Wholesaling 75 Houses Per Year With Wholster

On the first episode of the Wholster Real Estate Wholesaling Podcast, we chat with Liz Keyser of Peninsula Home Buyers. Liz and PHB have been using the Wholster app to quickly and easily market their deals since its release. She explains how she's been doing it, some tips for using the app, and what new wholesalers should be doing to get started in the business. 

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Transcript

Liz
Being able to assess everything from the palm of my hand is key. That's kind of where Wholster has come in for me.

Jarred
All right.

Liz
Are we are we live?

Jarred
I think we're live. Did we do it?

Liz
I think we finally made it.

Jarred
All right. All right, all right. All right. So for anyone listening, this is kind of the first video that we've done. We're not exactly sure what this might turn into, could be a series. But anyway, we're here with Liz from Peninsula Homebuyers and we just want to chat real estate wholesaling and dig into her business and see what she's doing and try to provide you guys some value in your businesses as well. So, Liz, thanks for coming on to this sort of impromptu show.

Liz
Thanks for having me, Jarred! I'm super excited about this. You know, my first one. And what a great start with Wholster.

Jarred
Yeah. Oh, well, we appreciate that. So what do you what do you guys do? What is Peninsula Homebuyers?

Liz
So we're a wholesale real estate company, so it's comprised of an acquisitions team, a dispositions team, which is me and an investor. And so the deals that come through that aren't a perfect fit or don't fall into our investors buy criteria, they get wholesaled. And that's kind of where I come into play. I'm the dispositions manager here, and essentially that means that I take the properties that aren't necessarily a great fit for your average real estate transaction the pre foreclosures, the hoarder houses, the kind of crusty looking ones.

Jarred
Mm hmm.

Liz
And we take those get them under contract, and I find investors to buy them and turn them into their next flip or buy and hold and rent them out. So that's that's what we do.

Jarred
So you take all the good stuff. We love the broken down houses. I know a lot of guys that are like, Hey, give me the ugliest house you can find. That's the one that I want.

Liz
Yes, the uglier, the better, you know, because that means more profit. And that's my main goal for my investors, is to help them make as much profit as possible.

Jarred
Right. That makes sense. Digging for gold.  So how long. How long have you been with the company?

Liz
I've been here...It'll be a year in October. So I'm new to the real estate field. I got my start here at Peninsula. I started from the bottom. Theo, the owner of my company, put me on the phones to start, and I started with sell marketing. Okay. I didn't like it wasn't a great thing for me to handle the rejection.

Jarred
I know that.

Liz
So, yeah, yeah. It's not for everyone, you know. And that's the best part of wholesaling is that, you know, there's different parts, there's different ways to get into it. So we adjusted and I started looking into dispositions and selling, which is far less rejection and way more fun. So you get to take the properties and present them to your buyers, your buyers lists and help everybody make profit. And that's kind of what I've been doing for the past year is just making as much profit for my investors and our company as possible.

Jarred
Okay, I like what you said. So I actually tried to get into wholesaling when I started out in real estate investing and one of the things that I was in charge of was being on the phones. And I couldn't do it either.

Liz
Yeah, it's a tough part of the business and it's not for everybody. But some people are really good at it.

Jarred
Oh, yeah. And I think part of part of being in real estate investing is to figure out what you're really, really good at and then all the other stuff. Find other people that are really good at that stuff and build that team.

Liz
Outsourcing. Yes, it's essential. That's how you know. Some of my biggest investors
pride themselves on being able to outsource.

Jarred
It's a skill set in itself, for sure.

Liz
It is. You're right. It is.

Jarred
So you're in dispositions now? Yeah. And you really like that? What's your what's your favorite part about dispositions?

Liz
Oh, there's so many. So I would say my favorite part is bridging the connection between sellers who are in need.

Jarred
Right.

Liz
So be sellers who are people on an average market wouldn't necessarily be paying what we're paying and they wouldn't be able to sell their property. So I take those sellers and I bridge them with investors who are thirsty. They're hungry, especially since the market has kind of changed. We're all thirsty for some good deals. And, you know, I make that connection between the two. That is so fulfilling.

