Wholesaler Essentials: How To Find Buyer...

Recently I’ve been getting questions about selling properties in markets other than the place where the investor lives. (Sort of like long-distance selling.) This can be tricky.

The approach will be a little different since you’re not right there to contact buyers face-to-face, but the principles aren’t all that different.

First thing right out of the chute – if you have a genuine, bona fide, good deal, it won’t matter if you have one buyer or a thousand buyers. If you have a great deal and you get the word out there, it’ll sell. Period.

If the property has been hanging around for a while and you’ve seen no interest, this may be a big red flag that the deal is not actually a deal. You may have to lower the price. But if it’s a good deal, then you need to be thinking of as many ways to get exposure as possible.

A Rundown of the Possibilities

Newspaper Ads

Put an ad in the local newspaper. Newspaper ads will cost; however, there’re a lot of people who still read the newspaper – contrary to popular belief. It’s usually the older population. Put an ad in the real estate classifieds for your house for sale and someone is sure to see it.

Craigslist

Craigslist is probably available in the city in which your house is located and it’s free to list. More people than ever are scouring these ads just as people used to do of their morning newspaper. Take advantage of it by posting your house for sale, and refresh your ad as often as possible to keep it near the top. I believe CL will let you do this every 48 hours or so.

Craigslist Wholesalers

Also look for other Craigslist wholesalers in the area where you’re selling and contact them. See if they might have a buyer for your deal. It’s called co-wholesaling, and yes, this could cut into your profits some. But think about it – a portion of something is better than all of nothing.

Use the Craigslist search function to search for the term: ARV, which stands for after-repair value. A lot of wholesalers will include that term in their listings. Or try searching for the phrase, “Cash or hard money only.” This too could flush out the buyers you’re looking for.

GoSection8

GoSection8 is a website where Section 8 landlords list properties they have for rent. In this case, you can do a zip code search to pull up all the Section 8 rentals located in the area where your house is located. Once you have that list, set aside a block of time and just start calling those landlords. You know they own at least one Section 8 property; chances are one of them might be looking for another one.

Be aware that a few landlords you contact might be a little disgruntled since the site is not designed for soliciting. But if you really want to sell the property, you won’t let a little thing like that slow you down.

If you go through a long list and all of the responses are telling you that those numbers won’t work for them, then you may have to go back to your seller and renegotiate the price. Either that or – if you have wiggle room in your deal – lower the price right now.

MLS Recent Cash Sales

If you have access to the MLS, or have a realtor friend who will work with you, check out the recent cash sales in your selling area. You could run an ad in Craigslist in search of a realtor who’ll work with you and get you access. Let them know you’re willing to pay a fee for them to do an MLS search for you.

Again, these will typically be the wholesalers in the area and could lead you to your buyer.

Co-Wholesaling Through Google

I’ve mentioned this once already as it relates to Craigslist wholesalers, but co-wholesaling has recently come into its own.

Do this: Run a Google search for “We buy houses” and the name of the city in which you’re selling. Do another one with the phrase “Sell house fast,” and the city.

What will come up are:

1. Natural search results, and

2. Paid ads from wholesalers in that area.

Reach out and get to know these investors and see if you can’t work a deal together.

It just makes sense. These are the ones who are buying and selling in the area where you want to make a sale. They know what’s going on. Use their knowledge and work the deal as co-wholesalers.

FreedomSoft

If you have a FreedomSoft account, you have easy access to tons of cash buyers all around the country. They have lists available you can pull up with a few clicks, and either send them a mail campaign or do a little sleuthing and find their contact info for a personal phone call or you can even stop by.

My Further Advice

Having said all this, let me give you my more personal advice about wholesaling deals virtually. My opinion is when you’re getting started, it’s best to begin in your own backyard. Working in other markets simply means you’ll have more hoops to jump through.

I’m not saying it can’t be done. I know for a fact it can be highly profitable. In fact, one of the members of my Master Mind group wholesales virtually in a number of different markets. However, before he branched out, he first achieved success by wholesaling in his own local market.

I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, but just to keep you aware that you will have a few more hoops to jump through. Early on in your career, it’s best to keep things as simple as possible. Crawl before you walk; walk before you run. You’ll see more success that way.

~Steph Davis

What do you Think

Thoughts? Questions? Let’s hear them.

Stay Close to Home – At first, you need to stay close to home and get lots and lots of practice doing local deals.

Branch Out – Do your due diligence and research out of town areas in which you’d like to begin doing deals.

Get Exposure – Use any, or all, of the plethora of options I talk about above to help you wholesale deals virtually – when you are adequately prepared with plenty of experience.