All Forum Posts by: Nathan Paisley

So last jan 2, 2012 I decided to change my life. I said I'm goin all in. I chose wholesaling as the stepping stone to being filthy rich in a matter of weeks! Yeah I got duped like most people... I've always been a hard worker and a dedicated employee for the last 12 years at the restaurant I work at as a bartender.

I spent hours upon hours reading Biggerpockets, whatching youtube videos and listening to audio books. It's now february and my brother and I get our llc, make business cards, get Facebook page, buy freedomsoft which works pretty well if you're computer savvy. We found a title company and asked if they do assignment and simultaneous closings they said they did. Everything is place to start marketing for thousands of dollars in just a few weeks! We bought 100 blue and white 12x18 bandit signs and started to put them up. It took us about 2 hours of driving around our major locations. I get home 2 hours later and bam I have 2 phone calls on my google phone #. 1 was a realtor and the other was a free n clear property in Camden NJ, 30 mins from where I put up signs. So we schedule an appointment and get to the property. WOWOWOWOW! It was a 3 bed 2 bath brick row home with roof caving in, also had a squatter in there with no running water, heat or electric! Ever see the tv show hoarders? My brother and I are like what the #^*%+!! How do we honestly think we can put an offer in for this and truly sell it for a profit! The seller says she wants 60k I almost lost it! We offered 10,500$. Our first offer! She immediately says, no thanks and walks away. My brother and I are like, wow we dodged a bullet that would of been impossible to sell!

So we're doing direct mailings and we did more bandit signs but went bigger and with black and yellow this time. March goes by no deals, April's goes by no deals but tons of talking to sellers and checking out properties. May comes around and guess who calls, you betcha good ol Camden. So my brother and I have gotten better at negotiating since our first interaction and agree on 10,500$. Stuck to our guns we did!

Now I'll shorten this up because I could go on forever.

Run a title search and find out the property was deeded over to a dead family member 5 years after she died 12 years ago! Needless to say we had to get an addendum and its now October. Weeks are flying by as we try to clear this up. Meanwhile we had a buyer agree to buy the property from us off of Craigslist and made a huge newbie mistake! We didn't get a deposit and trusted the buyer. Ouch... We finally get the title clear and the buyer backed out with 2 weeks left on our contract. We also learn that the title company will not do assignment or simultaneous closings after months of working with us. Now we have 2 weeks to find a buyer AND a new title company. Being in the restaurant biz I picked up a few names I thought I could call. 2 days later I had a buyer and title co.

What else could go wrong right? We agreed to sell the property at 15,000$ and buyer pays closing costs. Turns out the buyer was a noob as well. He didn't realize there are taxes and other fees when purchasing a HOUSE! He had the cash but no checking account or savings account! And tried to pay with a starters check. We had to have him wire the money in...
Blah blah blah we end up completing the deal with 1 hour left in the day before the contract expired. Just to get the deal done we split closing costs and ended up making 3,800$ on our first deal 11 months later!!

So much for thousands in a few weeks... The moral of they story is never give up! I can only imagine how many people would have said, enough... after a few weeks of dealing with this situation. I can honestly say I learned more about RE in this one deal then I could of reading and reading about it and not taking action.

Since then I have another one under contract and 2 more I'm confident I can get under contract.
I know this is long but I also know it is very easy to give up and just be comfortable in the life you live now. My brother and I proved that under serious deadlines we can move mountains. There's always a way!

Nathan

Bumpy bump!

Don't miss out on this super quick flip! This area has very limited inventory and properties sell fast!

It's located in the quiet neighborhood of the shires development in EHT NJ.
Access to all the major shopping areas of Atlantic county and 20 mins from Atlantic City!!
Needs updating in kitchen and baths, slap some paint up and some minor landscaping. Has 2 car garage and a full unfinished basement.
Rents between $1000-1600
Serious cash buyers only. 100% clear title.

http://www.postlets.com/repb/8546837

Hey Tom, I think you mean simultaneous closing and assigning. On a simultaneous closing you would split the closing costs with the buyer. Meaning you pay the sellers half and buyer pays his half. On an assignment your buyer pays all closing costs. It must be clear to the buyer and title company what's going to happen with these costs it can be confusing in the beginning.

Part of a wholesalers service is to make it as easy as possible for the seller to get rid of their house. So in my contract I have written " buyer pays all closing costs " that way the seller gets the exact number we agreed upon.

