Flip This Wholesaler

6/29/09

So, I got a call over the weekend from a wholesaler in Tampa who is just getting started wholesaling REOs. He saw one of the ten million signs I have plastered all over the place, and called me to see if I could help him out. Basically, he just went out and started making offers on REOs without really knowing what he's doing- kind of a "ready, fire, aim" approach. Well, he ended up getting a property under contract at a REALLY GREAT price, and after finding out that he couldn't assign the contract, he was ready to just back out of the deal because he didn't have the funds to close on it himself. So, he was calling me to tell me about the deal, and to see if he could just get a bird dog fee from me if I ended up contracting it and selling it.

My first question to him was- "Why don't you just do a simultaneous closing?" And his answer was- "There are no title companies in Tampa who will do them. I was told they are illegal."

He told me he called every title company he could find, and that not a single one of them would do a simultaneous closing.

As you guys know, I do all of my closings using a simultaneous close, and I know of four title companies in Tampa who will do them. Actually, make that five. I just thought of another one.

I know I've written about this before, but I just wanted to once again emphasize that the best way to find an investor friendly title company in your area is to ask the active wholesalers who they are using. If you whip out the Yellow Pages and start going down the list (that's what he did), you are most likely setting yourself up for a healthy dose of rejection!

Now, I know you are probably thinking to yourself, "That makes sense, Steph, but how in the hell do I find wholesalers in my area? I'm a newbie and I don't have any connections yet!"

My first suggestion would be to head on over to RealEstateInvestor.com, sign up for an account (it's free), and start NETWORKING! You can even do a search for wholesalers in your city. I just did a search for wholesalers in Tampa, and this is what I came up with. Do you think that one of those 37 people might be able to help you out if you sent them a message asking for a title company referral? It doesn't get much easier than that!

If you don't find what you are looking for on REI.com, you can also search Facebook for real estate groups in your area. I just did a search for "Tampa Real Estate" on Facebook, and got 500 different results...

You get the picture, I think...

OK, gotta run. Literally. :)

Happy Monday, Blogosphere!

P.S.
You can also search those sites for BUYERS!