New to Wholesaling
Member since 2025 · 1 post · 2 votes
I'm a 19-year-old community college student In the sandhills area, I'm trying to learn how to wholesale real estate with limited upfront cash. I know it takes a lot of brute force determination to get that first deal, so if anyone has any tips for doing it at my age, my area, who to look for or meet, or even just general things, it'd be very helpful. Thank you!
When I talk to newer investors, I tell them not to focus on having a lot of money first. Focus on learning how to find opportunities and have conversations. Most successful wholesalers didn't start with a big marketing budget—they started by talking to sellers, making offers, building relationships, and learning from the market.
If I were 19 and starting over in a smaller market, I'd spend my time networking with local investors, attending REIA meetings, talking to landlords, driving for dollars, and learning how to analyze deals accurately. I'd also make it a goal to have conversations with property owners every week because that's where the real education happens. You don't need to know everything before you start. Consistency will teach you more than another 100 hours of YouTube videos.
Stay focused on one lane, learn how to comp properties, make offers, follow up relentlessly, and build relationships with people already doing deals in your area. Your age can actually be an advantage because you have time to learn skills now that can pay you for decades. The biggest mistake would be waiting until you feel "ready." Take action, learn from each conversation, and keep moving forward.
You should definitely look into your local REI groups and see if you can find someone there who is experienced in wholesaling.
In a lot of markets, those REIA meetups are where newer investors actually get exposed to real deals, real operators, and people actively doing the business day to day. It's also usually a much safer environment to learn compared to trying to figure everything out online alone.
From there, you can start building relationships, asking better questions, and eventually connecting with someone who’s willing to mentor or at least point you in the right direction.
Good luck!
The Sandhills area is a smaller market, so your buyer list is going to be the constraint faster than it would be in Charlotte or Raleigh. Start building relationships with local investors and flippers before you have a deal. Wholesaling without a buyer lined up is just a signed contract with a deadline.
The Sandhills area is a smaller market, so your buyer list is going to be the constraint faster than it would be in Charlotte or Raleigh. Start building relationships with local investors and flippers before you have a deal. Wholesaling without a buyer lined up is just a signed contract with a deadline.
I have a guy who told me he is looking for vacant lots to build high end homes on, so maybe I should look into wholesaling land? I don't know as well the appraisal process and there aren't many comps or videos online of how to go about it haha. Thank you for replying btw!
When I talk to newer investors, I tell them not to focus on having a lot of money first. Focus on learning how to find opportunities and have conversations. Most successful wholesalers didn't start with a big marketing budget—they started by talking to sellers, making offers, building relationships, and learning from the market.
If I were 19 and starting over in a smaller market, I'd spend my time networking with local investors, attending REIA meetings, talking to landlords, driving for dollars, and learning how to analyze deals accurately. I'd also make it a goal to have conversations with property owners every week because that's where the real education happens. You don't need to know everything before you start. Consistency will teach you more than another 100 hours of YouTube videos.
Stay focused on one lane, learn how to comp properties, make offers, follow up relentlessly, and build relationships with people already doing deals in your area. Your age can actually be an advantage because you have time to learn skills now that can pay you for decades. The biggest mistake would be waiting until you feel "ready." Take action, learn from each conversation, and keep moving forward.
When I talk to newer investors, I tell them not to focus on having a lot of money first. Focus on learning how to find opportunities and have conversations. Most successful wholesalers didn't start with a big marketing budget—they started by talking to sellers, making offers, building relationships, and learning from the market.
If I were 19 and starting over in a smaller market, I'd spend my time networking with local investors, attending REIA meetings, talking to landlords, driving for dollars, and learning how to analyze deals accurately. I'd also make it a goal to have conversations with property owners every week because that's where the real education happens. You don't need to know everything before you start. Consistency will teach you more than another 100 hours of YouTube videos.
Stay focused on one lane, learn how to comp properties, make offers, follow up relentlessly, and build relationships with people already doing deals in your area. Your age can actually be an advantage because you have time to learn skills now that can pay you for decades. The biggest mistake would be waiting until you feel "ready." Take action, learn from each conversation, and keep moving forward.
Thank you, I'm gonna start heading to the Raleigh REIA and Moore County one, I been cold calling lists for the past few days that I pulled with batch leads, but now I've heard it might be better to start off driving for dollars. I went to a meetup and met a guy who does high end single family housing, and siad his buy box is infill or simmilar buildable lots in high end Pinehurst neighborhoods, but I'm having a lot of trouble with talking to the types of people who own that land, it's usually older rich people who don't have any reason or motivation to sell. But otherwise, thank you very much for the advice
@Aurelius Ramirez you just described exactly why cold calling purchased lists doesn't work. You're calling random lot owners in Pinehurst hoping one is motivated — and most of them aren't, because they have no reason to sell. That's not a you problem, that's a data problem.
There's a free way to find which lot owners ARE motivated before you pick up the phone. Every county has three public databases that independently confirm distress:
1. County Tax Collector — tax delinquent properties (financial stress)
2. City Code Enforcement — properties with violations and dollar-amount repair costs documented by county inspectors (physical stress — like $12K in structural repairs, $8.5K roof replacement)
3. County Clerk of Court — probate filings, liens, pre-foreclosure (legal complexity)
When you find the SAME vacant lot appearing on all three databases, you're no longer calling "an older rich person with no reason to sell." You're calling someone the county has already documented as having financial, physical, AND legal problems with that property. That's a completely different conversation.
For your area specifically: Moore County Tax Collector, Village of Pinehurst Code Enforcement, and Moore County Clerk of Court — all public records, all free to access. Pull all three, cross-reference for the same property appearing on multiple lists, and now you have 10-15 converged properties instead of 200 random names from BatchLeads.
Your first conversation changes from "are you interested in selling?" to: "I saw the code enforcement violation for the structural issue — county inspector documented $12K in repairs. I also see tax delinquency and a probate filing. I'm not cold calling — I'm responding to what your county has already documented."
Travis is right about consistency and having conversations every day. Carson is right about building your buyer list first. But the quality of those conversations depends entirely on what you have to talk ABOUT. County public records give you something specific to discuss. You're 19 with limited cash — this costs $0 and starts today.
Also — the guy who wants infill lots in Pinehurst? Once you find a converged lot (tax delinquent + code violation + probate), you go back to him and say "I have a lot in [neighborhood] where the county has documented $12K in code violations and the owner is tax delinquent with a probate filing. Are you still looking?" That's not a cold call — that's a deal.