Reverse wholesaling is the number one real estate investment strategy. Here’s how it works…
As knowledge of flipping houses, and popularity of amassing rental properties grows some experienced investors and trainers have moved into real estate wholesaling. A few savvy investors have taken this even a step further into the little known, yet powerful strategy of Reverse Wholesaling. So how does it work? How does it compare to other real estate investment strategies? How can you get started in reverse wholesaling?
WHOLESALING 101
Real estate wholesaling is a relatively simple concept. It’s all about buying low and reselling properties or assigning contracts fast. Just as Warren Buffett has done with stocks, or Costco has done with home goods, or Airbnb has done with short term rentals; wholesaling is flipping fast, giving good deals to other, and making a nice profit for the service.
Instead of buying, engaging in major renovations or remodeling homes, and then putting them on the market with open houses, wholesalers turn around properties as-is, leaving equity and profit on the table for the next buyer too. They provide the inventory rehabbers and rental property investors needed to fuel their businesses.
Wholesalers get out there, find distressed homes and distressed sellers, they lock up the deals, and then they market them to everyone else.
So how is reverse wholesaling different?
HOW DOES REVERSE WHOLESALING WORK?
Reverse wholesaling works on a similar concept to regular real estate wholesaling, only as the name suggests – in reverse.
What does that mean? Why consider that? What are the advantages?
Line Up Your Buyers First
With reverse wholesaling you begin buy lining up your buyers first. You find and prep your end buyers. You take their orders. Think of it as taking pre-orders for a hot new book or the iPhone 8. This way you as the real estate investor knows exactly what product to serve up. It’s essentially already pre-sold. There’s no guess work, hoping you’ve got it right, or lag time running around to find a buyer while your contract or hard money loan is burning a deep hole in your pocket.
Funding Your Reverse Wholesale Deals
There are a few ways to fund your reverse wholesale deals. You may use your own cash to go buy those wholesale deals, before rapidly flipping them to your buyers. You can leverage institutional lenders with a variety of loan programs from regular mortgages to lines of credit and working capital, or hard money loans. You can use private lenders to fund deals fast as a cash buyer. Or you can have your buyers fund the deal and simply assign the contracts to them for a profit. The more options you have the better. The more access to funds you have the higher volume of deals you can do and more flexibility you have.
Find & Secure the Property Deals
Equipped with an end buyer in place, and the money you need to close, it’s time to get out there, find the motivated sellers and undervalued properties, and secure them with a contract. These deals can come from almost anywhere. They can be bank owned REOs, bulk deals from funds, underpriced deals from the MLS, foreclosure auctions, FSBOs, deals from other real estate investors, probate property and estates, or simply homes you uncover marketing to those with a high motivation and need to sell swiftly. Create a network of referral agents, a marketing campaign, put property scouts out there to work for you, and obtain lists of motivated sellers using smart software.
WHY IS REVERSE WHOLESALING BETTER THAN FLIPPING HOMES
Fixing and flipping homes is great. Rental property investing, and private lending is good too. We need all of these players in the marketplace. In fact, one day you may have all of these real estate investment strategies in your mix and portfolio. But there are clear advantages of reverse wholesaling. It is one of the easiest and most hyper-effective ways to get started in real estate, and is a smart staple for active investors in other niches who need to keep fueling their business with cash.
Looking at the differences from fixing and flipping homes, here are some of the reasons you might consider reverse wholesaling to be the superior strategy…
Lower Risk
While no investment of any type, or anything in life for that matter may be 200% risk free, reverse wholesaling is about as good as it gets. You’ve got a ready buyer, you’ve got the funds, you just plug in the property and you’re done. In, out, paid. You aren’t holding the property and expending money in hopes of a buyer. You don’t have to rely on new marketing, the market, or your DIY or contractor management skills, or tenants to make money. It’s already pre-sold. And if there is a hiccup with a buyer, you should have a dozen or more others lined up ready to take the deal.
Faster Payouts
With this setup investors can technically be in and out of an investment the same day, within hours, or don’t even need to take ownership of the property and incur closing costs. You can’t even go flip burgers at a chain for minimum wage and get paid that fast.
No Money, No Credit Needed
It may sound too good, but you really don’t need to use your credit or have stacks of your own cash to buy properties and flip them. You don’t even need a credit check. That means whether you are just starting out fresh from college with a clean slate, just moved to America and have no credit history, or you made some bad choices or got hit by moves in other asset classes and are starting over – reverse wholesaling is exactly what you need to get ahead and get back on track.
Volume & Scale
With such flexibility and speed reverse wholesalers can do an immense volume of deals. You may only be able to take on three rehab deals at a time, or a dozen rentals, but you can reverse wholesale 100 or more properties a year. It’s also completely scalable, up and down. Want to take a break and head off for an expedition for 6 months? No problem. Automate your business, or just slow it down, and scale it back up when you are ready.
The Golden Rule
Reverse wholesaling truly adheres to the golden rule of investing. That is knowing your exit before you get in. It also perfectly balances billionaire investor Sam Zell’s fundamental of supply and demand. Have a clear exit before getting in and you won’t lose money, and that’s just as important as making money.
6 Keys to Reverse Wholesaling Success
1. Build That Buyers List
The main key to great reverse wholesaling is a strong buyers list. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of buyers out there looking to buy and invest in real estate. Help them out. Identify who they are, build lists, keep in touch, serve up the deals they want.
2. Fast & Flexible Funding
There are many sources for funding your real estate deals. You may specifically want to build your list and relationships with transactional funding lenders, hard money lenders, those offering lines of credit, and private lenders.
3. Know Your Contracts
Your real estate contracts are really the pivotal part of doing any real estate deal. Get to know your contracts blindfolded. Know what every line means, what to put on it, and how to explain it.
4. Motivated Sellers
Even though your buyers are lined up and waiting, and you’ve lined up plenty of capital from private lenders, you still need to find inventory that works. That will typically be some form of distressed property or a property being sold by a motivated seller. Build those lists, master connecting with them and negotiating, and you’ll have a complete, smooth cycle of profit making.
5. Organization
You’ve got to be organized. If you aren’t organized you’ll fumble the answers when talking to buyers, you’ll sabotage your own funding, and you won’t be signing deals as fast or for as low as you could. Don’t worry there are tools, software, coaches, apps, and assistants to help you get organized, but don’t overlook the importance of setting them up and using them.
6. Credibility
Your credibility and reputation is a critical component in growing your reverse wholesaling business. Some new investors are daunted by this, but shouldn’t be. Learn, know your stuff, stand on the foundation of a great proven system and coach, and you’ll land those buyers and deals. Offer good deals, show you know your comps, and do what you say. Build on each success to generate more referrals and momentum and hone and grow your brand as you go. Protect that by continuing to focus on serving your customers well and your results will multiply.
Now let’s go get those buyers…
Begin your journey TODAY with our most comprehensive Real Estate Wholesale Program. Click Here for more details.
