to your friends list and message them. Just doing this alone will put you so much farther ahead than all the other people getting started. I'm assuming since you are just getting started that you don't have butt loads of money to spend on marketing. Assuming this I would say that Driving for Dollars is the best way to accomplish what you want. This not only will help you gain a better understanding of the neighborhoods and area, but it will also help you reach out to owners that aren't being marketed to because they aren't on some list. Knocking on doors sucks, and is super uncomfortable but I can promise you by doing this you will build confidence, learn how to deal with sellers, and find deals where you aren't competing with someone. My personal opinion is to go to these meet ups and do your best to find a mentor or person willing to help you. Continue to market, drive and knock on doors and bring them a deal and have them walk you through it. You will be providing them with value and proving you are serious, along with receiving guidance and wisdom and hopefully building a promising relationship. Good luck my friend and whatever you do don't give up!

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  • Alex Bradley
    OP
    Flipper/Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2018 · 46 posts · 47 votes
    8y
    @Jay Hinrichs after reading your recommendation I’m definitely going to start using PR. It sounds like it will be a big help! Also, I read your bio and I can’t believe how much you have accomplished in RE! I would love to talk with our more about your experiences. I’m curious though, why do you think that getting licensed and being an agent will be more fruitful than wholesaling? I believe the market in San Diego, CA will be just as competitive if not more for RE agents. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t plan on doing wholesale forever. I’m just trying to get my foot in the door of the industry at this point while building up some cash. I want to start flipping houses in the next 1-2 years. Long term I want to purchase some SFR and multI fam rentals and then go from there. There are so many different opportunities and sectors to invest in RE so I’m definitely still figuring it out but for now wholesale feels like a great way to start learning the industry while building a savings.
    0Reply
  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Alex Bradley:
    @Jay Hinrichs after reading your recommendation I’m definitely going to start using PR. It sounds like it will be a big help! Also, I read your bio and I can’t believe how much you have accomplished in RE! I would love to talk with our more about your experiences. I’m curious though, why do you think that getting licensed and being an agent will be more fruitful than wholesaling? I believe the market in San Diego, CA will be just as competitive if not more for RE agents. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t plan on doing wholesale forever. I’m just trying to get my foot in the door of the industry at this point while building up some cash. I want to start flipping houses in the next 1-2 years. Long term I want to purchase some SFR and multI fam rentals and then go from there. There are so many different opportunities and sectors to invest in RE so I’m definitely still figuring it out but for now wholesale feels like a great way to start learning the industry while building a savings.

     your statement is verbatim pretty much everyone who thinks starting as a wholesaler is the way to become a long term landlord and then everyone who thinks being a long term landlord is financial freedom...  I mean everyone says the exact same thing on BP.. its kind of cute.. not sure where they read that or why but that's the way it is.

    I only suggest the agent route because your one selling real estate without a license if your going to make any money and that's not legal in CA no matter how many wholesalers get on here  and say it is..  so you have that aspect.. people of course speed to.

    But you miss so many deals if your going to gorilla market and the ONLY deals you can land have big equity that a flipper will buy it from you and you make a fee.. your missing out on all the folks that are not in distress you come in contact with.. and just want to list and sell their homes for retail.. and in your area with commish being so high.. well you get the drift.

    You also get to work in an organized structure.. You will meet other real estate professionals  developers builders flippers you name it.. working by yourself your on an island.. and believe me to the buyers of these your just another one of 50 wanna bee wholesalers in their rolo dex.. your only as good to them as the next deal you may or may not bring.. you cant list and sell the property that you just sold them .. some other agent makes that.. if you were an agent you would be double dipping these things.. 

    Plus if you good at being an agent you can go into all sorts of niche's  commercial sell apartments you become a great commercial broker and your going to make 500 to 1 mil a year or more.. just ask @Joel Owens  this is were the money is made 

    The bigger wholesaling companies and there are big ones.. but they are run just like a real estate office.. 20 to 50k a month in direct mail .. buying agents  have cash to close when and if needed etc etc..  plus wholesaling works MUCH better in low value asset areas or in rough and tumble areas that the real estate community does not to work in.. 

    If you want to own MF  go work for a MF developer.. that's where you will incubate.. or go work for a commercial broker you will probably start out leasing commercial space but you get to hang with the real players .. 

    AS an example one young guy that leased me my office in 2001 for my real estate and lending company.. was just that a leasing agent.. with NOrris Beggs and Simpson..  he is not senior management and well I saw him at the airport the other day on my way to Atlanta he was going to Dallas.. had his nice Cavalli suit on looked super sharp and is super successful commercial broker in charge of lending doing 10 to 50 million dollar deals for the real players out there.. And he started as a leasing agent.. you simply cant do that as a wholesaler in a market where you need a license to bring two parties together for expectation of compensation..  

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  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    8y

    @Alex Bradley again just my personal opinions... and of course I am biased getting my real estate license at 18 in the SF bay area and Brokers at 20.. then becoming a HML its the path I chose but those paths allowed me to intersect with a lot of very smart people and move up the food chain.

