How To Find Cash Buyers For Your Wholesale Properties
Are you wholesaling real estate in a specific market?
You can’t close deals without first finding cash buyers.
For wholesalers, finding cash buyers is just as important as finding abandoned real estate or motivated sellers.
If you don’t have cash buyers to flip real estate wholesale contracts to, you don’t really have a deal.
A cash buyer can be an individual looking for a one-time purchase. But when building your cash buyers’ list, you’re essentially looking for active investors who are constantly on the lookout for properties.
While bandit signs, billboards, radio ads, and other traditional forms of advertising by real estate wholesalers aren’t completely out of fashion, you’re probably aware of them already and may also have tried them in the past.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss the best strategies for finding cash buyers in your market. Let’s dive in.
1. Real Estate Auctions
Many lenders do not finance auctioned real estate and most auctions only accept cash transactions. Therefore, real estate cash buyers in your market are likely to be regular attendees at local property auctions.
At auctions, you will see investors bidding on foreclosed properties. Be observant and note down the names of potential cash buyers you can skip-trace later.
If you have the opportunity, introduce yourself to the investors and ask if they are keen to buy more properties in cash, or if they are looking for someone to find their next deal.
Keep your wholesaling elevator pitch short and practice it beforehand. Not all investors will walk home with a title or deed; so you may find someone who is interested in being on your list.
2. Use Digital Marketing to Build Your Cash Buyers’ List
Search engine optimization (SEO) can be a part of your long-term (6 months to a year or more) marketing strategy for real estate wholesaling.
You can optimize your wholesaling website for keywords such as, “real estate cash deals in [CITY],” “[CITY] investment properties,” or “buy cheap homes in [AREA].”
PPC (pay-per-click) ads can deliver fast results; you’ve to keep paying for website clicks though. In this case, wholesalers bid on high-intent keywords to “get found” by cash buyers. You can capture potential leads through landing pages with built-in contact forms.
With an all-in-one real estate marketing platform like REIgrow, you can quickly set up a cash buyer branded website, create appealing landing pages to capture leads via PPC ads, and subsequently, follow up on collected leads through automated calls, emails, texts, and voicemails. When you’re ready, REIgrow has SEO experts on staff who can you rank your cash buyer website. This will help you build your wholesale cash buyers list for months and years to come.
3. Use Google to Find Potential Cash Buyers in Your City
Many real estate investors in your market who are looking for wholesaling deals will have websites advertising this information through landing pages, contact forms, and blogs to attract motivated sellers.
Investors who have been active in the market for some time will have their websites ranking on Google for keywords such as:
- We buy houses in [CITY]
- Sell house fast in [CITY]
- Sell [CITY] property for cash
Yes, a good chunk of these websites may be for wholesaling purposes exclusively. So, you won’t gain anything by reaching out to them.
But others—even when they are engaged in some real estate wholesaling activity—may also be working as real estate flippers or buy-and-hold investors.
Compile contact information for potential cash buyers and reach out to ask if they want to join your list.
Treat potential cash buyers—who may also be wholesalers—as partners. Agree on the terms of the transaction in advance, including how to split the assignment fee, and put it in writing.
4. Leverage Title Agents to Identify Cash Buyers in Your Market
Title companies, real estate attorneys, mortgage bankers, IRA custodians, and other professionals in your local real estate market may have information on individuals who have cash to buy.
If you have nurtured a good relationship with a title company you hired to close a few deals, for example, they can provide you with a list of clients who recently purchased properties for cash in your market.
The more professionals you connect with, the more potential buyers you are likely to meet.
You can gain more referrals, especially when you are willing to offer something in return, such as a finder’s fee or commission (if legal), or at the very least, helping them expand their network.
For instance, you would most likely work with only one attorney to close deals, but you can refer other attorneys to fellow investors.
5. Dig Your County Tax Assessor’s Website
Most municipalities in the United States publish real estate sales records.
You can search for all-cash transactions on your county tax assessor’s website to identify individuals or businesses that recently bought properties for cash.
You can also use this data to confirm whether they own multiple properties. Maybe they’d like to add a few more to their kitty?
Next, you can skip trace the buyers, and if the need arises, gather financial background information using services like whitepages.com
For registered business buyers (e.g., LLCs), you can validate their contact information against state records.
6. Use Craigslist to Locate Potential Cash Buyers in Your Market
Craigslist may seem old-school, but this platform can be part of your strategy for connecting with cash buyers in your target market that your competitors may be ignoring.
Some key features that you can utilize are:
- Filter search results by topic (e.g., real estate cash buyers) and location
- Find landlords who own multiple properties
Post your wholesale deals under the “real estate for sale” category for free and ask cash buyers to contact you. Renew your post every two days until it expires after a month.
To save time, it’s a good idea to have a standard description of your wholesaling business ready along with a short, clear headline (e.g., “Wholesale real estate deals in Texas starting at $250,000”).
Call or email potential cash buyers to ask if they’re interested in wholesaling deals and whether you can put them on your list.
If you end up with a property management firm at the other end, politely ask them to put you in touch with the property owner.
7. Get Referrals from Real Estate Agents & Utilize the MLS
Real estate agents typically represent home sellers (listing properties for sale on the Multiple Listing Service or MLS) or home buyers (searching the MLS to find properties that fit buyers’ criteria).
In both cases, the deals involve individuals buying houses with traditional financing. These are not cash buyers.
But, experienced agents know about the major cash buyers in their markets. They can also use MLS (e.g. Zillow, Realtor.com etc.) to pull a list of all-cash transactions in your market over the last three months.
How to Close More Deals as a Real Estate Wholesaler?
Building a list of potential cash buyers is essential, but it is not enough. To close more deals quickly, you also need to follow up rigorously.
Experienced wholesalers use all-in-one marketing platforms like REIgrow, which are designed specifically to help real estate investors automate dozens of marketing tasks and close more deals quickly.
Without such a system, you would spend significantly more time and effort on each task, from contacting cash buyers to closing deals with them.
Lastly, Remember to Nurture & Build Relationships
Regardless of which strategies you use, be sure to focus on nurturing and maintaining relationships. Real estate investing (REI) is often done in a specific market, so networking can be very helpful.
You can be a regular at REI meetups in your city, where they generally have keynote speakers talking about various aspects of real estate investing.
You can also participate in message boards on online REI forums, such as BiggerPockets & Connected Investors, to introduce yourself to potential cash buyers. Since many of these forums have investors’ trust, they may have seasoned cash buyers checking them often.
As a real estate wholesaler, you should never burn bridges in your target market. An investor who is not a cash buyer today may become one in the future.
They may also refer you to their acquaintances who have cash from a cash buyout from another deal, routine cash flow from other assets they own, or cash sitting in an account doing nothing.
