All Forum Posts by: James Green

@Charles Kingery there are no sales taxes involved if you are assigning contracts. The title company/attorney will just cut you a check for your fee which shows up on the HUD.

Great experience! Finished my popcorn.

 @David Hines, I disagree with your premise slightly. A good wholesaler/assigner doesn't have to deceive or lie. Unfortunately, what many wholesalers do is try to get contracts from sellers that aren't TRULY MOTIVATED!!! A motivated seller is NOT concerned with the how much their house could sell for!! They have a situation that needs resolved fairly quickly.

I always ask the seller" why are you selling" & "WHY DON'T YOU USE A REALTOR?"  I let them know that as an investor I WON'T be giving you the best price. They always understand that. I've had numerous sellers tell me - "I don't want to use a Realtor!" or "I've tried and it was taking to long to sell".

Before I even see a property they fully understand that I will not be offering what their house "might" be able to fetch on the market. Now if the house is in fairly good condition, then I will offer some type of terms to the seller.

@Kevin Taylor if you are looking for good areas for multi, you have to do either DC, Balt city/county, Carroll County.

@Travis Allison you might want to reach out to some local investors at area REIAs. You didn't give any info, that could be used to analyze or give you advice.  Try using the "wholesaling" tool as a start.

@Lisha Taylor welcome to BP, fellow Dukie!

@Earl I Thompson, what's the condition of the property? Repair estimates to bring up to homeowner or rental standards? What type of lease is the tenant on, MTM, Yearly, 6 mos, etc. What is the rental averages in that area? Is that a homeowner area or a rental area or mixed? WHY ARE THEY SELLING? Where are you going to get 50K? Did they accept? Why do you say comps are 120K-198K? That's a big gap for like-kind properties,...that is what a comp is,.. 4bed/4bath similliar sq/ft, type of house, etc.... 

You need to provide more info. 

@Chris Turner, I don't discuss my fee up front. I strictly deal with the offer price of the contract. If they like the price as stated or as negotiated, then my fee is irrelevant. They aren't discussing there rehab property with me. If I get a "buyer" like that, I wouldn't ever deal with them again!!! They either like the offer or not.  When you go to the grocery store, do you inquire how much the store is making off your purchase of groceries?

Here is a short list of FREE ways to build your buyer's list:

1) Advertise on BP

2)Attend at least 1 REIA/meetup in your area and network & collect business cards

3)Network as you live!! As you go about your every day life, tell everyone that you invest in real estate. Find a way to casually bring it up (also a way to find sellers). If you meet someone new and they ask you what do you do - Don't tell them your occupation, tell them you are a real estate investor & ask them if they know someone that NEEDS to sell their property. When in public, talk about your real estate investing LOUD enough so that others will hear you. At some point you will have another investor come up to you.

4)Advertise on Craigslist - this was my #1 way when I first started. By the way I didn't have a website, to send buyers to, they just responded to my email or google phone #.

- to keep this answer short, pull up Craigslist in the Washington DC area. Google - "Maryland Real Estate Wholesalers", you will pull up several of my listings and see the script I use. Just copy it, make it fit your market & use it TODAY! I would post these about 2-3 days a week, with at least a day in between, religiously when I first started. I always changed a few words here and there to keep it looking original.

@Joe Splitrock, the value the wholesaler adds is twofold.

One they add value to an investor, because they should be finding OFF MARKET deals. Not all investors want to do their own marketing, taking phone calls, following up with sellers that may not be motivated, meeting the owner at the property & they owner doesn't show up, take pictures, keeping a vacant property secured, owner wanting to back out or up the price at the last minute, etc, etc. I do all that, so that in the end I have a contract which I can assign to an interested party. Many investors don't want to do all that front end work, if they don't have to. Most if not all investors (flippers, Landlords)  have agents though, so why should I try to "wholesale" an MLS property?. This is what the traveling hotel gurus teach for $20K. What they don't teach is how to find off-market deals. Which is where a wholesaler comes in. A good wholesaler fills that gap. If I've priced my property correctly, there is plenty of meat on the bone for the end buyer.  My buyers get an email from me, if they like property they email or call me, they go see the property, they decide, if they like we go to closing. Simple.

Second I provide value to Realtors!!! How you may ask? I have a TON of realtors on my buyers list, because their investor clients want off market properties to look at as well. Sure some Realtors have pocket listings (off market) but not as many as a good wholesaler. Some of my Realtors have started giving me their pocket listings to wholesale, why because I have a larger audience than they do. Once my buyer's list passed 1,000, I don't really market for buyers. I have buyers all the time find me over the internet, so I do very little marketing for cash buyers. What I don't do, is tell a Realtor I'm going to "buy" their listed property then offer them a "Low ball" offer, knowing I'm going to attempt to assign the property. Have I wholesaled an MLS property,...I have, but the opportunity was presented to me with a ratified contract.

Bad wholesalers provide NO value. Good wholesalers know how to provide value.