Build Your Wholesaling Real Estate Buyer List
After finding a potential wholesale property, evaluating the deal, and negotiating with the buyer, you’ll have an accepted offer and a signed contract.
But unlike traditional home buying, the process isn’t quite over yet. Now you are at the final, most important step in the real estate wholesaling process — you have to find a buyer and assign the contract.
Why Do You Need a Wholsale Buyers List?
In wholesaling, time is of the essence. Remember, although you’re making an offer on a property, the goal is not to actually take possession.
Your goal is to find another buyer before the deal is set to close.
This means you can’t afford to waste time once you have a contract in place. You have to move quickly to complete the deal.
Having a list of buyers and investors you know are interested in wholesale deals will save you valuable time and effort.
Find Cash Buyers for Real Estate Wholesale First
In most cases, you’ll want to keep cash buyers at the top of your list. The advantage of a cash buyer for wholesale real estate deals is that they already have the money ready and can move quickly to close the deal.
If a buyer does not already have cash or financing in place, this can delay the deal and add uncertainty to the process. Working with a cash buyer speeds up the process and reduces the risk that a deal will fall through before closing.
How to Build a List of Wholesale Buyers
Here are seven strategies for building your list of wholesale cash buyers and investors:
- Joining your local real estate investment association
- Working with investor-friendly real estate agents
- Networking at real estate auctions
- Searching local tax assessor records
- Working with hard money lenders
- Networking online to find cash buyers on Craigslist and other forums
- Marketing your wholesale business
1. Join Your Local Real Estate Investment Association
You’ll find a real estate investment association, or REIA, in most large cities and metro areas. The REIA gives investors opportunities to network, share and gain knowledge, and to seek new business.
Joining an REIA is a smart move for anyone involved in real estate investing, and traditional networking at association events can pay big dividends for the new investor.
While you’re looking for buyers, buyers will attend these events looking for sellers. In addition to connecting with buyers, networking with like-minded investors is valuable as well. Connecting with other real estate investors can get you advice, leads, and further connections.
2. Work With an Investor-Friendly Real Estate Agent
Just like house-flippers work with bird dogs to find leads, working with a real estate agent to wholesale houses can save you time and get you valuable information you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Experienced, investor-friendly agents will already have their own lists of buyers. They’ll know which properties are a good fit for which investors and can help connect you to the right buyer.
Real estate investors who work with agents will also be looking for sellers. An agent will be eager to make introductions and present deals to prospective buyers.
3. Meet Buyers at Real Estate Auctions
A real estate auction presents many opportunities to network with buyers. After all, you know those attending are actively looking to buy property.
Attending a real estate auction and speaking with the buyers there may not lead to an immediate wholesale deal. But, remember that this isn’t necessarily about closing a deal right away. Building up a network of buyers will pay off in the long-term when you have a deal ready and need to move quickly to find a buyer.
4. Use Public Records to Find Investor-Owners
This strategy for finding wholesale buyers requires some detective work. But if you know what to look for, public records can get you information on investors who already own, buy, or flip real estate.
Your local tax assessor’s office likely offers access to online property records. You can use this information to find buyers by focusing on sales patterns and owners.
When using tax assessor records to find wholesale cash buyers, there are two significant things to look for.
The first thing to look for is a house owned by an LLC rather than an individual. Real estate investors will often form an LLC to structure their business and protect their personal assets. A residential property owned by an LLC is a strong indicator that there is a cash buyer behind it.
A second thing to look for is a single individual who owns multiple properties in the same area. If one person owns multiple properties in one area, it’s unlikely they’re living in all of them and much more likely that those properties are owned by an investor. Furthermore, that investor is likely interested in buying wholesale real estate.
Finally, you can look for any absentee owner — meaning the owner of the house doesn’t live in the house. An absentee owner may live in or out of state. But either way, it indicates they may be an investor looking to be a cash buyer.
While a public records search may involve more work than some other buyer list strategies, it can yield solid leads for the enterprising wholesaler.
5. Work with Hard Money Lenders to Find Wholesale Buyers
Using a lender to find a cash buyer may seem counterintuitive, but hard money lenders are a good resource for connecting with cash buyers.
The terms of a mortgage are determined by the current value of the property to be purchased, along with the creditworthiness and current assets of the person applying for the loan. A hard money loan, on the other hand, is based on the projected future value of the property. The only collateral is the property itself.