You know, I watch people who when I start the conversations, when we have the contracts, you first get the contracts and they're stressed and concerned and in a spot that no one wants to be in. I take that property. I market it and find an investor for it who then takes that property and flips it into something amazing. And everybody is happy. So that's what I like I like that there's no rejection and that it's everybody is happy because it's a win win situation.

Jarred
Right. Yeah, you're creating the wins. And I think another point to make is that a lot of the wins that we don't even see might be the other people in the neighborhood.

Liz
Right.

Jarred
You're taking the ugly house and you're getting rid of that. And sometimes you'll hear from the neighbors, oh, my god, I'm so glad you're cleaning that house up. But sometimes you don't. But I think I like to think anyway that there's a lot of people out there that are really grateful for for that, too.

Liz
Oh, absolutely. We've had a number. Yeah, we've had a number of neighbors reach out to us after we've rehabbed some properties and asked if we could help sell their property next. So it's definitely yeah, you know, word of mouth reputation as everything in this industry and you improve a neighborhood, it's you've got a great reputation.

Jarred
That's a great tip. Now, do you, when you move into a deal, into a neighborhood, are you doing anything to prep the neighbors around you?

Liz
Not necessarily. We when we come into contact with our neighbors, you know, we build a connection. We let them know who we are. And then once they see the house in the market and they see it in the process of being renovated, they're nine times out of ten is a reach out, you know, to kind of find out what's going on next door. So in terms of like communications with the neighbors and the neighborhood, it happens. And I think most would agree it happens in the transition period. So we don't do.

That's why Wholster is such a big part of what we do because most of our transactions are on the Internet. So it's all online and we don't put cell, we don't put, you know, signs out in the front yard. We maintain a far stronger digital presence. And I think that that is what has helped build our company to where we're at now.

That was a tough question.

Jarred
It was a tough question. Um, as wholesalers , Peninsula. What kind of goals do you guys have?

Liz
Okay, so Leo has so many goals. Who is the owner of our company. I personally, I tried I started the year with the goal of 50 sales in one year. I last week 53 sales and I have two more months before I've hit my year mark. So my short term goal has kind of changed because we've been so successful in what we've been doing, which isn't a bad thing to happen at all. So I usually go, Yeah, right. Like, Oh man, I sell too many houses this year. So my new short term goal is 75 houses in a year. And like I said, I'm at 53. So, you know, if that's my short term, long term is obviously I think everybody in this industry is long term goal is to build their own portfolio.

And, you know, here at Peninsula, like we're the same way. Leo has his investment side of the company and he's building doors. And, you know, one day when I'm a grown up, I'd like to, you know, be able to do the same thing. But for now, I'll just absorb all the information and, you know, build that network of buyers and, you know, help strategically build the portfolios of those around me and hope that the good karma will come back and and help me in the end.

Jarred
Oh, we know it will.

Liz
Yeah, right. That always does the connection. That's all real estate is a connection.

Jarred
I preach that I have to. I mean, everybody preaches that, really but yeah, it's so true. It's a relationship business.

Liz
Oh, yeah.

Jarred
And you never know what what doors might open, what opportunities might come come across in this business because there's just so many of them.

Liz
It's like, yeah, I mean and you know, connections, equal revenue. So I like that.

Jarred
Yeah, for sure. So what kind of technology are you guys using in your business?

Liz
Oh, so I am on my phone all the time. All the phone technologies are what I use, so like, I am on email, I text message. My big thing of in terms of our company and what I do disposition wise has been social media. So 90% of my buyers are found on Facebook and they're utilizing that social media connection. And, you know, and kind of need everything to be easily accessible on my phone because I'm always on the go. It's very rare that I'm able to sit down. I'm a mom of three kids and we have our own closings. You know, there's a lot of walkthroughs to do. And so being able to assess everything from the palm of my hand is key. And that's kind of where Wholster has come in for me. As a dispositions manager.

Jarred
That makes sense. This is a fast moving business.

Liz
Oh yeah.

Jarred
On both sides of the equation.

