Wholesaling And Working FT!!!!!
Dear TCI Community,
I was wondering how the people that wholesale/flip properties can do so and still work full-time. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, because I am having a hard time trying to figure out how this is accomplished. :-?
Thanks in advance,
Melanie
Working full time is definitely a problem when trying to hunt down deals.
Three suggestions.
1. Run ads. Make the deals find you.
2. Send out direct mail. Similar to 1
3. Only invest time driving around to look at a property after you and the owner have largely agreed by phone the terms and conditions (T&C's). This way you know it will be worth your time if you do the driving.
Now, this will mean that you will not get many deals. If you work full time you might not need many to make a large difference in your income.
BTW - You need to be good a phone screening as you want all the details before you get in the car. I can suggest some criteria to use if you need any. There are lots of books that have similar.
John
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Melanie,
I have 26 signed options for properties right now. I am taking between 150 and 250 calls a week for the properties. I also work full time. I have been working about 12-15 hours a day. Because I got into all aspects of Real Estate at a young age. (23) I have been able to pull all of my resourses together to change with the times. When I started I didn't even own a computer.
I would suggest making a plan as to what you want to accomplish in RE, and what you want to accomplish at your job. Set up REALISTIC goals for both. I realized very early that I could make more money in a day than what I paid a nanny. (children now 13,16,17,18) I also had to get a housekeeper recently again. I thought I could do everthing since the children are older, wrong. (Or I should say they could handle things)
These are just a few of the things that we over look in setting up a course of action. I personally have never been able to give up my full time job. But because of it I will be able to retire when I'm 45. I go on mini vacations instead of long ones. There have been a lot of sacrifices but my Real Estate pays for 100% of all my bills with a lot left over. I have not cashed a paycheck to spend since 1999. (They are all put into a money market account, and I make six figures) So I have been very fortunate in this business. I am not ready to not do anything on a regular basis. (YET)
Well good luck,
Lori
I also only wholesale for people in my REI Club and myself. I also only get buyers that want the property as owner-occupied or first time home buyers. I have found this allows me to be able to specialize in one area of wholesaling. I would rather be extremely good and knowledgeable in one field, than to constantly have to do research in many fields. That would not be time management.. If you are going to work full time at your job, pick one aspect of Real Estate and become the best.
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real estate investor since 1988. I like to find creative solutions for my real estate headaches before they become problems. Most importantly, MOVEMENT DOES NOT EQUAL PRODUCTIVITY[ Edited by tinman1755 on Date 05/20/2004 ]
Readywip:
I will admit, doing this business and working full time is difficult, but it does have its advantages. For one, you can use wholesaling income primarily to pay off debt, build savings, invest in yourself and your business. It's harder to do this if you jump right into rei fulltime because it is harder to live and invest off of one income stream(especially if it is small in the beginning). Also, take all replies with a grain of salt, everyone is different. It's easy to have 26 signed options and so on when you can work on your business at work. Tinman, being that you are a mortgage broker, I would venture to guess that you can work on your business during the day which allows you to get more done. Most of us cannot do that at our full time jobs. I personally run my business at night and on the weekends and it suits me just fine for now. Yeah, I work a lot because of that but I LOVE rei so it never feels like work
BEsides, quitting rei is not an option for me so I do whatever it takes.
Just my .02 cents.
Good Luck! [ Edited by results_one on Date 05/20/2004 ]
Thanks everybody for the wonderful suggestions. I have been studying RE for 8 months now, joined 2 investment clubs, bought "No Money Down", and took the first 1/2 of the real estate licensing exam. I was thinking about becoming an agent, but that would mean leaving my salaried position as an admission counselor. I would eventually like to do it full-time, but I am only 22 and know that I have a long way to go before I could do that.
I have a question for you, how intensive is your current job? I mean, are you constantly working or do you spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer? Do you have access to make and receive calls? If you have some freedom, then it won't be that hard to keep your job and do this. Even if you don't, you can still use your non-work time to pursue deals.
Also, if you had the choice...would you leave your job if you knew you would be successful in REI? Or do you love your job, and REI is just a side thing? If you want to do REI full-time, I think anyone can do it...but it depends on how serious you are. I think 100% of the people that have joined this board, at one time would have said they are SERIOUS. I also believe 90% of the people on here never really take any real steps to do anything.
Of the 10% that do take some steps, a majority run into an obstacle and quit. The fact is EVERYONE will run into an obstacle....but hey, at least they gave SOME effort before throwing in the towel. The few that remain are the ones that post success stories and are active in this game. It's not easy, but it's not brain surgery either.
Either way, don't let having a job prevent you from success. Work around it, or get rid of it =) lol
Good luck
Snek,
Thanks for your reply. I do have the ability to make and receive calls at work, but I don't have much privacy. I posted on another board, and I got the suggestion that I could return calls during lunch, which I could do. I don't necessarily love my job, but I don't know if I could plunge into real estate full-time just yet. I think once I do my first deal, everything will fall into place.
I'm in a management position with the nation's largest off-price clothing retailer on the distribution end. I have some felxibility at work, but not enought to get much done. What gives me an edge is that I work a flex schedule, 11 hours a day Monday - Thursday, so I have all day Friday to scout neighborhoods, return calls and responses and get all my REI business handled.
If changing your schedule can help, I'd do it. I wouldn't suggest quitting your job just because you love REI. I love it too, but I also love having fully paid health insurance for my family, 401k matched and life insurance. My goal is to one day be 100% indie, but not until everything else is taken care of.
Have you thought about hiring an assistant or bird dogs and paying them on commission? I am studying a course by Kris Kirshner. He has created a system where using voicemail and assistants are a big part of his business. He pays them a commission on each property that he buys that they have done the research on. Do a search on him and you will find out more about his courses that he offers. He has 3 complete systems for wholesaling, buying and selling properties. I work full-time and I bought his course because of this. I am inmpressed with the material. I have to spend some time getting things set up, but then it should free up alot of my time.
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Have you thought about hiring an assistant or bird dogs and paying them on commission? I am studying a course by Kris Kirshner. He has created a system where using voicemail and assistants are a big part of his business. He pays them a commission on each property that he buys that they have done the research on. Do a search on him and you will find out more about his courses that he offers. He has 3 complete systems for wholesaling, buying and selling properties. I work full-time and I bought his course because of this. I am inmpressed with the material. I have to spend some time getting things set up, but then it should free up alot of my time.
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