I work for a large wholesaler in Houston, so this is completely biased. This is also something I feel very strongly about. At NWA we are trained to require that potential investors meet us in person before we start sending them our inventory. This allows for us to discuss the clients needs, expectations, plans, and goals to get an idea of how we can fit into their mold as well as go over the fine print of our unique addendum that we use at the back of the TREC contract. Of course this meeting is also a qualification period where we make sure that the individual actually has money to invest, is motivated to buy, and is crystal clear on our process.
Those questions are important in understanding strategy and how you are going to create a time efficient system that allows that specific investor to be comfortable enough to buy property from you. Most would say that you could just ask these questions over the phone. NO. This brings me to my next point.
The most important reasons behind why you need to meet your wholesaler in person, I believe are more social in nature. Trust, accountability, and peer pressure, all play into this. If you've seen my face, shook my hand, seen my office, looked me up online, and can easily alter my credibility as a wholesaler in this industry with a simple click or post on any social media platform- chances are, I'm not going to put you into a bad deal or keep your earnest money, or walk away from closing or anything that could disrupt that status if I am insisting that you meet me at my office. That is the pressure factor. Then you have trust. How can you possibly trust someone that you only get emails from or have spoken to on the phone? Don't you think it would be easier to conduct a smell test on someone in person than over the phone?
A good wholesaler will insist on you meeting them at their office. Us being wholesalers, w get calls, texts, emails and requests all day from people all asking us to add their email address to our distribution list without knowing who we are... "NO LINDA I WILL NOT throw your email address onto a list of 1500 people who I've never met because I don't send properties to people I've never met. How would you like to set up a consultation and I can add you to our private list once we've gone over everything?" If she doesn't say no completely, she'll say something like- "why do I need to come to your office? How about we do lunch?" No LINDA. NO. I have the properties. There are more of you (investors) than there are me (wholesalers with properties). I can't spend my day chasing around investors to their favorite coffee or lunch spots. Our guys at NWA would be getting coffee 3 or 4 times a day.
Wouldn't it be smarter if you spent less time sifting through all the garbage properties in your email because you have 3 solid ace superstar wholesalers from different companies who pump out 30 quality deals a month each and you know you can get your hands on as many as your bank account can handle? Every investor knows time is money. The investors who I see not making any money are the ones who spend all of their time and resources on marketing.
We all see wholesalers come and go. Most fail. I probably get over a hundred emails a day from wholesalers trying to sell me deals. You probably do too. 99.8% of them are complete garbage. The only ones with good deals are the ones I had to meet to get the deals and those are not the wholesalers with 1500 people on their list. They know who their key buyers are. Bottom line is you get what you pay for and because wholesalers don't charge subscription fees, time is the commodity you pay with. Don't be a Linda. (no offense to people with the name Linda).
