Wholesaler · US, VA · Member since 2026 · 34 posts · 17 votes
Hey everyone! I’m looking to learn more about real estate wholesaling and would really appreciate some guidance from experienced wholesalers and investors.I’m especially interested in learning:
- How do you find good wholesale deals and off-market properties?
- What strategies do you use to find motivated sellers?
- Which lead-generation methods work best for beginners (driving for dollars, cold calling, direct mail, online marketing, etc.)?
- How do you evaluate a property to determine whether it’s a good wholesale deal?
- What tools, websites, or resources would you recommend?
I’m serious about learning, taking action, and building relationships with people in the industry. If you have experience in this space, I’d appreciate any tips, advice, or lessons you’re willing to share.
Thanks in advance! Looking forward to learning from the community. 🤝
@Eko Era I'd start with the evaluation part, because it decides whether any lead is worth chasing. Most cash buyers work from a max offer: ARV times 70%, minus repairs. A house worth $200K fixed up that needs $40K of work comes out to $100K. If you want a $10K fee, your contract price has to be around $90K.
Pull ARV from sold comps within about half a mile and the last six months, not Zillow estimates.
For leads, pick one channel and stay with it for 90 days. Driving for dollars is the cheapest start and teaches you a market fast. And before you sign anything, find two or three cash buyers and ask what they're actually paying in your target zip codes.
@Eko Era I'd start with the evaluation part, because it decides whether any lead is worth chasing. Most cash buyers work from a max offer: ARV times 70%, minus repairs. A house worth $200K fixed up that needs $40K of work comes out to $100K. If you want a $10K fee, your contract price has to be around $90K.
Pull ARV from sold comps within about half a mile and the last six months, not Zillow estimates.
For leads, pick one channel and stay with it for 90 days. Driving for dollars is the cheapest start and teaches you a market fast. And before you sign anything, find two or three cash buyers and ask what they're actually paying in your target zip codes.
Welcome Eko — I'm also new and learning wholesaling in Delray Beach FL. What helped me save money as a beginner: before paying for skip trace, I verify the owner still owns via county appraiser (PAPA in FL) + Clerk, then filter by code violations/tax liens to find tired landlords. For follow-up, I'm testing a simple system: first text names the property, then shorter follow-ups every few days, polite exit if no reply, then recycle after 90 days.
For lead gen as a beginner, I'm focusing on one farm (Valencia/Vizcaya area) and direct text/call/mailer direct to seller. Driving for dollars helped me build that list.
What area in VA are you targeting? Happy to share what tools I'm using.
Got it — Virginia Beach is solid. For VA you can use Real Property / City Assessor to verify still-own like PAPA here, then same code/tax filter. If you want, I can share my simple sheet to track touches — helps save skip credits. Good luck in VB!
Eko, answering from the buyer's side of the table. I own 236 rentals in Memphis, most of them bought through wholesalers, and deal flow is my number one bottleneck — good wholesalers are worth real money to me. What keeps you on my list: bring me a deal that fits my buy box and expect a fast answer. Know my numbers before you call — single-family, 3BR+, under $100K, ARV $180K–$265K off sold comps only, rent clearing the 1% rule. Price your rehab honestly; if your repair number is a guess, I find out in the walkthrough and the deal dies. Wholesalers who comp off list prices do not get a second call.
@James Jones I would love to connect with you just to understand the buyer side more. I am not into wholesaling yet, but plan to. I am not looking to buy, but understand the mindset of a buyer. I am working out in the Louisville Ky area.
@Mark Anthony Green, let's connect. Learning what buyers want before you ever call a seller is the right order, and most new people do it backwards. I'd also make sure wholesaling is where you want to end up, since it's a means to an end, and it's a different business from owning. Have you compared it with other strategies yet?
Yes @Marc Mora I would love to connect with you. Wholesaling in not my primary focus, but a part of the whole business. My primary exits are LTR and flipping. Wholesaling is something to help myself grow in the field of real estate. I want to learn the ins and outs of being a great wholesaler, before I dive into that.
Eko, one channel that doesn't get enough attention from new wholesalers: investor-friendly agents. A lot of distressed or off-market opportunities cross an agent's desk before they ever become a listed property — estate situations, tired landlords, pre-foreclosures where the owner wants out quietly. Introduce yourself to a few agents in Virginia Beach, tell them exactly what your buyers want (price range, property type, areas), and follow up consistently so you're top of mind when something fits. Two cautions from the licensed side: make sure you understand Virginia's rules on marketing properties you don't own and assignment contracts — the compliance details matter and vary by state. And comp honestly off sold comps, not list prices; buyers figure out inflated ARVs fast and won't take your second call.
Pick one channel and do it consistently for 90 days instead of testing five at once. Driving for dollars plus skip tracing is the cheapest place to start. If you call or text, check the DNC lists and follow TCPA first. Whatever the source, the deal comes from how motivated the seller is and how fast you call back, so reach new leads within minutes and track every follow-up. Most deals close after the 4th or 5th touch. For numbers, start with ARV × 70% minus repairs minus your fee, and build your buyers list from real recent cash sales in your area.
Eko, once you've picked your zip, check the city code violation list and the county tax delinquent list for it before you spend on any paid tool. Those two lists show owners already under pressure. Which zip are you planning to start in?
Good picks, Eko. Are those zips in a market where you already know which owners are under pressure, or is finding them the slow part? We gather code violation and tax record data market by market, so tell me the county and I will tell you if we cover it.
I’m starting with ZIP code 23464 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Finding and verifying motivated sellers is still the slow part for me, so I’ve started researching the city’s delinquent property tax and code violation records myself. Do you cover Virginia Beach, and what more about your data sources?
