In today’s market, it’s not difficult to find motivated sellers but it’s not always easy to explain why you are offering wholesale prices to a desperate seller. Most people only buy real estate a few times during their life. They are not sophisticated real estate investors and don’t understand the different sectors of the industry. Convincing a motivated seller to accept a wholesale price is part of your job.

When the average homeowner buys or sells a house, they do it through a Realtor. Every aspect of the transaction is at the retail level. When they are a buyer, the Realtor only presenters houses on the retail market. Same thing when a homeowner sells their property through a Realtor. All of the deals they see are retail offers.

Today, the market is very different than it has ever been before. There are plenty of wholesale deals that can be made with homeowners needing to sell in this very slow market. But they need to have the wholesale market explained to them or they may think they are being scammed.

Most wholesale buyers put up a sign or an ad saying “We Buy Any House For Cash”. Real estate professionals know that means you are offering to buy at wholesale but the unsophisticated homeowner doesn’t. They only have the retail price in mind. 

How many times have you had a prospective seller call showing interest in having you buy quickly for cash only for you to make an appointment to view the house and as soon as you make a wholesale offer you are shown the door. Too many times? Are you tired of wasting all that time because you didn’t qualify the deal up front?

You need to qualify your sellers when they first call you, not after you spend time scheduling appointments, making a cross-town drive, and surprising them with what they see as a lowball offer.

The time to explain you are a wholesale buyer is when you take the first call from them. Since they don’t understand the real estate market where there are raw land speculators, developers, contractors, and finally a realtor, you need to explain it using a concept they understand.

Automobile sales make a good analogy. Most people understand the automobile supply chain. Manufacturers sell to dealers at one price and dealers mark up the price to retail before selling to the end buyer. When it comes time for a new car, owners trade their old car in at wholesale prices to avoid the work of selling it at retail them self. That is the service you are offering. To buy their house at wholesale when they can’t find a retail buyer but need to get out of the property.

When they first call is the time to share this analogy so you don’t waste time with tire kickers. You need a prepared script resembling this:

“Mister Homeowner, I’m glad you called today with an interest in selling your home to us. I want to assure you that I am very interested in working with you to come to mutually agreeable terms. Can I begin by explaining our program so that we both know what to expect?

We are a segment of the real estate market that you might not be familiar with. We perform several roles. Sometimes we buy run down houses and fix them so that they can easily be sold again. At other times, we buy houses and rent them for cash flow. We are a for profit business that invests in good real estate deals. We fill a role as a wholesale buyer. We do indeed buy houses for cash and we do close deals very quickly. That is a service we provide.

You might be familiar with how wholesale works in the auto industry. If you buy a large fleet of delivery trucks, you deal directly with the manufacturer to negotiate a wholesale purchase. Otherwise, you buy from a dealer selling at retail prices. Another part of the auto wholesale market is when you are ready to sell your car to buy another one. You have a choice. You can put a “for sale” sign on your current car and run classified ads to sell it at retail. Or you can trade it in with a dealer that pays you the wholesale value. It’s your choice.

I offer that choice with real estate. While I am interested in helping you sell your house, I need you to understand I will not be able to offer you the retail price. If you are interested in selling wholesale, let’s discuss how I can help.”

It’s honest, straight forward and without gimmicks. By making it clear up front that you are a wholesale buyer, you avoid wasting both your own time and that of a seller expecting a retail offer.