One of the most important things to have when you wholesale real estate is a cash buyers list. Without it, you can sign an unlimited number of real estate contracts, but you won’t make money regularly. After all, you can’t wholesale if you don’t have any buyers.
While assigning a contract to a cash buyer is the last step in a wholesale real estate deal, it needs to be one of the first steps you think about. Otherwise, you may find yourself in a situation where you have to back out of a real estate contract and forfeit your earnest money because you don’t have a buyer.
To help you avoid this circumstance, we’ve compiled a guide to help you build a cash buyers list you can rely on every time you have a wholesale real estate deal that you need to sell.
Network with local real estate professionals
You’re probably familiar with the benefits of networking with real estate agents, but there are a lot of other real estate professionals you can build profitable relationships with.
Real estate agents are a great place to start because they have connections with practically everyone in their local area. Not only do they know well-established investors, but they also know homebuyers, prospective investors, lenders, closing agents, property contractors, and other members of the local real estate community.
Relationships with real estate agents are great for connecting you with cash buyers because agents are usually the first ones that investors approach when looking to make real estate purchases. Agents also often know local cash buyers from previous transactions.
Lenders are another great resource for connecting with investors and building your cash buyers list. Sometimes, cash buyers need loans to close the deal on highly desirable properties. While lenders may not work with these cash buyers often, they’re guaranteed to know some investors and may be willing to connect you with them.
Networking with property contractors is an invaluable strategy because almost all cash buyers rely on contractors to rehab and renovate properties. Contractors also have a built-in incentive to connect you with cash buyers, because you may directly contribute to more contract work for them.
One surefire way to build relationships with contractors is to refer your cash buyers to them, giving them more opportunities and creating a referral network that can be very beneficial to everyone involved.
Finally, you should network with real estate lawyers, because every real estate transaction requires one. Regular investors usually have a closing attorney that they work with for all of their transactions, and, like contractors, closing attorneys have an incentive to connect you with their clients. Also, like contractors, you can easily build relationships with closing attorneys by setting up a referral network that connects them with cash buyers who may be looking for a new real estate lawyer.
Find investors with multiple properties
While it may seem obvious, you will have the best luck finding cash buyers by focusing on investors with multiple properties in their portfolios. These property owners are more likely to have the cash on hand to buy your deals, and they’re proven investors, so you know the kind of person you’re contacting before you ever speak to them. They’re also great to have on your cash buyers list because they are the investors who are most likely to buy multiple contracts from you over time.
While you won’t fill a cash buyers list with these investors, they’re a good starting point if you’re just starting to build your list or you’re looking to add to it because they may be willing to buy multiple contracts from you over time. One great way to find a buyer with multiple properties is to use BatchLeads’ cash buyers filter. You can search for properties bought with cash and filter them based on the number of properties owned.
BatchLeads’ cash buyers filter makes it easy to find investors who own multiple properties.
Attend local real estate meetups and networking events
Networking is crucial to wholesale real estate success, but you shouldn’t limit yourself to networking with agents and other real estate professionals. Sometimes, the best way to find cash buyers is to network with other real estate investors.
There are two primary ways to do this: attend property auctions and attend real estate events and meetups.
Property auctions are a great way to meet cash buyers, because the buyers are obvious: they’re the ones bidding on houses. At these events, you can easily pick out the buyers you want to build relationships with, then approach them and introduce yourself and your business.
If you make a good impression, serious investors may be happy to work with you, because you’ll reduce their workload by finding their next deal for them.
Real estate events are another great way to meet cash buyers. Real estate influencers usually host these events, and BatchService often partners with them to bring as many real estate wholesalers and cash buyers together as possible.
These events are a great way to further your real estate education and build connections with other investors. Building personal connections will become even more vital as the market continues to shift, and getting face time with them is a great place to start.
Joint venture wholesaling
Joint venturing (JVing) is the practice of working with another real estate investor to help them sign a real estate contract or assign a contract to a cash buyer. In this scenario, you’ll usually split the profits with the other wholesaler 50/50.
While JVing might seem counterintuitive, because you’re bringing a deal to your competition, it’s actually a great way to build your cash buyers list. If you can’t find a buyer for your deal, it may be worth splitting the profits in exchange for getting some help finding a cash buyer. Not only will you assign the contract, but you will also gain a connection with a new cash buyer who you might be able to work with again in the future.
JVing isn’t just about finding cash buyers; it’s also a great way to find deals. If you have a healthy cash buyers list, you can use it to connect other wholesalers with buyers and earn some money for your effort.
Build relationships with investors on your cash buyers list
One mistake that many real estate wholesalers make is forgetting to build relationships with the investors on their cash buyers lists. While real estate investing is a business transaction, it’s often built on relationships and networking. If you neglect this aspect of the business, you may assign a real estate contract to a buyer once but lose the opportunity to work with them again in the future.
Building strong relationships with cash buyers is the most important part of the process, so there are a few things you should keep in mind:
- Be as easy to work with as possible
- Be reliable and timely
- Ask your cash buyers if they’re looking for anything specific, then try to find it
- Be friendly and conversational
- Network as often as you can
- Focus on adding value to your relationships
Forming these relationships isn’t hard. You just need to be reliable and demonstrate your value as a contact every time you work with a cash buyer. Then, you can easily make your way to the top of their wholesalers list!
Key takeaways
Building a healthy cash buyers list is one of the most important parts of wholesale real estate. Without it, you’ll constantly find yourself scrambling to find a buyer every time you sign a real estate contract.
Thankfully, building your list isn’t hard to do. The most important thing to remember is to establish a relationship with every cash buyer you work with. If you do this, you’ll have a network of buyers you can rely on every time you sign a wholesale real estate contract.
