5 Things That Wholesaling Forced Us to Do

Before I move on with our story I thought that I would elaborate on the 5 things that wholesaling forced us to do.

1. Find a Real Estate Attorney.

• While there are tons of resources through Bigger Pockets and the Cincinnati REIA, we wanted to make sure that we had all of our “I’s” dotted and “T’s” crossed. We reached out to several people to get a referral for a good real estate attorney that understands real estate investing. They all gave the same name so it was pretty obvious he was our guy. We had him put together a purchase contract that worked for the state of Ohio.

1. Found a title company that understood wholesaling.

• While there are tons of title agencies out there that can close a transaction. However, not all title companies really understand assignments and double closings. It was important for us (who had never closed a deal) to find a title company that could help us through the process. The title company that we found does their closing with a real estate attorney.

1. Build a process to evaluate properties.

• If you don’t know how to evaluate properties then you can’t be a wholesaler. Simple as that. At the time neither of us were realtors and we didn’t have access to comps. We came up with a complex system for evaluating properties that got us in the ball park. The true test for us was if we could unload the property. If you really have a deal you should be able to get rid of it. My business partner is now a licensed realtor and we have access to the MLS which is a big help.

1. Learn to Estimate Repairs

• One thing that I knew that we would have to do is to estimate repairs. The first few properties that we looked at we had a contractor walk through with us. We paid him $75 a property which was cheap but would cost too much over time. We soaked up every bit of knowledge that we could before we stopped using him. As I mentioned before we started doing property inspections with an experienced investor to understand his cost. Sometimes a contractor and an investor can have different opinions what a rehab should cost. Imagine that! Another resource that we used was J Scott’s spreadsheet on estimating repairs from his book.

1. Grow our network

• Having properties to market we had to build relationships with cash buyers and other wholesalers if we were interested in doing a Joint Venture.In this business relationships can really help you be successful.

These are a few things that wholesaling forced us to do. We had to step out of our comfort zone and start doing.