All Forum Posts by: Duane Alexander

I just hope this causes them to adjust their "zestimates" to be more realistic instead of inflated to entice homeowners to sell to zillow. 

Understand that if you are working with a wholesaler that is doing a lot of business that you will be competing with that wholesaler's entire buyer's list for a particular property. On this list are hedge funds and guys that are flipping 20 properties at a time with deep pockets who commonly buy stuff sight unseen within 5 minutes of looking at the pics and running some back of the napkin numbers. That means you have to move fast. You may not have an opportunity to get your contractor over there, and definitely won't have an opportunity to negotiate and haggle with us on time, EMD, closing attorney/title company, etc. You, as a buyer, are not in any position of leverage to negotiate these things because they are so many of you, while deals, on the other hand, are not easy to come by. I know that's hard to hear but it's the truth.

This is why for guys who are just starting I feel like it's better for you to source deals yourself instead of going through a wholesaler...UNLESS you know and see the importance of networking with and building a relationship with that wholesaler. I just wholesaled a property to someone I met right here on BP. I had another cash buyer who wanted to buy sight unseen but I worked with her instead because we established a relationship. It would have been a lot less of an hassle to work with the other buyer but I let her get the house cause I simply wanted to see her win and understood what she was going through.

There's another guy I work with who I've actually never sold anything too. But he knows a ton about real estate in general and is there to answer any question I have. He loans me money sometimes to close on houses when I need to. He hooks me up with other private lenders and we talk about the latest tech and whats-happenings in the industry. He gets all my deals first and I have referred some of my other wholesaler colleagues to him. We have a great working relationship. He clearly understands the importance of networking and building relationships. And that's why he's successful.

Relationships and networks are key when you don't have experience and a bunch of money bags.

I'm just curious. You, and others, keep making this claim about all these gurus who sell classes who teach everyone to do shady business practices. Which gurus courses have you bought to make that claim? What wholesaling mentorship groups are you a part of? Do you know who the industry leaders in coaching/mentoring in regards to wholesaling are? Have you ever attended a wholesaling mastermind? I'm just curious how you're the expert who can make these broad generalizations besides from what you've seen here on BP, which is just a bare microcosm of the wholesaling community. 

You talk about the new wholesalers who come here on BP asking for advice that are bad and don't know what they are doing. Well freaking DUH. They are NEW. And again, BP is probably the worst congregation of wholesalers on the planet. Wholesalers who know better, know not to waste their time coming on BP.

Daisy chaining is still the worst way to do what you want to accomplish. That is not a JV. A JV would be me and you signing a joint venture agreement, specifying that we'll split profits 50/50% on the sale of a particular property. A JV is not me assigning my contract to you to assign to somebody of your choosing, who can assign to somebody else, and so on and so forth. Like I said, don't be a daisy chainer, there's a better way to do this for all parties.

Unless you have surveyed every single wholesaler or run in circles where wholesalers congregate (BP doesn't count, the extreme and out of touch anti-wholesaler sentiment that runs rampant here causes most of us to congregate elsewhere), you have no idea what you're talking about. I run in circles with tons of successful wholesalers. I'm a part of a wholesaling mentorship group with over 500 students coast to coast and connect with others who reach out to me almost every single day. The bad actors are not the norm. Amongst the wholesaling community, it is taught to do this with integrity. To chase impact over income, chase purpose and the profit will come. Yes, there are some bad wholesalers that try to do shady practices but they do not last in this highly competitive business where CREDIBILITY is KEY. Those kinds of people normally cannot find or do a deal to save their lives. The guys that are actually doing deals consistently do not need to rely on shady practices and instead focus on solving a seller's problem that cannot be solved by traditional means ie listing the property on the market. These guys do not need to do the shady things like fake POF's and the like. Some of you guys' perception of wholesalers is laughable at best. In almost any business, to be successful and have longetivity, it takes integrity.

Sounds like all of you are inexperienced. I would never allow a daisy chainer to take control of any of my deals. Any wholesaler worth their salt is taught to avoid you guys like the plague. It's a fast way to end up in a situation where there's this long line of assignments from inexperienced people like you who are putting homes under contract hoping to find a buyer (who 9 times outta 10 ends up being another daisy chainer), while most of the time not putting in a significant amount of EMD. And when the last guy in the chain can't find a buyer, it's the direct to seller wholesaler, who has spent a lot of money and time to find the seller and market to them, that has to have that tough conversation with the seller about how the deal fell through. It's a ridiculously lazy way to do business for all parties and a part of the reason why wholesalers get such a bad rap.

Instead of doing this, an alternative is just to make your friend a private lender. You could even utilize a hard money loan instead and have your friend cover the down payment and interest payments, while paying him interest over the term of his loan or at the end of the project. That way your friend wouldn't have to have as much money tied up. This is how most investors utilize private money over what you have described in your post.

Don't be a daisy chainer. Find your own leads. Daisy chainers are truly the lowest of the low and the laziest form of wholesaling. It's a quick way to get black listed among the wholesaling community. 

Pros - You can make a ton of money doing this. I was able to retire a great corporate job after wholesaling consistently for 5 months. 90% of what wholesaling is, is building a deal pipeline. Once you build this pipeline you can literally do anything you want to in real estate. I have 9 houses under contract right now and I can either wholesale every single one, or rent a few, flip a few, owner finance a few, etc. etc. Endless options. 

Cons - It is NOT easy. You are in the business of solving people's problems. The only way you will be able to acquire properties with enough meat on the bone for you and your end buyer is to solve a problem for the home owner that cannot be solved by listing their property on the market. Otherwise it makes way more sense for that seller to list their property on the market. Solving people's problems is a very tedious job. Marketing and finding these people with problems is also not easy. You can talk to 1500 people who have some interest in selling and only 1 or 2 of those will have a problem for you to solve, such that selling to you at a number that makes sense as an investment would be better for them than selling on the market. That means you must get in contact with and hear 1498-1499 NO'S before getting to those 1 or 2 yesses. Most people cannot handle that kind of a grind and it can also be expensive. Which is why most wholesalers are not successful.

 This is such a garbage misrepresentation of what wholesalers do. Most of my deals come from experienced real estate investors who are just tired of being landlords and want to sell without involving a realtor. In fact, 90% of the people I market to are other real estate investors.