Wholesaling: How Can You Market Property You Don’t Own?

by blogger1
blogger1
Guest has not set their biography yet
User is currently offline
on Mar 08 in BestTransactionFunding
Can real estate investors market homes for sale that they don’t actually own yet?

This is one thing that catches investors off guard. The rise of transactional funding has made it easy to complete double closings and flip more houses faster with less risk but at the same time many don’t understand the complexities of marketing properties for sale that they don’t actually own.

So can you market a wholesale property that you have under contract for a fast flip and higher ROI using transactional funding or could that even be illegal?

It is first important to point out that this can be a legal issue. Each state has its own real estate laws and regulations and it could be argued in some cases that you cannot list or publicly advertise a home for sale that you don’t actually own yet.

Certainly doing this will drive some real estate agents mad, as well as some sellers when they see your sign in their yard after signing the contract and know they could have sold it for more money. There can also be problems if trying to list properties like this in the MLS and you could be required to have a license if you are selling other people’s homes.

Some buyers and their agents might think this also smells a little too much like some of the fraud that has been going on through Craigslist lately. Banks with REOs and short sales will also take a particular disliking to this if not hauling you off to court.

Fortunately there are some quick and simple fixes. The first is to get permission. This is something you ought to do anyway and will make reselling fast and for the most money a lot easier. Get an addendum executed that allows you to remarket, advertise and even show the property for sale when you go to contract. Many sellers won’t care at all. They want out or want their figure and that’s it.

Where and how you market these flips is also a consideration. Putting signs in the yard or posting ads with the address in the local newspaper or real estate magazine or putting a giant for sale sign in the yard can obviously ruffle some feathers.

However, this is often rarely a path that savvy and experienced real estate wholesalers need to go down. Remember that your best buyers (those that will move fast and be happy with the transaction) are other real estate investors, not retail buyers. A better move is to have a pool of secondary investors already lined up to buy whatever property you put on the table providing the numbers match their criteria. Then you don’t have to publicly market each individual property and can cut out a lot of wasted time, money and hassle to wholesale more homes faster and better profit margins.
Hits: 14698
Rate this blog entry
2 votes

About the author

blogger1

Guest has not set their biography yet