    I had no money when I started I lived at home and drove my parents car the first 8 months of selling real estate until I could buy my own.. its was an Orange Karmen Ghia  that baby would be a collectors item today.. !!!

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    0Reply
  • Jerryll Noorden
    Flipper/Rehabber · Wilton, CT · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Alex Bradley:
    Hello my name is Alex and I just got my LLC to start wholesaling in San Diego, CA. I am going to start knocking on a few doors today using the lead sheet that I got from my local title company rep. However I am looking for some advice on how to best use my marketing budget to get new leads. Should I just send out hundreds of mailers? Focus on building a website ans driving traffic with a blog? Drive for dollars? Any other creative ways to let people know what we do? Any advice is greatly appreciated! I would love to hear what others have found successful in the past. I know it's not going to be easy and I'm okay with that. Nothing worth doing ever came easy! Thanks in advance - I look forward to connecting with more people here on BP.

     Dude, This is simply the best way period... to do what you want.

    With your marketing budget you need to get a website. Do this immediately.

    Learn SEO and constantly work on ranking your website.

    While you do this, learn about DMM and PPC.

    This will help you drive traffic to your website (which Google will notice) and you are then focussing on making deals immediately.

    The goal is to have your website be your main lead generating beast as the leads it generates are

    1) "free"

    2) Super motivated to sell (compared to any other lead generating tool)

    The only issue with the website is that it takes time to rank. So how do you solve that problem?

    DDM/PPC

    Both strategies will drive traffic to your site (and thus getting deals made) and these strategies also directly help you make deals as you are reaching potential sellers with a solution to their problem

    Then after a bit of time, your website will produce something like this:

    all this without any extra work. You can not possibly argue with the numbers. No form of DMM or PPC will outdo a ranking website. Not going to happen. All these leads coming in by the hour all for free.

    Would you still pay for leads if this was your case? Maybe.. but it would be a choice not a must!

    Get a website (dude... not any website... ask me in pvt  if you want my opinion)

    And send postcards (don't bother with letters). (ask me why not to bother with letters)...

    Good luck!

    2Reply
  • Armando Gonzalez
    Real Estate Agent · Cincinati · Member since 2018 · 20 posts · 2 votes
    8y

    Hey, welcome to BP. I to am a new whole seller, in Houston Tx, and i have been going to meet ups and posting on social media and have got a lot of leads and traction by doing that. 

    0Reply
  • Jerryll Noorden
    Flipper/Rehabber · Wilton, CT · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Armando Gonzalez:

    Hey, welcome to BP. I to am a new whole seller, in Houston Tx, and i have been going to meet ups and posting on social media and have got a lot of leads and traction by doing that. 

    those are EXACTLY the things I consider useless. Social media and meetups.

    So I am curious to know...How many deals have you made from these meetups and social media? Does it actually work? Did you make any money?

    0Reply
  • Armando Gonzalez
    Real Estate Agent · Cincinati · Member since 2018 · 20 posts · 2 votes
    8y

    @Jerryll Noorden I have been at it for only a few weeks, but i went to a meet up and had a investor ready to buy a property but my coworker sold it to a other investor before i was able to seal the deal.  So short words no money but definitely  a step closer. I will keep you posted on how it works out.

    0Reply
  • Jerryll Noorden
    Flipper/Rehabber · Wilton, CT · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Armando Gonzalez:

    @Jerryll Noorden I have been at it for only a few weeks, but i went to a meet up and had a investor ready to buy a property but my coworker sold it to a other investor before i was able to seal the deal.  So short words no money but definitely  a step closer. I will keep you posted on how it works out.

     ok that is what I thought. I don't mean to be a downer but that is EXACTLY what constantly happens during meetups. It is a gathering of investors and investor wanna bees, that need others to make money... meaning... I hardly see a wholesaler that legitimately has their OWN property contract ready to sell it to buyers there.

    And think about it.. the reason why you don't really see it... anyone that knows how this is done will sell their contract online, by mass mailing their buyers.. there 3000+buyers (in my case I just have a handful of serious buyers).

    Going there to a meeting with a contract simply means 

    1) they are not experienced

    2) couldn't sell the contract via the "normal ' means, which means, it is not a good deal.. which means they are not experienced

    Awesome to those that made progress during social media and meet up... for me.. it just doesnt work!

    Don't waste your time man. Do the things that will ACTUALLY get you somewhere. Build a website, learn seo learn DMM, start a campaign get properties signed, grow your buyers list make actual money.

    Don't rely on others to get these steps done for you (i.e. "networking")

    BTW, buyers HATE that kind of wholesaling.

    an other wholesaler has the property under contract yet the second wholesaler markets it. What happens in your case is exactly why it is a waste of time to buyers.

    Buyer is interested, does analysis looks at the property , ready to by.. Ohh sorry... my partner already found an other buyer....

    bad bad bad

    0Reply
  • Alex Bradley
    OP
    Flipper/Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2018 · 46 posts · 47 votes
    8y
    @Jay Hinrichs thank you I really appreciate your feedback and it's given me something to think about. There are so many different roads to success in this industry and I love hearing stories about all of them. I'll look into some of the jobs you mentioned a little further to see if they make sense for me.
    0Reply
  • Eric James
    Investor · Malakoff, TX · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    8y

    I recently got my RE license for reasons @Jay Hinrichs mentioned. It gives me another option when talking to potential sellers. Incidentally, I buy and resell rather than wholesale.

