REALLY need money? Don't Start Wholesaling Houses

So here‘s the deal. There are a lot of webinars, a lot of coaches, a lot of programs, a lot of stuff in general out there directed at you. Directed at new wholesalers trying to learn this business, or new real estate investors trying to learn this business. And that is a business in itself. All of these guys have programs, and granted, some of them are great. Some of them are really good programs, really good systems. But I don't want you to be confused, and I don't want you to be caught up in all of the flashy webinars, and all of the claims that you're going to make $60,000 in 30 days flipping your first house. I hate to be the one to tell you, but it doesn't work that way.

Now, there is always an exception to the rule. There might be somebody that is already familiar with the business, or a natural salesperson, or just plain lucky, that goes out and does business in the first 30 days or 60 days. Even then, it’s likely their luck will continue without proper knowledge of the business. But the vast majority of us need to learn a business. You won’t find a webinar that is going to teach you how to find cash buyers and motivated sellers, while also teaching you about how to market and working with title companies. There is no turnkey system that’s going to close deals for you in the next 30 days, alright? This is a process, like anything else worth doing.

Don’t get me wrong, because I think real estate investing is probably the best chance that any of us have to become rich, okay? More millionaires are made from real estate investing than in any other thing profession. Professional athletes, Hollywood actors, they get these multimillion dollar contracts and deals, but that's a small percentage of the millionaires in the world. Most millionaires make their money from either owning a business or investing in real estate. And I can't argue with that. But if you're going to get into the business, understand that it's not going to happen overnight. If you've never bought a house, and you've never talked to a cash buyer, and you've never had a closing, you're not going to instantly know all of that stuff. And it's going to take time to learn it.

Here's the other thing that I wanted to say: if you are broke, if you don't have any money to market with or to get started in the business, it's not the right time. It's just not. If you are wondering how to pay rent and utilities next month and you are looking for a new job and wondering if being a real-estate investor is the right thing to do, don’t expect to be able to start and make your rent by next month. You need to come up with a different plan for right now. And I don't want to discourage people from getting into real estate investing, because if you want to do it, it needs to be part of your plan. But it can't be the last ditch effort to keep you afloat.

And everyone is different and gets into wholesaling in their own way. When I started in this business, I like to say I got into the business backwards, because I didn't start as a wholesaler. I started doing other things, and then because a wholesaler. I worked with a lot of investors and a lot of other miscellaneous things. But when I starting working in the business, I started inspecting houses for investors. They were looking at houses, and they were saying, "Hey, is this something we want to buy? Is this something we don't want to buy?" But they didn't want to go to every single house they were looking at, so they would send me. I would go to the houses and take photos, and estimate the repairs, and I would put together a little report and send it over to them. My job was to say, "Hey, it costs eight grand to fix this one up, or 10 grand, or 50 grand, or whatever.", and they would make their determination on that.

My point is, I made money doing those inspections. I didn't just hop into wholesaling. I was doing something else first. Now, those investors eventually talked me into rehabbing for them. I would go into a house that they had already bought and had already rehabbed, and they would have me go back and inspect it after the rehab crew said it was done. And I'd go in, and I'd say, "Hey, the paint is not quite done.", or "The kitchen looks bad.", or "The caulk is all gross." And eventually, they said, "Hey, David, why don't you rehab houses for us?" I had no idea how to rehab houses and I told them but they said “Oh, you’ll figure it out. Just go do it.”

So, me being the guy I am, not afraid to take on the challenge, I tried a couple. And guess what… I lost money on them. And then I tried a couple more, and I figured it out, and I started making money. With that, I starting rehabbing houses. I did that for a couple of years, until I was doing so many I was burned out, and then I got into wholesaling. I had money in the bank. I said, "I'm going to give this wholesaling thing a try.", and I went out and did it. But I wasn't down to my last buck. I wasn't struggling to pay my bills. I had a nest egg. It was not huge, but it was enough to where I could say, "You know what? I'm going to give this wholesaling thing a fair shot, and try it."

So, if you're broke, figure out something else. It doesn’t have to be flipping burgers at a chain fast food restaurant, it can be something else in the business. I called on a lot of real estate investors, and I dealt with a lot of real estate investors, and I know that they're always looking for something. Big time real estate investors, rental companies, property management companies, they always need somebody to clean houses. If you don’t have a nest egg to start your wholesaling career, that could be your in to the business.

To recap, if you're struggling, and you want to get into the business, but you don't have money for marketing and wholesale, look at something else. Look into cleaning houses for investors, and then work your way into the business. Or if you don't like to clean, maybe put together a lawn care company, and just go out and cut the yards on vacant houses for them. Maybe you can start by going out to vacant properties to take photographs. Or if you have a little bit of knowledge about house repair costs, go out and do like I did, and estimate repairs, or do inspections. Bottom line, figure out something that you do that will benefit real estate investors. And then, when you're not cleaning, or painting, or cutting grass, drive for dollars. Then take some of the money you're making, and invest it in a vacant property list, or into some software you have you eye on.

But if you're scratching by, don't go spend $1000 on some turnkey system that's going to make you rich, because it isn’t going to happen today. You're not ready for that yet.

So that's my message today, it's if you're in a situation where you've got money, and you've got control of your bills and everything, and you want to get into real estate investing, buy all of the courses and do all of the things you want. If you're in another situation, where you've got to make your bills next month, and you don't have any money sitting in the bank, come up with a different plan, and work your way into real estate investing.

Real estate investing is great, but it's not always the first step. The first step is making money so you can make it as a real estate investor, so you can pay for the courses, so you can pay for the mailing lists, so you can pay for gas to drive for dollars.

So, if you really, really need money, you've got to put off real estate wholesaling. You've got to put off real estate investing. Get things under control. Do it the right way so you're in it for the long haul, so you're not, "Oh, I tried driving for dollars for a week, and it didn't work out. So, now I've got to go do something else." Do it so you can do it until you win, until you make money doing it, until you're successful. And come up with not just a little targeted plan that's going to lead to failure, come up with a big plan to where you can do it for a year, and say, "You know what? I can give this my best shot. I can learn about this, I can invest my money that I'm making into it, and do it the right way."
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That's the message. I know I repeated myself a lot and I'm not going to ramble on any further. If you have anything to add or any other ways to get into the wholesaling business “backwards”, leave a comment below. Please feel free to also check out my YouTube channel  and subscribe for notifications on all new videos from The Wholesalers Toolbox.

​Until next time