Wholesale real estate is a great way to begin as a real estate investor. You hear all the time about how people can make a lot of money really fast by buying and selling houses. With few start up costs, wholesaling is an excellent way to get your feet wet as an investor in the real estate market. Yet as simple and rewarding as wholesaling can be, often people quit early in the process because of the demanding work and amount of dedication it takes to be a successful wholesaler. Anyone looking to become a wholesaler needs to be fully committed to the business. 

The process of wholesaling can seem daunting and overly complicated, but fortunately there are resources to help people become successful. While there are a number of online resources to help aspiring wholesalers navigate the industry, three stand out above the rest. Fortune Builders, Learn to Wholesale, and Cardone University are by far the top 3 best online courses for anyone who wants to be a wholesaler. 

Fortune Builders

Than Merrill, Paul Esajian, and Konrad Sopielnikow founded Fortune Builders together to teach people how they can make money in wholesale real estate. Together, they each have more than fifteen years of experience in the industry. They are the principals and founders of numerous real estate investment firms and have combined have produced over $1B in both residential and commercial real estate investments. 

After years of people constantly asking the three how they became so successful at real estate investment, they created Fortune Builders to give people the tools they need to become successful themselves. In addition to their in-person seminars and classes, Fortune Builders offers several online training courses, including one entitled Wholesaling for Quick Cash. 

In this online course, Than Merrill leads enrollees through the ins and outs of the business model utilized by one of Merrill’s own investment companies CT Homes. According to Merrill, the goal of the course is to, “change the way you think about building a business and show you a model you can follow to ensure your financial success. The purpose of all this is to lead you to your own business that you will enjoy building, can be proud of, and provide you with financial freedom.” The course is for beginners to instruct them on how to build a successful wholesale business to help reach their long-term financial goals. 

The price of the course is $1,1970 and comes with a reference manual that contains over 190 pages of content. 

In addition to that beginner’s course, Fortune Builders offers a full online program called Mastery that teachers its students how to strategically invest in real estate. With Mastery, students will have access to a team of experts readily available to coach them through the process. Mastery coaches have each completed thousands of real estate deals on their own and are well qualified to assist members in the program. The online course includes a one-on-one support system, an emergency phone hotline, instant email access to coaches, and even offers deal submission reviews from the coaches, all easily accessible and all online.

Additional amenities in this top rated course include weekly live training webinars including case study training classes for students to share and give a full rundown of recently closed deals with other students. For these reasons, Fortune Builders easily ranks among the top 3 best online real estate investment courses.

Learn to Wholesale

Another such online course is Learn to Wholesale. The program is taught by Carlos Reyes, Alex Saenz, and Sal Shakir. Reyes and Shakir are each co-founders of National Cash Offer, and Saenz is the owner of Home Equity Pros and Offer Home. Combined they have over twelve years of experience in the real estate industry. 

The program instructs people on how to create a constant cash flow using the techniques in wholesale real estate that the three have used to find success in real estate investment. With the course, you get access to the best industry insights from real experts with proven track records of success. The information constantly updates to bring you the best and latest techniques and information to keep up with market trends. 

The course consists of six steps. First, students in the course learn the foundations of virtual wholesale deals. Second, they learn how to value property within an online market. Third, students learn the ins and outs of negotiation and get specific tactics to be effective in negotiations for closing over the phone. This step also includes learning how to sign contracts virtually. In the fourth step, enrollees get access to the best online marketing hacks to get the best virtual deals possible. The fifth step involves knowing how to use budget inspectors to get the secure the best deals and also covers what to do after your virtual property inspection is complete. The sixth and final step covers how to close a deal.

One benefit from the course is that once you purchase it, you have access to it forever. Keep in mind, the information provided continuously updates as needed for changing market trends. From the moment of purchase you instantly get access to contracts and scripts and everything you need to complete your first deal. The course is completely self-paced and ends when you want it do, allowing the student to proceed on their own time through the more than 55 videos included.

Cardone University

Cardone University offers what it calls, “most extensive sales training curriculum on the web today” and contains over 1,500 segments of interactive video web content. Grant Cardone is an author, entrepreneur, and real estate mogul who built up a $1.2B portfolio. In 2017, Cardone was the #1 marketer to watch from Forbes Magazine. Investors who want to thrive doing wholesale real estate should definitely consider Cardone if they want to become successful from every angle of the industry.

