Conquering My Fear, Wholesaling Real Estate
My wife, Carmen, has been in the field of construction for several years. From her experience and field contacts we both developed an interest in real estate. After much research we discovered that there are many ways to become a real estate investor. We had a particular interest in wholesaling. Often times, people who own properties end up in distressed situations, i.e. foreclosure and probate. Therefore, the purpose of wholesaling is to seek out distressed properties so that we can keep homeowners from losing their homes. The goal is to purchase homes at significantly reduced prices. Before I wholesale a property, I have to get a signed agreement between the homeowner and myself. This ensures that the homeowner doesn’t sell his/her home through a real estate agent or third party. I then advertise the home to my buyers and assign the contract to a buyer for a profit. This all has to be done before the contract, with the homeowner, expires so the house doesn’t foreclose. If you compare this to flipping houses, the time frame is much shorter and no repairs are needed. Thus, wholesaling real estate seems easy enough, right?
When Carmen and I moved to Arizona we read books, joined clubs and made detailed plans for how we would become wholesalers. I spent hours at the courthouse gathering free information regarding delinquent mortgages. Something I learned during this process, is many people pay for this information, but often times it is public record. I had all the information I needed to go out and start helping people in distressed situations and market to buyers. BUT, guess what I did with all that information… ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! What was the problem?
I had a plan and all the tools to begin this phase of my business but I did nothing. My problem was fear. Not only was it fear but also selfishness. I made it about me. I possessed the information of knowing the names, addresses and specific situations of people that were in the process of losing their most valuable asset. In many instances, they had no knowledge that their home could be taken away from them. Fear stopped me from knocking on their door and giving them an opportunity and solutions to prevent it. We all have abilities to help one another. Unfortunately, many of us choose to let fear stop us from sharing those abilities with people who may need your assistance. My fear was that I believed people would slam the door in my face, curse me and possibly cause me physical harm. No one likes talking about finances, especially with a stranger, and I found this to be a very sensitive subject. Thus, in order for my business to succeed I had to find a way to overcome this anxiety.
The physical world that we all exist in equals the sum of our thoughts. I overcame my fear by changing my mindset to focus on the people who could benefit from the information I possessed. I stopped making it about myself but about others. People, including myself, aspire to have money and success in business. However, for me, it’s just as important to improve the lives of others. Now that I have a new-found mindset, I’m still afraid at times, but I only have to do one simple thing. Knock on the door or make a phone call.
Thank you for reading this and helping me overcome yet another fear. Blogging. I hope to continue sharing my experience in wholesaling as it moves forward.