All Forum Posts by: Braden C.

I try and focus more on the cost of acquisition versus the response rate. Realistically, I could get a 50%+ response rate if my yellow letter had some type of unrealistic message like, "we're buying up your neighborhood and will play twice what your house is worth". But, I don't want to waste my time with calls like that. 

Yellow letters are good but you spend a lot of time on the phone with tire kickers. A well written professional letter will have a lower response rate but the calls you do get will be higher quality. 

@John Thedford recently posted in another topic that anyone who wanted to know the legality of wholesaling in Florida without a license should call the DBPR, so I did just that. The person I spoke with pointed me to this section of their website,

http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/pro/division/...

I asked if having a contract to purchase a property would be considered equitable interest and therefor give me a right to sell it, she said no, you would need to actually own the property. She also told me, "there's more than one way to skin a cat..."

In my opinion, an argument for either side can be made. I personally have a license and encourage anyone who invests or wholesales to do the same. I disclose in all of my contracts and marketing material that I am licensed in the state of Florida and do not represent the seller in the transaction. You can also have a No Brokerage Relationship agreement signed too. We don't do anything shady and close on 95% of the stuff we put under contract, whether it gets wholesaled or not, so I don't worry about being licensed.

This is a great question that everyone getting started should be asking. Most new wholesalers start out by blindly trying to make a quick buck without proper planning or capital. Are you trying to make a quick buck and rush things or do you want to build a long term sustainable business? It sounds like you're wanting to do it the right way.

If you want to do things right, sit down and write a business plan. If you look at that plan and say to yourself that now isn't the time because you don't have the resources, put it on hold until you have them. I would guess the failure rate of wholesalers is over 90%. It's not because the business model doesn't work, it's because very few people treat it like a business. 

New wholesalers often get hung up on the response rate rather than the deal rate. If you wrote on a yellow letter that you were a developer willing to pay 10x market value for someones property, you'd get a HUGE response rate but more than likely not get a deal. I much prefer a typed professional letter because it helps me filter out time wasters. I make it clear in my letter that I intend to make a profit but want it to be a win-win situation. 

The best advice I can give you is to stay consistent with sending your mailers, whether that's 200 letters a week or 1,000, it doesn't matter. I always see someone do a campaign, get a deal, lose focus, and then try and play catch up for their missed weeks. Hire a company and set your campaign on auto-pilot, if you need to adjust up or down, make the adjustment, but don't miss any weeks.

Last year my wife signed me up for a BBQ competition on my birthday. I had only used my smoker a handful of times but the competition sounded fun. Me and a couple buddies did a little research and showed up ready to win. Within a few hours we quickly learned that the "back yard" division is still very competitive and we had no chance of winning, in fact we came in dead last. 

We spent the next 10 months reading blogs, watching videos, and of course practicing so that we could return to the same competition and try and win something. A month before the competition I decided to drop $500 and take a class with one of the best known cooks around. The class reaffirmed a lot of what we were already doing but it filled in some HUGE holes that were missing. When the competition came we finished as the grand champions. Had I not taken the class, we probably wouldn't have finished last, but there's no way we would've won the entire thing. 

Hiring a coach or a mentor can be beneficial in many areas of your life. Wholesaling attracts a lot of "gurus" who prey on peoples desire to get rich quick. I took a BBQ class with someone who I knew for a fact was a proven winner, and it was well worth my $500. If you decide to hire a coach or mentor, make sure that person shows you proof that they know what they're doing. Just because someone says they're successful, or that they know what they're doing, doesn't mean that they're telling the truth.

If you find the right person, it can be well worth the investment.

@Maurice Daniels What type of lien is it? How high is the amount of the lien? 

@Rob Young Our #1 source for finding deals continues to be through DM. How many are you sending out each week? We send out at least 1,000 letters per acquisition agent per week. Competition has increased with DM but it has also increased with almost every other acquisition strategy. We've adapted our marketing and overall business model as the market has changed, maybe that's something you should consider too. 

Keep in mind that repetition is very important. We try and hit each person at least four times a year, the majority of deals come after the second touch. 

@Mike Nelson I would mail that list with a note about yourself and what you can offer them. Investors get hit up ALL the time from wholesalers who never provide good deals, so you'll need to convince them of how you'll be different. 

You can provide them with your email address or website and ask them to give you an email address of their own. 

@Brett Elia You've hit the jackpot with information by being right here on BP. Put a plan in place and take action. Don't overthink the process and then make it more difficult for yourself. 

 I would guess a growing trend. As the market has improved many are either getting for the first time, or getting back, their RE license. Obviously this means more revenue for the state which allows them to have the resources to better enforce their laws. I've not seen any cases in Florida related to unlicensed enforcement on wholesalers, can you provide some links?

We just have a different opinion on going around someone, but you know what they say about opinions... :)