    0Reply
  • Sam Shueh
    Real Estate Agent · Cupertino, CA · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y

    Drive around neighborhoods that look abandoned. Knock, knock, knock and knock/

    Just gas money.


    0Reply
  • Jacoby Bodley
    Meridian, MS · Member since 2018 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    8y
    Iam very interesting in the Real Estate industry And I think wholesaling would be a good strategy for me starting off And work my way up But is there any buyers in the Mississippi area or surrounding areas And Iam looking forward to meeting some mentors
    0Reply
  • Susan Maneck
    Investor · Jackson, MS · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 769 votes
    8y

    There are plenty of buyers in the Mississippi area, including myself but I've only bought one property from a wholesaler. Generally speaking I find I get as good of deals through HUD, Fannie Mae, etc. Also. wholesaling is problematic legally. I recommend young people without a lot of money consider house hacking instead.

    0Reply
  • Jacoby Bodley
    Meridian, MS · Member since 2018 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    8y
    @Susan Maneck What is house hacking And Iam just 21 So I think now would be a GREAT time for me to learn about Real Estate
    0Reply
  • Susan Maneck
    Investor · Jackson, MS · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 769 votes
    8y

    House-hacking is when you buy of property that contains 1-4 units. You can do that with FHA loan and 3 1/2% down. Your parents can even cosign for you and you can count the anticipated rents towards you income if you by a multifamily unit. But even if you buy an SFR you can still rent the rooms out. Works best if you do this near a university, like Jackson State. ;-} You can get multi-unit properties near there real cheap.

    0Reply
  • Ian WalshBusiness Member
    Lender · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y

    Door knocking was easily the best lead gen source we had when we wholesaled 10 years ago.

    0Reply
  • Alex Bradley
    OP
    Flipper/Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2018 · 46 posts · 47 votes
    8y
    @Susan Maneck we’re looking into home hacking as well! It’s been challenging trying to find a 2-4 until place that we can qualify for though just because prices in SD are so high.
    0Reply
  • Susan Maneck
    Investor · Jackson, MS · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 769 votes
    8y

    @Alex Bradley I can believe it would be next to impossible in most areas of California, but where @Jacoby Bodley and I live real estate is super-cheap. 

    0Reply
  • Jacoby Bodley
    Meridian, MS · Member since 2018 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    8y

    Hey Susan what all I need to do to start home hacking???

    0Reply
  • Tim G.
    Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y

    I wholesale in your market, and have successfully for six years. I would put 95% of your energy into door knocking. If you believe you will be in this business for longer than two years then I would suggest also investing into building a website. Avg cost of acquisition in Socal is well over $10k in mailers or PPC currently. This is a big market with investors with deep pockets now marketing direct for deals and they don't need to build in a wholesale fee. 

    It would be wise to consider getting your real estate license, I am nearly certain this is a faster path to income generation than only having the option to wholesale. Each lead you talk to has a higher probability of being a listing in the current market conditions. To focus on the smaller less likely to hit portion of the pie is a poor business move. Also, you can wholesale or list a deal if you have your license, but you cannot with other way around. 

    Be very wary of taking advice from people who don't wholesale right now, haven't ever wholesaled or who don't operate in your market. This place is full of opinions and most of them aren't relevant. 

    1Reply
  • Jacoby Bodley
    Meridian, MS · Member since 2018 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    8y
    @Tim Gordon In the Mississippi area???
    0Reply
  • Susan Maneck
    Investor · Jackson, MS · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 769 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Jacoby Bodley:

    Hey Susan what all I need to do to start home hacking???

    Find out first how much you would qualify for in a FHA loan. Figure out how much you need for your down and closing costs. Then locate your property and make an offer. Then start looking for roommates! Tim Gordon mentioned getting a real estate license. That would solve the legal problems associated with wholesaling, but not necessary for house hacking.

    0Reply
  • Tim G.
    Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Jacoby Bodley:
    @Tim Gordon In the Mississippi area???

    The original post asked about marketing and wholesaling in San Diego, my response was in regards to his question about marketing in San Diego, California. 

    0Reply
  • Cody L.
    Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Jacoby Bodley:
    @Susan Maneck What is house hacking And Iam just 21 So I think now would be a GREAT time for me to learn about Real Estate

    House hacking is a silly/hip name to something that's existed for a billion years:  Getting roommates to help pay your house payment.

    Could be roommates in an extra room, or roommates in an extra unit if you buy a duplex/triplex/fourplex

    1Reply
  • Ezichi Oha
    Wholesaler · North Hollywood, CA · Member since 2016 · 72 posts · 31 votes
    8y

    @Alex Bradley buy a list of vacant houses. Skip trace the list for phone numbers. Call every number including numbers of their relatives. Coffee is for Closers!

    1Reply
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