Wholesalers: How Bad Do You Want It?

Last week I received an email from a newbie real estate wholesaler who was extremely frustrated and looking for some advice.  He explained to me that he had been studying up on real estate wholesaling for about 6 months, and had finally decided to take the plunge, get out of his comfort zone, and start taking action.

His plan was to market for motivated sellers using “We Buy Houses” bandit signs, as well as send out a direct mail piece to a targeted list (absentee owners). A month had passed, and while there were a few leads that had come in, all of the sellers were either asking too much for their properties, or had little to no equity.  Despite putting out over 100 signs and mailing over 500 letters, he was not able to put a deal together, and was ready to throw the towel in and walk away.

I’ve heard many similar stories over the last few years from aspiring investors and wholesalers who are struggling to get their businesses off the ground.  Hearing these stories always brings back memories of when I was just getting started as a wholesaler, and how difficult it was to stay motivated after working my tail off to get a deal, and then running into dead end after dead end.

Month after month went by, and even though I was giving it everything I had (financially and otherwise), I couldn’t seem to land a deal to save my life.  I put out over 1000 We Buy Houses signs (no exaggeration), talked to hundreds of sellers, made hundreds of offers, sent out thousands of mailers, and still- no deals. I literally busted my butt for the better part of a year, and didn’t have anything to show for it except an ulcer and a few premature gray hairs.  It was incredibly difficult, and I don’t know of too many people who would have kept going, but I did.

I kept going because I had made up my mind once and for all that I was finished working for other people, and I was going to make this happen come hell or high water.  There was no turning back, and there were no other options for me.  I wanted success so badly that there was nothing or no one that was going to stand in my way, and so I just kept forging ahead with dogged persistence until I finally closed a deal.

That was over three years ago, and I haven’t looked back since.

Like the struggling wholesaler who sent me the email, I know there are many of you out there who are frustrated because you haven’t landed a deal yet.  I’ve been there, too, and I can tell you from experience that if you want it bad enough, and you are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve success, that anything is possible.  If I can do it- so can you!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.