Cardone classes include instant access across multiple devices from one account. CU boasts of one of the most comprehensive online training programs in the world. Each module has multiple courses within them. For example, the Sales Process module consists of 28 courses including certification. CU offers modules in; Selling 101, Selling basics, Understanding the buyer, the Sales process, the Theory of closing, Closing strategies, Incoming calls, Prospecting, and more. Prices for modules range from $495 to $1,995

Industry experts affiliated with the course include Grand Cardone, Jamie Shanks, David Jensen, and Daymond John among others. Another benefit of CU is the instant and free access to Grant Cardone’s free e-books including How to Fill a Pipeline with Cold Prospecting and 20 Rules of Closing a Deal.

Cardone University includes everything you need to be a successful sales professional in any sales industry, including wholesale real estate. It contains hundreds of classes, videos, and other online material to help you create a successful career in sales.

Starting out as a real estate investor, it can be tricky trying to navigate the scene. You can have all the right training, but with a lack of experience, you’ll need some way to find leads. Even seasoned investors go through winter lulls in action. Fluctuations in the market can also slow your client roll and freeze up your sales. Part of being a good real estate investor means knowing how to successfully find leads, even during cold markets. To ensure your success as an investor be sure to follow these tips when trying to lock down leads.

Know Where to Start

Like anyone who has just opened a new business or restaurant, often the first people you hit up to come down and stop by are your close friends and family. The best leads are not necessarily going to come from paid advertising. Rather the best leads are organic and come from people you already know. Begin looking around at your immediate network to find potential clients. Chances are, even if you don’t know someone directly interested, you may know someone who knows someone else. Personal referrals go a long way in the real estate industry as people want to go to reliable sources they can trust.

Build up Your Network

After you’ve exhausted your resources with people you already know, you’ll want to begin to expand your professional network. Like in any industry, networking is key for generating leads in real estate. Networking as an investor can be very similar to networking as an agent. In general its best to start by looking for like minded individuals and those in the same immediate line of work as yourself. Talking to others can be helpful in terms of knowing where to look for leads. 

Building up a social media presence and buying advertisements is helpful, but it’s not the end all be all for getting leads. Begin the process by simply going out and meeting new people. Half the battle is just getting your name out. Utilizing tools like LinkedIn, Meet Up, Shapr, and other apps can be very useful for building your professional network.

In most cases, this is simply a matter of meeting new people. As far as meeting raw potential clients, it’s a matter of finding different ways to meet as many people as you can. Your personal brand is everything. Volunteering, attending Chamber of Commerce meetings, going to your local park, joining a gym, getting to know your neighbors, etc. Even becoming a regular at a restaurant can help build up your professional network. 

Get to Know a Good Commercial Lender

One good method of streamlining leads is to find a good lender in your area. Lenders are privy to their client’s financial situations and have knowledge of their client’s who are looking for loans to buy homes. Having a good relationship with a lender can lead to a lot of business being sent your way.

Build Your Own Website

A difference between agents and investors is that agents are employed by a brokerage, while investors are not. Agents are typically given their own page through their brokerage. Even then, many still opt to create their own website to increase their client list. Creating an online presence is crucial for generating leads as an investor. A professional website allows you to create your own brand, highlight your specialties, and can serve as an excellent place to showcase testimonials and reviews of former satisfied clients. Websites allow investors to create an online presence within the market which helps the legitimacy of your business. It’s a great place to refer people and if managed correctly can be a main source for driving lots of views, many of which can turn into clients. 

Attend and host Open Houses

Open houses serve as one of the best venues to meet potential buyers and generate leads. At an open house you’ll have access to large groups of potential buyers, most of which will not have an agent. These are the perfect occasions to introduce yourself to such people. Leave them with your business card and an offer to help them through the process. This will be a very effective way to land clients as an investor. Hosting your own open houses is also a good strategy to reach potential buyers in your market.

Be Active on Social Media

In addition to a personal business website, investors should also be active on social media as well. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Youtube are effective tools for getting your name out and creating a recognizable brand. ‘Social selling’ is a highly effective way to meet new clients. According to a 2015 report, 61% of businesses that engage in social selling saw an increase in revenue. Interacting with prospective clients on social media, like meeting people out in real life, is very important to build up a client list.

Social media offers lots of different ways to interact with and reach potential clients, generating lots of leads. Things such as sharing photo galleries, sharing information about open houses, 360 degree image tours, highlighting past clients, and posting online videos can be incredibly effective social media strategies.

Advertise on Social Media

Along with being active on social media, advertising is also important. Invest in online advertising by purchasing Facebook and Instagram ads is a good tool for those looking to expand their pool of leads. With social media ads you can specifically target certain audiences and filter through to increase your chances of reaching people looking to buy.

 Paid search advertising is another tool investors can use to generate business leads. Advertising with sites like Zillow can put you at the very top of the page on Google search results. Most companies these days have made it extremely easy to advertise with them.

Other forms of advertising worth investing in include; Google ads, LinkedIn ads, and canvas neighborhood mailboxes with your business card. Also consider blogging for local real estate websites, and answering real estate questions on Quora.