Liz
Of what's on the market today might not be on the market tomorrow, so.

Jarred
Yeah, absolutely. So in that way, you find that Wholster has been really helpful.

Liz
Yeah, I have. So I have marketed and sold now... nine properties on Wholster.

Jarred
Wow.

Liz
And. Yeah. Thanks.

So what used to take 30 to 45 minutes creating an ad and editing photos, developing the text for my social media posts.

Jarred
Mm hmm.

Liz
You know, developing a Web page, which is, you know, part of, you know, accepting offers and things like that.  So it used to take 30 to 45 minutes and it takes two. Wow. Yeah. 2 minutes. And so, yeah, to say that it affected my business in a positive way, I feel like it's kind of like an undermining statement. It's huge to cut 20 plus minutes off of, you know, an activity or something to market a property. This is a huge deal. Now I just have to put info in boxes on an app on my phone and it generates the link for me. I take that link and I posted on Facebook groups. I text it to my investors. I can email it from my phone. It's all right in one spot. Instead of having to go all around, you know, my website and, you know, photo editing and, you know, send things to myself on Slack. You know, like antiquated, like, technologies. So it's huge. It's definitely affected our business in a positive way.

Jarred
Well, I love to hear that. That's that's going to be so exciting for my team to hear, especially my developers, because they're not, they're not in the real estate business, but they are in the software business. And they, so like, you and I were, we really enjoy doing real estate transactions. What they enjoy is building software that people want to use and that they enjoy using, and that makes their lives easier. So I know, I know when they hear something like that, they're just going to be so, so thrilled.

Liz
Oh, they're definitely magical wizards. I don't know how how they how they came up with that. Like, it's just it blows my mind every time I use it, to be honest. It's so accessible. Everything is at my fingertips. You know, there is never a second where I can do something, like get an offer. You know, everything is right there in one app. What used to take so much time in my book, 30 minutes is a lot of time. You know, a lot can happen in 30 minutes. You could get a few, few offers. You can accept an offer in 30 minutes.

Jarred
Right.

Liz
So I definitely love the accessibility factor of Wholster and your magical code writing wizards have done an amazing job.

Jarred
They are wizards. I remember so kind of going back to how much we like to build software that people want to use. One of the things that we are dedicated to is listening to our users and getting feedback from them and finding out what is it exactly that is going to make this thing better for you guys. And and you really helped push us to get this, this offer submission tool built into the app for our release. And I can't thank you enough for that. And I think I was I was really shocked that those guys were able to put that together so quickly, and.

Liz
It was fast. I'm telling you, it's it's just magic, you know? And the offers thing was just so key is on the disposition side of things. So it's hard. You have four different buyers names, Phil, you know, and a buyer named Ralph. And, you know, everybody is emailing you and texting you and Facebook messaging you. And if you just have one place to see everything, it's so it makes things so much easier. And so that code, whatever type of magic they spun it, I am appreciative that you listened and made it happen and so fast too. It was like I blinked and it was there. It was awesome.

Jarred
It was it was great. Again, I thank you for, you know, being a part of that and um, yeah. And just thrilled that it's making a difference in your business.

Liz
Is you can get notifications, things like properties that to be honest, when there's ten different properties that you're marketing and you, you know, one doesn't closed for 60 days, you'll get a notification on your phone that, you know, so-and-so has submitted an offer or so-and-so has sent you a message. And it's like, Oh, hey, that's right. I have that. That's the property I need to get that addressed. You know, everything is so easy and it'sthere's no missing anything. It manages all of your wholesale needs.

Jarred
I love that. Um, so what's your favorite feature about the app?

Liz
My favorite feature is the swipe. So like, I like getting on there. So part of our business is investing and I like getting on there and being able to, you know, see what else is out there. Send along info to my investors that, you know, if I don't necessarily have something there by criteria and something pops up on my phone, perfect, I can send it their way. There's a great opportunity for me, you know.

Jarred
That is a great tip.