A hard money loan’s terms are less affected by the borrower’s credit score or assets because the terms are shorter and the hard money lender expects to quickly make their money back when the home is resold.
Since a hard money loan uses the property itself as collateral and can be processed quickly, many investors and wholesalers consider a hard money loan to be just as good as cash. And wholesale cash buyers may decide to use hard money loans as part of their own business model.
As an important part of the wholesale and flipping ecosystem, hard money lenders offer many connections and networking opportunities. They are a valuable resource for wholesalers looking to build cash buyer lists.
6. Online Networking to Find Cash Buyers
Traditional networking, whether among real estate investors or any other business community, generally happens in person. However, there are many online opportunities for wholesalers looking to build their cash buyer lists.
While it may eventually be necessary to close the deal in person, online options are often a good starting point in the search for wholesale buyers.
Find Cash Buyers on Craigslist
Craigslist offers a wealth of information and leads for wholesalers looking for cash buyers. It’s free and easy to use, with many listings offering contact numbers and other useful information.
By browsing listings of houses and apartments for sale or rent, you can easily find contact info for landlords and property owners. Filter by city and zip code to find owners in your area, and filter by price to find those who might match your financial model.
In addition to browsing investors’ and flippers’ ads, you can also use the site to market yourself to cash buyers. After all, if you’re online looking for cash buyers, it’s likely that buyers are looking for real estate sellers and wholesalers. This makes Craigslist a great platform to market your wholesaling business without a complicated marketing strategy or an expensive marketing budget.
Use Internet Forums to Network and Find Buyers
There are countless online forums devoted to all aspects of real estate investing.
In addition to presenting opportunities to learn, discuss, and network, these websites can also connect wholesalers with cash buyers. Sites will often have sections specifically for those looking to sell, buy, or wholesale.
Some sites will be geared towards real estate deals in specific areas or have subsections for different states or cities. Facebook is often a good option for finding local investors as you build your buyers’ list.
However, you don’t have to limit your buyer search to just your city or metro area. Many buyers are willing to look outside their home market, so you shouldn’t rule it out either. Online communication makes it easy to connect, network, and close deals with buyers outside your local real estate market, whether that means across town or across the world.
7. Market Your Wholesale Business
In addition to the strategies outlined above for building your buyer list, you can take a different approach that leads to buyers finding you.
Building a successful wholesale marketing strategy requires careful and detailed planning. Below are several approaches to consider.
Direct Marketing to Cash Buyers
A direct marketing campaign can be an effective strategy for finding wholesale cash buyers.
A successful campaign doesn’t necessarily mean blanketing the neighborhood with flyers or postcards. A more targeted effort can yield better results.
A campaign targeted at potential cash buyers can be useful if you have a large list of potential leads but haven’t successfully made contact with them yet.
Establish an Online Presence to Attract Cash Buyers
Building an online brand to find cash buyers can start with simple steps.
Following some of the strategies already described above, like using Craigslist and online real estate investing forums is a good start. This helps you to connect with investors and build awareness without a lot of initial investment of time or money.
You’ll want to consider setting up a website for your wholesale business as well. This can be as simple as a few pages introducing yourself and your business along with providing contact info so buyers and investors can get in touch with you.
As your business grows, you may decide to expand your web presence as well. Building out your wholesale business website with more content and targeting keywords for SEO and SEM rankings can help you appear higher in search results, making it more likely that buyers will land on your page.
Conclusion
There are many ways to build a buyers’ list as a real estate wholesaler. There’s no need to limit yourself to just one.
Regardless of how you work to expand your buyer list, remember that your buyer list will be built on relationships, and these relationships require long-term thinking. Not every connection will pay off right away, and not every buyer will be interested right off the bat. The key is to make those connections.
To succeed as a wholesaler, you’ll need to know who the cash buyers are and who might be a good fit for the property you’re looking to assign. Most importantly, you need buyers to know who you are, and you want to position yourself as a valuable source for lucrative real estate wholesale deals.
Building your buyer list can be a cumulative process that gains momentum as you go. The more people you know and the more deals you close, the easier it will be to connect with buyers to build your list.
By following the strategies outlined above, you’ll be well on your way to building a list of cash buyers for your wholesale business.