Look on HUD Foreclosure Listings

When a home is foreclosed the bank seizes the property. Initially it will look to sell it at auction. If that sale fails to go through it will then become owned by the bank. The US department of housing and urban development hosts a database of such properties. Because there is a pretty urgent need to sell, these homes are often listed well below its actual value. This opens up a lane for investors to purchase homes for well below what they’re worth and create flips. This is one way to buy up homes to sell to potential clients. 

Use Signs

Using signs is a tried and true way to generate interest in your business as an investor. A “coming soon” sign helps generate anticipation and draws attention to your property. Likewise, “sold” signs can be effective at getting leads from buyers who don’t want to miss out on a property again.

Say “Thank you”

Don’t forget about your old clients. As with anything, you want to build off past deals and relationships. Once you have a satisfied client you’ll want to follow up with them. Even things like writing a letter written on your own stationary after receiving a referral presents you as personable and can lead to more referrals. Always thank your clients for working with you.

Starting out as a real estate agent at a young age can be overwhelming. Being a real estate agent is a very social job that depends on knowing where to look to find new clients. If you’re young and or new to an area, it can seem impossible to be successful. You’ll think to yourself “how am I supposed to do this when I don’t know anyone?” Yet that doesn’t have to be the end of your hopes and dreams. Despite some setbacks that are expected for younger agents, young real estate agents in their twenties can and have enjoyed successful careers in the industry. 

How Young Real Estate Agents find Clients

If you’ve just moved to an area or don’t know many people, it can be hard to find new clients. Older agents with more experience typically are more trusted by prospective buyers. Younger agents thus face a problem of not having enough proven experience and a lack of clientele. 

One way to streamline this process is simply going to as many networking events as possible. Join your local young professionals networking group, go to industry mixers, find anyway possible to get involved in the community. The more you network the larger you pool will get and you’ll be able to find clients more easily. Find different and clever ways to bring up your profession without sounding like an elevator pitch. 

Networking with busier agents in your office is another way to streamline clients. Sometimes seasoned agents who aren’t looking to take on new clients will farm out events such as hosting open houses. 

Don’t Just Go for the Money

In truth, the payment mechanisms in place for real estate agents are not the best. The average age for real estate agents is 57 according to the National Association of Realtors. Pay is largely based on a split commission. The agents work for the brokerage. When the brokerage gets paid their commission, the agents get a cut of that commission. Young agents typically get paid somewhere around 30-40%. As with most things, the more experience you have, the higher your commission is.

It’s important to pick the right broker, however, keep in mind that simply going after the broker that pays the highest commission split is not necessarily the best route. Many young real estate agents want to get paid, but there’s great value in picking a broker that provides the experience necessary to get higher commission splits later on in your career. Many agents fail in the industry because they don’t get the right training. Agents that select brokerages that work hard to train their agents and equip them with the necessary skills to succeed in the business are better off than those who simply go with the higher commission split. Earning a 100% split doesn’t help when you aren’t selling houses. Successful young real estate agents starting their career will seek out the best happy medium between the two.

Overcoming the ‘Age’ Question

Like with most things, age will be a factor only so long as you allow it to be. It’s true that some will be less likely to trust a younger less experienced agent, but the reality is that everyone begins with zero experience. It sounds cliché but age is only an issue if you let it be an issue. Most buyers want an agent who is competent, returns calls, knows what they’re doing, and who communicate well and effectively. If you can demonstrate these things to clients, they will trust you. There may be agents in their 50s who are not as good at those particular things. If you can demonstrate that you are, people will notice and your age will cease to be an issue. 

Ultimately, when people ask things like ‘how old are you’ or ‘how long have you been in the business,’ what they are really trying to find out is, ‘do you know what you’re doing?’ If you are competent and know what you’re doing, then it will not be a problem. People want someone they can trust. Again, this is where finding the right brokerage is key. If anyone questions your experience you can then simply note that you are a part of a well experienced office that you may consult at any time. 

Another angle is that younger agents have more time as opposed to more experienced agents who have long and congested client lists. By having more time you can offer a more personable experience and dedicate more fully to your client.

Advantages a Young Real Estate Agents

While being young in the real estate industry can provide some challenges, there are also many advantages to being young. Most agents are in their 40s and 50s. Many begin their careers later in life. Starting early can be an advantage as you’re still at a phase of your life prime for soaking up information and gaining experience. The more experience you have, the more successful you can be. Starting younger allows you to learn the trade in and out and gain great experience. Some agents who start later in their career are thrown into the industry with little to no experience and have to teach themselves along the way. 

