All Forum Posts by: James Green

@Christopher K. Anderson Jr. there is a calculator under the "TOOLS" tab that is a good guide. FYI, different buyers have different profit requirements. The way you worded your question, is not a way to look at it, but use the BP calculator as a good start.

@Nathan Platter, you are wholesaling properties in your market at less than 50% ARV?? If so, that's great!

@Kenny Kamdoum just do a search on meetup.com for real estate investing and you will find a TON of REI meetups in the DMV area. Of course each of them offer different things. Also what is your definition of "legit"? If you go to any of the meetups, you will meet wholesalers there. It doesn't mean that they have "wholesaled" a deal. Also the ones that have & are currently wholesaling deals, doesn't mean that they are ethical.

@Chris H.    To answer the original question:

"What is the Best way to Prevent A REALTOR from stealing my buyer"

Another take on this answer - #1, Delete that one buyer of your buyers list and always be adding buyers to your list. It's only one deal, there are plenty more. I also tell other wholesalers that I know, who this buyer was.

#2, get good at finding off-market deals where the seller is dealing with you. Stay off the MLS, most sellers want retail or as close to retail as possible. They usually have little to no incentive to lower the sales price in order for it to be a deal for a wholesaler.

@Jake K., there is a great lesson in what @Matthew Paul & @Ned Carey posted. As a wholesaler it's a must that you find great deals that work for both the seller and buyer. I see many wholesalers in our area putting properties under contract, JUST to put a property under contract in the HOPES of selling the contract. They contract the property too high, then state too low repair costs, then wonder why the deal doesn't sell. I know this because I get many emails from wholesalers wanting to do JVs with me & when I see their deal I tell them I can't send this to my buyers - It won't sell!! In Matthew's example his offer and the offer of the other wholesalers should of been close, not a $15K difference. That doesn't even include their fee which they would add to the final offer price to their end buyer.

The smallest I've put down is $100.

What I mean by "no money wholesaling" is like winning the lottery is BECAUSE that is usually how it's portrayed when someone is trying to sell you their program. They normally don't mention money needed to get your business up & running. The "no money" aspect, strictly means that you are not purchasing the property yourself, you would be assigning the property to an end buyer. That part is usually not explained in detail.

@Jake K. please don't believe the hype that wholesaling is the best option if you are short on funds. You need money to wholesale!! You need money for marketing, you need it for an EMD.

Yes it is possible to complete a wholesale deal with no money out of pocket, but that's also like seeing someone win a million dollar lottery and then conclude that you can do it too, let alone build a business that way. Those success stories are few & far between and they "normally" don't do it as quickly as portrayed.

This is not to discourage you, but to give you a dose of reality. You might need money just to attend the REI meeting, just depends on which ones in the area you attend. I you have no funds, then you will have to learn to be social. You will need to do things such as: call rentals to see if the owner wants to sell, call FSBOs on craigslist everyday/night, attend open houses, let everyone know that you "buy houses",...etc.

If you are not very social, that is one trait you will have to get rid of,....I did!

Continue to learn, network, & most importantly work on your personal financial situation. If you lack funds, but have some time, Uber & Lyft is a side gig. I know several wholesalers in the metro area that drive to fund their business.

@Jerry Shen,

http://www.newsweek.com/north-korea-hacking-war-bitcoin-exchanges-part-biggest-global-sting-752161

..I'm just saying.....

@Bryan Tasumi most doctors don't make $300k, anywhere in the US. They most likely need to specialize and practice in a big city.

It definitely depends on your work situation.

I actually ended up disclosing that I was a RE investor to the owner of the company that I worked for. He was visiting from out of town & took everyone on the team out to lunch.

Soon after that lunch, my direct supervisor would make comments here & there about "all the millions" I was making or "how many houses do you have". I would never give a direct answer, b/c I knew that somehow this was going to lead to something. Well it did!! He started to complain to me about "all the time I was on the phone(using a personal cell on a break)," granted he takes several smoke breaks a day. Then it became that others were complaining about "me discussing real estate", which I knew was a LIE. I work in a federal government facility so he was harping how it was illegal to be conducting business while charging the government, etc, etc, blah, blah. I wasn't going to argue with him or hint that I know he was lying so, now I take calls in my car or out in the parking lot.

@Asif Ahmed you need a pipeline of leads to do even 1 or 2 deals. There is a great wholesaling meetup in VA run by @Brad Chandler. I know you've seen his commercials - "Express Homebuyers, we buy your house in 7 day or less!" Who hasn't in the DC metro area.

@Matthew Perez, finding buyers is easy! Just attend any and every REI meetup in the area and pass out and collect business cards. Boom, you have your list!!