All Forum Posts by: Steven Leigh

 I disagree with this. Assumption is the enemy. Don't make assumptions about someone's motivations or about what sort of price they will accept, etc.

For example, I just wholesaled several houses that had 100% equity, and the owner was extremely happy to get rid of them for about 40% of ARV because they needed work, and she owned around 30 rental properties with bad tenants and had no interest in dealing with the properties anymore.

People have all kinds of motivations and you don't want to make any assumptions. Just let the seller decide what works for them.

This is the big issue that people don't understand when they talk bad about wholesalers like we are swindling people out of their properties at low prices. Let me tell you, I don't own a gun. So I can assure you I never held a gun to anyone's head and made them take my price. :) In fact, in the example above, I told the seller repeatedly that she would make a lot more money on her properties if she took the time and listed with a realtor. I always look out for the seller's best interests FIRST. I don't care if that loses me a deal. But if they don't want to go the other routes, I let them know what I can do for them, and since they are adults, they can make their own decision whether to accept it or not. No coercion needed.

Your best bet is to hire a VA (virtual assistant) from a site like Upwork. You honestly don't want someone who is an "investor" already, because we tend to not be very good at detail work. We are better at the big picture stuff. Fine a VA who is great at Excel and research, and is VERY detail-oriented. The VA can do the research and compile lists, then can order your letters from a service like yellowletters.com or 3dmail or some of the many others.

Good luck!

I'll give you credit. At least you started your own thread to bash wholesalers this time instead of hijacking everyone else's threads. Good job.

 Go to Yellowletters.com and look at their yellow letters and their postcards. Whether you order from them or not, it will give you some ideas of what to say in your letters. Generally the templates at Yellowletters.com are all proven, tested letters and postcards that get results, so at least you're not starting from scratch.

First of all, I love Sean Terry. Even though people get really down on "gurus" on BP, I think he's great and he gives away so much info for free it's ridiculous.

Just from the titles alone, $100k Wholesaler seems like it would be a more comprehensive plan for building a business, which should be the real goal. $12k in 37 Days sounds really appealing, but let's face it, that sounds really "rushed" to me. It sounds like you're just rushing toward revenue and possibly taking too many shortcuts along the way. I haven't done either one, though, so those are just impressions.

I just wrote about this in another thread, so it's really going to make me look like a shill, but I will just throw it out there that Tom Krol has one of the best wholesaling coaching programs going right now, over at investorgrit.com

Tom has a really streamlined system where he doesn't do any fluff and it's all about instruction instead of education. You start taking ACTION from day one instead of sitting their "learning" for weeks or months. I haven't joined the program yet, but have spoken with several of his students who now have 6-figure wholesaling businesses and they can't recommend him highly enough. I've been a huge fan of his podcasts and videos for a long time as well. His program is pretty steep, though, at about $5,000. So it's more expensive than Sean Terry's systems for sure.

Not really saying one is better than the other, just wanted to add that to the mix.

 You're welcome. And I couldn't have said it better myself.

@Samuel Rodriguez Tom Krol is the best in the business right now. His podcast and other materials are what got me started. I haven't joined his coaching but I'm actually planning to really soon. 

It's funny you mention it because I've had two phone conversations with current members of the coaching program and an email conversation with another in the past few weeks, as I was wanting to talk to people about whether I'd get much value out of it since I'm already wholesaling. They all REALLY recommend it.

Damarius isn't wrong that all the information is out there for free, but how much is your time worth? Sure, you can piece it all together and make every mistake in the book and eventually have success, but why not follow a proven system from someone who has taken a huge number of wholesalers from either very little or no experience to 5, 6, and 7-figure incomes in a really quick amount of time?

I'm not a shill for Tom Krol or anything, I get absolutely nothing if you join or you don't, but I truly think Tom is the best in the business, and if you're wanting to take the fast track and get your business going really quickly, he's the best. 

I will say, if you are going to join, be ready and willing to do exactly what he tells you to do, and be willing to get WAY outside your comfort zone. If not, you're not going to get the most from his program. This was echoed to me my multiple of his students. Some can trace mistakes and mishaps back exactly to times where they didn't follow Tom's advice, and it cost them deals and many mistakes.

@Jeff Lively No problem. PM me if you get stuck or need some help.

Generally if you are doing an assignment deal you will need a Contract to Purchase Real Estate that you sign with the seller at the price you agree to pay.

Then you need an Assignment Contract that you will sign with the end buyer for a higher price. You keep the difference as your assignment fee. 

Then you take both contracts to the title company and they generally handle the rest of the closing. Make sure you have a title company who understand assignments and wholesaling so they do the process right and don't screw it up and not get you paid.

If you need documents, click Tools - FilePlace above. Many BP members have shared a lot of useful documents and you can probably find what you need.

Good luck!

I see we have yet another thread in the wholesaling forum that started with honest questions and quickly turned into "wholesalers are evil!". (Rhetorical question: Why do people who hate wholesalers spend so much time in the wholesaling forum cutting down wholesalers?)

Anyway, @John Sherron don't get caught up in the negativity, just keep moving forward. You seem to have a lot of insight into what you were doing wrong, and that will serve you will. Despite the impression you will get from the seemingly perfect investors on BP, it's actually possible to make a LOT of mistakes and still be a decent human being and still be a great investor or wholesaler. I sometimes wonder if these people ever made a mistake in their entire careers or if they just jumped right in and did everything perfectly from day one. :) 

Sadly, your impression that wholesaling is frowned upon is not unwarranted, because if you hang with the wrong kind of investors, you will absolutely get that impression. This is generally the attitude I get from some of the REIA meeting crowd, as mine is full of disgruntled landlords who haven't actually bought a property in 5 years. They hate wholesalers because they think we steal up all the good deals and jack up the price. Strangely, these guys seem to get magically deleted from my buyers list and they never get sent any of my deals, which I suppose just reinforces there belief that wholesaling doesn't work and no one ever sticks with it for long. :)

The buyers who stay on my list are the rehabbers and landlords who see the value in having my do their marketing for them, and have absolutely no problem paying me for my services. In fact, I have a few who keep asking if they can give me a budget and have me do their marketing for them, bringing me all the deals exclusively. I've resisted it because it will ultimately mean less money for me (less competition) but I might help out one in particular who has been a really great buyer and friend.

So @John Sherron feel free to PM me if you need some advice or help without all the negativity.

And @Brent Coombs in answer to your question "Who are the REAL winners in the real estate game? Wholesalers, or their Buyers?" How about EVERYONE? Everyone in this scenario was doing the strategy they wanted to do at the time, and everyone made money. I would also assume the seller was happy with the deal. So it's a win-win-win scenario. Why does it have to be a competition?

This is what so many rehabbers and landlords don't get. Yes, I agree buy-and-hold has the long-term benefit of passive income, and rehabbing means bigger numbers, but that doesn't make wholesaling a bad strategy, particularly if you roll those assignment fees into buying and holding and get the benefits of passive income. I spoke to a rehabber the other day who was talking down to me because he made 20k off a deal where I only made 8k from the assignment. Fair enough, but I didn't have the heart to tell him that while it took him 2 months to flip that property (the only one he was working on at that time) I had also made 10k, 7k, and 9k on other deals. And I never had to work with contractors or pick out cabinets. I'm not being down on rehabbing by the way, just pointing out that this stuff isn't as black-and-white as everyone seems to think it is.