I look at real estate like a triangle. On one side of the triangle we have rehabs, on the next side we have rentals and on the last side we have wholesaling. I think wholesaling is the bottom side of the triangle, the foundation. That foundation is what keeps everything strong. Wholesaling is the foundation of all real estate investing in my world. It was the easiest way for me to make quick cash. It didn't take me long to start making $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 a month every single month doing wholesaling, and I was investing less than 20 hours a week. For many years now I never worked a weekend and I have been able to be home with my kids and my family doing what's important.
Wholesaling, in my opinion, is a great business because you don't need a lot of capital and you don't need a lot of credit. It doesn't take a lot of training and it's not really hard to do. It's easy to learn. Once you've got your investor list (which we will discuss) it won't be hard for you to move these deals in a short amount of time, normally within 10 to 15 days.
This is much easier than the buy-rehab-sell business. If I'm rehabbing a property, which most of you people already know about, I've got to start by hiring a contractor. I've got to get him to do all the repairs to the property. Once the repairs are done I've got to find a buyer, which may take a long time. It may literally take two to three months for me to find a qualified buyer who wants to buy the property. Once I find the buyer, I've got to get their loan approved, then I've got to get the loan taken care of, get the appraisal and all the other things that come with a regular retail buyer, and so it may take me anywhere between three months to eight months to close a deal that I'm rehabbing.
Now in wholesaling, all I'm basically doing is getting control of the property. I'm taking the same property that I'd buy and rehab and getting it under contract. I'm then taking that contract, marketing it and selling it to the investors who have the cash to pay and who don't mind waiting six months to do a rehab. Rehabs typically net me between $20,000.00 to $40,000.00. But most wholesale deals are going to net me anywhere between $5,000.00 and $10,000.00. I would personally rather do four wholesales and spend less time than to wait six to eight months for a single rehab to cash out. That's the major difference between wholesaling and rehabbing.
About the Author
Joe White is a aurthor and real estate investor from Winston Salem N.C. who speakes across the country at seminars and is very active in real estate investing in his site is http://www.wholesalingrealestate.com