All Forum Posts by: Russell Ponce

Direct mail is kind of what everyone does. The positive is that you can target your prospects. I'll leave it at that because it's a huge and important topic and you can spend hours on here researching direct mail.  

The negative is that its costly and if you're just cutting your teeth handling leads then you might look to cheaper marketing to get some practice. I started with bandit signs. At the time there were only 2 of us putting out signs in my market and I still didn't get very many leads and most were terrible. That being said I did get my first deal with them and people were calling me to network like buyers and other wholesalers. There was something about putting up signs that gave me some momentum and it was a fairly inexpensive way to practice talking to sellers. 

Full disclosure, some people really don't like signs and in some areas you might even be vulnerable to fines.

Be careful not to miss the forest for the trees. There are a lot of nooks and crannies in wholesaling that can be fun or even important to discuss, ie postcards vs letters, voice mail vs live answer, branded approach vs Joe the friendly investor, etc. These considerations have their place but the cornerstone of the business is to market for prospects and drive leads to your phone. So once you wrap your head around the mechanics you need to look for motivated sellers. Always keep in mind you can get any question answered here on the forums.

The cornerstone of the business is finding motivated sellers. Generate leads and talk to sellers, the rest should fall into place. My thought on contracts is they should be clear and simple, and I believe in general you have less restrictions if you're not an agent. 

I think you may be able to piggyback off other wholesalers' marketing. The seller may be mulling over the idea to call a number off one of these mailers or signs and sees your number at just the right time. 

The concept didn't make a whole lot of sense to me when I first heard it, buyers in my home market are a dime a dozen. That being said, Justin and some other wholesalers I've heard of have obviously created a lot of value in their business with their buyers list.

I just saw a new "we buy houses" sign in my neighborhood and I'll probably give the number a call and let them know I have strong buyers if they need one. One thing is certain, if you can find a wholesaler with deals but no buyers you've found a wonderful opportunity. 

Way to jump right in and get after it!

I've always selected for 10 yrs as well, it seems to be an industry standard. Saying that, I'm always keeping my ears open for a non standard idea that seems to make sense. Like maybe targeting people who bought properties during the crash because the numbers made sense but are realizing they are ill prepared to manage their investments or can't find suitable management. Just a thought, I've only tried 10 years+ and houses built 1985 or earlier 

There has to be something in the agreement that allows you to back out legally. That being said, obviously its unethical to string people along and we should only enter solid deals. 

If you lock up a property you should be able to tell pretty quickly if it's going to be difficult to move. Transparency throughout the process is always a good policy and as soon as I smelled a bad deal I would give them the option to renegotiate price or terminate the agreement. 

Just my two cents and befriending a local investor would go a long way in helping with valuations. 

bp is a treasure trove of information, the integrity here is off the charts and even the most prominent members have always been more than generous when I've had questions. That being said I hold the student/mentor relationship in high regard, and when I'm ready to move into more complicated deals you better believe I'll be looking to connect with somebody that I can lean on. Personally I don't have any problem paying someone for their help, frankly I prefer it. I mean these folks have businesses to run, it's extremely generous for them to answer a question here and there but I'm not going to pester them to death. I've been blessed to have wonderful mentors in other areas of my life and they've proven to be invaluable. 

If you have access to the MLS you can search for cash sales, you can also buy a list for non occupied purchases in your area and select for the last 6 or 9 months. They won't necessarily all be cash buyers but they will most likely be investor buyers.