Eko, thanks for the detail. Virginia Beach is not one of the markets we gather today, so I will not promise it. We work market by market from official city and county records. If there is another market you want to work, send me a message with it and I will tell you what we can research.
Okay of course!Thanks for letting me know! Could you check whether you cover Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia (ZIP code 30906)? I'm interested in finding property owners through official delinquent-tax and code-violation records, and I'd love to know if you have data available for that market.
@Eko Era One approach that holds up well is stacking free public records instead of buying a big list. A property that's tax delinquent, has an open code violation, and has an out-of-state owner is a much warmer lead than any one of those on its own. Most counties publish those records, so you can build a small, targeted list for the cost of your time and only pay to skip trace the ones that stack up.
Welcome, Eko! You've gotten some good advice here already.
I've been investing for several years, and one thing I've learned is that finding properties is only part of the business. Learning how to talk to people and understand why they might want to sell is just as important.
When I started, I spent a lot of time driving around looking for vacant and distressed houses. It didn't cost much, and it taught me my market better than anything else.
My advice would be to pick one area, learn what houses are actually selling for, start building a list of properties, and most importantly, start having conversations with owners.
You don't need expensive software or a complicated system starting out. A phone, calendar, and somewhere to keep notes will get you pretty far.
And don't be afraid to make offers. You'll learn more from real conversations and offers than you will from watching another 100 videos.
Curious, have you started talking to sellers yet, or are you still getting everything set up?
I’ve already closed one deal, but getting my second has been harder than expected. I’m still pushing, but my biggest challenge is getting owners or agents to respond or call me back. Appreciate the advice!
@Eko Era whatever channels you start with, tag every lead with where it came from from day one, even if it's just a column in a sheet. After a couple of months you'll see which source actually turns into conversations and contracts, and that answers the "which strategy works" question better than any of us can for your market.
@Eko Era you mentioned your biggest problem is getting owners and agents to call you back. I'm an agent in Louisville, so I can tell you what it looks like from my side.
When a wholesaler reaches out about one of my listings, the ones I call back make it easy. They've actually looked at the listing, they have a real number, and they can tell me how they'll close: cash, proof of funds, timeline. "Would your seller take less?" with nothing behind it goes to the bottom of the pile. A written offer, even a low one, gets presented. That's my job.
One source I haven't seen mentioned here: listings that have been sitting a long time where the owner has had the place 10+ years. Those owners usually have a lot of equity, often no mortgage, and after a few months on the market and a price cut or two, a lot of them are just tired. They're on the MLS, so you work them through the listing agent, not around them. But that's the group where a clean cash offer under list actually gets considered. And if the listing expires or gets pulled, you already know you're dealing with a motivated owner.
I started pulling these for Louisville a couple weeks ago by checking the MLS against county records. Last week it was over 100 homes, and most had already cut their price at least once. If anyone here is buying in Louisville, message me and I'll send you the list.
For Virginia Beach, a local agent could probably pull the same thing for 23464. Honestly that's a good way to start a relationship with one.
Thank you! This is actually a really helpful approach. I hadn't thought about combining days on market, price reductions, and ownership history like that.I'm particularly interested in learning about the Virginia Beach market. Do you have any advice on how a beginner can identify these properties using public records, or would you recommend connecting with a local agent who works with investors and could explain the process?
Hey Eko! I'd actually use both, but for different parts of the research.
For Virginia Beach, you can start with the city's Real Estate Assessor property search and the Circuit Court Clerk's land records to research ownership and recorded transfers.
The part that gets a little tricky is the listing history. County records won't necessarily tell you how long a property has been sitting on the market, how many times the asking price changed, or whether it was previously listed and then removed.
Public listing websites can give you some of that information, but I'd probably work with a local agent to get a more complete MLS history, then cross-reference the property details against the official city records.
One thing I'd be careful about is treating a long ownership history as proof that someone has substantial equity or wants to sell. It's a useful starting point, but those are still separate things to establish.
I think combining those sources would give you a much better picture of which properties are actually worth spending time on.
@Mark Anthony Green Happy to share the buyer side, Mark. It is simpler than most people think. I buy single-family in Memphis under $100K, in nine ZIP codes I know street by street. The house has to rent at the 1% rule all-in, hit an ARV of $180K to $265K off sold comps, and carry a DSCR refi at 70-80% LTV. Section 8 rent on a 3BR+ runs $1,395 to $1,950. If a deal fits that box, I can say yes fast, and I never put earnest money down. Learn one buyer's box cold and you will spot deals faster than any list.
I’ve found SMS marketing to be one of the most effective ways to connect with motivated sellers, especially when you're targeting off-market properties. The key is having quality data, reaching the right property owners, and keeping conversations natural rather than sending generic messages.
One thing I'd strongly recommend is never overlooking follow-ups. Many sellers aren't ready to sell during the first conversation, but their situation can change over time.
For beginners, I'd suggest starting with one market, learning how to evaluate deals, building a targeted list, and focusing on consistent, compliant outreach rather than jumping between multiple marketing channels.
I'm also in the Virginia area just getting started on my whole sale journey. We should connect! It would be great to get your perspective on the VA market.
@Seamus Gallagher, starting out alongside someone at the same stage is a good way to learn the market fast. I'd still make sure wholesaling is the strategy you want long term, since it's a sales business more than an ownership one. I'd be open to talking that through if it's useful. Are you planning to wholesale part time at first? What other strategies have you thought about?
@Eko Era, learning the buyer side before chasing sellers is the right order, and it looks like other new Virginia investors are finding your thread too. I'd make sure wholesaling fits what you want long term, since it is really a means to an end, not ownership. Wholesaling is getting tougher and tougher these days. been there, done that! If you want a sounding board on that, I'd be open to it. Have you settled on a part of Virginia to work in? What other strategies are on your radar?