Another huge advantage young people have right now is the ability to adapt to technology. While not necessarily universally true, in general, younger people are more tech savvy and can use technology and social media to market themselves in new ways that didn’t exist in decades past. Things like promotional videos are great ways to market individuals and real estate investor businesses. By using technology to their advantage and marketing themselves, young agents can make up for their lack of experience and use these tools to gain clients. 

Real estate has an excellent track record as a long-term investment. However, it doesn’t come without barriers, and the main one comes down to one thing: cold hard cash.

You need money to make money – or so the saying goes. It is particularly true when it comes to diving into realty investments. After all, as any homeowner knows, you need a significant amount of liquidity to purchase a single property, let alone several. For most people, their home is the biggest purchase they will make in their life.

Thankfully, there are many ways you can invest in real estate. Besides, some of them do not involve having to let go of your hard-earned cash. Here are some of the options you can explore if you do not have access to unlimited amounts of liquidity to make your first investment.

Apply for a loan that doesn’t require a down payment

If you can live in the property for a time, you may have access to government-backed loans that do not require a small or no down payment. Some of the most common ones include FHA loans, VA loans, or USDA loans. The property you are planning to purchase will need to satisfy some requirements as far as condition or location is concerned. They apply for single-family homes or small multifamily buildings with two to four units.

Use the equity from another property

You may already own a property (like your primary residence, for example) and have significant equity in the building. In that case, you can contract a home equity loan. It will then gives you access to this sum without having to sell your building. You can then use that money to purchase an investment property.

Rent-to-own properties

If you can negotiate with the seller, you may be able to obtain a “lease option” as you rent the property in the long term. You will need to get a legal “option to buy” from the homeowner according to which you agree to purchase the property at a later date for a previously set amount.

Find a private lender

Instead of contracting a loan from a bank or a credit union, investigate non-traditional options for a microloan. They can be issued by individuals (the owner of the property you are interested in purchasing, for example). You can also involve several investors (friends and family members, for example), each covering a portion of your lending needs.

Take part in a real estate partnership

You may not have enough to purchase a real estate investment alone, but what about joining other investors in a similar situation? Not all partnerships involve a financial contribution. You could also become a partner thanks to your skills, real estate knowledge, excellent credit score, and so on.

Find a motivated seller

Motivated sellers are more likely to agree to a non-traditional financing approach. By using a service like Need To Skip, you can get the contact information of homeowners who may be interested in selling their property at a discounted rate or for no money down.

Real estate wholesaling

In real estate, wholesaling consists of finding an interested buyer for a property under contract. You then sell it for a higher price before actually closing. Since no closing costs, down payment, etc. are involved, you can get away with investing with little to no money of your own. 

So, you received an escrow disbursement check in the mail? If you have contracted a mortgage on your property, you are probably more used to send money from your lender every month than to receive some on their behalf. What does this unexpected return mean, and what should you consider when you receive it?

When you were approved for a mortgage covering 80 percent or more of the value of the property, your lending establishment likely required you to set up an escrow or impound account. In addition to the payment for the mortgage itself, a part of your monthly payments is directed toward this account to cover your homeowner’s insurance premium, property taxes, and other property expenses. It protects the lender from you defaulting on those payments and prevents additional liens that could impede the foreclosure process. The account is usually set up during the closing.

Although it is a lender requirement, the account is held by a third party, and the money it holds remains yours. It can only be released for payment on items you have previously approved. In some cases, there is money left over once the authorized expenses are paid, and the minimum fund requirements are met. If the excess funds are higher than $50, they will be released back to you in the form of an escrow disbursement check at the end of the year. For smaller amounts, the funds will be applied towards future escrow payments.

In which situations may you receive an escrow disbursement check?

There are several cases when you may receive an escrow check. If you have refinanced your property in the past year, the amount of your expenses is likely to have changed as well.

The property’s tax bill may be lower than expected. If the assessed value of the property or the tax rate went down, the amount that you owe might be lower than the lender initially thought.

Your homeowner insurance may also decrease as your equity in the property increases or if you changed insurance company and obtained a lower rate.

Finally, you may have overpaid or double paid for some of the preapproved costs, and the extra payment could have been sent to the servicer.

If you think your escrow account is in excess, you can ask your lender to perform an analysis. Otherwise, most lending establishments will do so once or twice a year. As you are filing taxes, keep in mind that escrow disbursements are not considered income. It is a reimbursement of money you already paid and, therefore, it is not taxable.

Can the lender require the money back?

You may have a pleasant surprise and receive some excess funds from your lender. Unfortunately, you could also be in the situation where the expenses your escrow account should cover have increased. If that is the case, you could be facing an escrow shortage. In order to compensate for this issue, your lender may raise your monthly payments until your escrow account covers the expenses.