Nathan

Well... I completed my first wholesale deal. Probably one of the most difficult deals known to mankind but I did it. Got my second deal under contract and close next week. Learned SOOOO much in such a short period of time this month. I feel like I can do anything lol.

I agree with you as well Jerry! I simply was using RE as one example to be successful.
I'm not trying to imply that everyone should be a RE investor or they are not worth my time if they are not... Just that if your parents, uncles, teachers, guidance counselors, mailman, librarian told you, you can be more than just an everyday 9-5er you might just try it out!

How can the unsuccessful, teach or show others how to BE successful? They can't! We have teachers teaching lesson plans from 20 years ago! There's a reason we're falling farther and farther behind other countries! I GUARANTEE if you broke down wholesaling so that a 10 yr old could understand it and showed it to your average joe most imho would jump on board!

I'm not trying to force it on anyone! But the question was asked, is wholesaling really that simple? The answer is YES, BUUUUUUT it's not easy!! By no means is it for everyone... But what if it could get you to where you wanted to be?

I 100% agree bill! Wholesaling is used for some to get up and out of the trenches and some it is used to help their fix n flips. I'm using it to jump start my RE career. I try everyday to learn about other avenues of RE! But even if you can do 1-2 a month at 5k each I'm sure that would help just about anyone buy some groceries! ;) oh and by the way I close on my first property today and my second next week using an assignment not a simultaneous closing like we talked about before. By no means was it a walk in the park with the one property but the other you ask? 1 phone call and the deal was done and I made half of my last years salary on that one! I'm not bragging just sayin that not everyone makes 2-3k per deal. Drinks on me!

Puffing maybe...
My point is to what Will mentioned earlier, that " if it was so simple than everyone would be doing it". I believe it is that simple. The problem here is that unless someone in your family or close friend mentors/teaches/guides you, you will more than likely never become an investor of any sort. Like Will also mentioned " it's not rocket science". I completely agree with this statement. RE is not for everyone that's for sure. But, I can guarantee that if you tell 18 year old Johnny that within a few years of graduating HS, he can make the same amount of money ( being mentored ) as a Dentist, Lawyer would make after 10-15 years of schooling and half their life ( age 30/35 ) already over he would take that deal! Not to mention being 100k in the hole or more with student loans and starting their own practices. When it's all said and done probably 200k!

The question that was asked, is wholesaling really that simple??? The answer is yes, but compared to what? I am new to the game of wholesaling and the RE world but I can tell you one thing, anybody can do it. You just have to WANT it. The problem is most people don't want to WORK for it and most fail.

A good education is a great way to start being successful!! It's just not the only way!
Stay in school and say no to drugs!
Only you can prevent forest fires!
Be kind rewind!
Pay your taxes and die!

A few pointers... Stay in your county. Find cash buyers at courthouse auctions and rei clubs, Craigslist, market cash buyers, dig dig dig!! Absentees are good, market to your buyers wish list first. Anything else... Work the phones. Call agents, brokers, construction crews, contractors... You get the point. In the beginning farms are (mostly) based on where you live, because you drive it everyday, see inventory whether you know it or not.

The info is out there. Keep searching BP. Nobody will give you every answer you ask, so just start DOING! The answers will come!

Nathan

Will, BIll and mike I agree with all your comments but to will's question, why are there so many unsuccessful people? Not to get too physcological but we're not taught to become successful or be an entrepreneur. You're forced to pick a (career) job and work 9-5 for 25+ years till you retire or die. Pretty much IMHO from the day you're born you're setup for failure! Go to school for 12 years then go to college for 4-8 years graduate and start your life 60k$ underwater. Now buy a house 200-300k, buy a car 30k! Only to try and work that off the rest of your life! I believe we're trained to be unsuccessful... End of rant.

Point is, real estate is the quickest way to improving your life without a high school diploma, college degree or masters. Imagine if you were taught investment strategies in school!? If somebody told you, you could make more than a dentist, lawyer or surgeon coming out of high school and showed you how to wholesale wouldn't you jump head first? I know I would of. I could be wrong but the key to success is determination. Everything else you just pick up a long the way. Almost all successful investors on here have LEARNED to use other people's money not use THEIR OWN money to invest for their future. School teaches you otherwise. Work hard, get taxed on your hard earned money then spend that hard earned money, get taxed again. Doomed for failure.

Learning to wholesale is easy, actually sticking with it and being successful is a different story.