Liz
For good. Yeah. The other aspect too is, you know, I love being able to add things in one fell swoop. So I love the ability to add the photos like right from my phone so I can go essentially from a walk through where I take the photos of the property and within minutes I can have a listing, you know, just right up on Wholster and it's just clicking a few things on my phone instead of going back and downloading and then saving and then uploading. So I think my favorite feature is the accessibility is how everything is just literally so easy. It's so user friendly. You know, you can you can look at other opportunities, you can look at other deals, you can communicate with other wholesalers, you can communicate with other investors. It's really a one stop shop for an app.

Jarred
Yeah, we really can't wait to get this thing out and get more people on it and sorry, I just got a notification from Zoom that we have 10 minutes left or ten minute.

Liz
Ten minute countdown.

Jarred
Yeah. I mean, we're just going to keep focusing on making this thing better for you guys and packing as much value into your phone as we possibly can.

Now, I know you you mentioned that you're doing some some deals out of state, right?

Liz
Yeah. So we as part of our company, we are operating here out of Maryland. You know, so Wholster's first market open the Maryland market. That's where we're based out of. And about four months ago, we decided to kind of branch out from wholesaling and just our local market to virtual market. North Carolina, I've never been there really other than do like drive through a few times, but we do have boots on the ground down there. We have an acquisitions gentleman down there who handles all of that aspect of things. And I've been very, very lucky to handle the dispositions aspect of that. And so we're super excited for Wholster to go live down there and be able to find a bigger network of buyers. You know, since starting it's mind blowing to me the Maryland market and how how crazy hot it was right. So to go from a Maryland market that's so super competitive to a North Carolina market that hasn't really seen much of a wholesaling presence as metropolitan areas like Baltimore and D.C have. So to go to that market is kind of eye opening. It's it's busy. It's adds a lot. There's a lot of opportunity. And it makes you think how much more opportunity is there in all these other virtual markets? But yet where we are, North Carolina expanded and I would operate out of the west, North Carolina. So Asheville and the surrounding counties. So if anyone, you know, Jarred is looking for some hot seller deals, we will be marketing them on Wholster as soon as it's up and running in North Carolina.

Jarred
That's going to be really soon. So I hope that brings a lot of value for you, too, to have another tool for operating outside of your your normal, you know, DMV area.

Liz
Yeah.

Jarred
So this is my last question I have for you, because I think we are running low on time. Um, what is one tip that you have for people that are trying to get into the wholesaling business?

Liz
Oh, okay. So let's see. Wholesaling is what I like to think of as rebellious real estate. So that's why I got into it to start, if you're a rebel. Yes.

Liz
Aren't we all, though? Aren't we all just a little bit. Aren't all real estate investors? Aren't all people in real estate? Aren't they all just a little rebellious?

Jarred
I'm sure we are.

Liz
Yeah, I, I don't like, I don't, I've never been one for following rules my poor parents but yeah I like so I would say in wholesaling right. Don't follow the rules, stand out and listen and absorb as much as you can. So it's a very tight knit community here in Maryland and I'm seeing the same in North Carolina as well. You know, those who participate in the off market transactions have a different type of mentality. And if you stop listening and absorb, you will learn so much and for free. And so my biggest and my biggest point would be to listen, which, you know, as rebellious people, we kind of sometimes have a problem doing it. But, you know, and it's like.

Jarred
If my Mom was here. She would agree with that.

Liz
Yeah. Yeah. Our parents, our poor parents... .

Jarred
Yeah.

Liz
Now, definitely aged a little bit extra from our from what makes us so great at real estate, you know.

Jarred
Yeah.

Liz
But could get parents heart attacks in a second. So, yeah that would be my thing. Listen and utilize to make your own success.

Jarred
Great. That's good advice. Um, Liz, thank you so much for being a part of the Wholster app ,it's growth and, and this interview and, um, we wish you the best in your business. And if you have any more thoughts about how we can make it easier for you to do business, you know how to get us.

Liz
Always. Thank you so much, Jarred, for the opportunity. Peninsula, we're very excited to use you and you know, let's make some money. We that's what we love doing and that's what Wholster has been helping us do. So thank you.

Jarred
Thanks, Liz.