How He Made $20K On His FIRST Wholesale Deal (Starting WITH $0)! | Real Estate Skills Review

In this exclusive interview, our student, Robert, shares the real story behind his first-ever wholesale real estate deal (for a $20K profit) with the founder and CEO of RealEstateSkills.com, Alex Martinez!

From working with cars to closing a $20K deal, learn how he discovered wholesaling through Real Estate Skills, overcame multiple failed contracts, and built winning relationships with agents and buyers.

He went from hating his 9-5 job to closing his very first real estate wholesale deal for a massive $20,000 profit — without prior experience, without money, and without quitting.

In this interview, you'll learn: 

• Step-by-step wholesale deal breakdown
• How he found the lead through an on-market listing
• Why mindset and mentorship changed everything
• Lessons learned from 4 canceled contracts
• How YOU can start wholesaling with zero real estate experience

If you’re struggling with rejection, fear of failure, or don’t know where to start — this interview will be your breakthrough.

*For in-depth training on real estate investing, Real Estate Skills offers extensive courses to get you ready to make your first investment! Attend our FREE Training and gain insider knowledge, expert strategies, and essential skills to make the most of every real estate opportunity that comes your way!

--- VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION ---

Alex (00:00):
Hey everyone, I'm here with a very special guest today. This is Robert Williams. He completed his first wholesale deal, made $20,000 on it, and Robert's not too far away from the office. So want him to come down today, visit the headquarters, and really talk about what it's like being in this program and do a deal breakdown. I think it's a fascinating thing to break down a deal. I think it's one of the most important things if you're starting out wholesaling, fixing and flipping to learn what it really takes to do a deal. This was Robert's first deal that he did and was able to pocket 20,000 on it and just really want to show what's possible. So Robert, thanks for coming in, man.

Robert (00:37):
Yeah, of course. It was an honor to be here. Honor to be here for sure.

Alex (00:41):
Awesome, man. So, let's dive into the start of it, right. Where were you before joining the program? I assume you haven't done any real estate deals before the program. Assume, haven't done any wholesales before that fix and flips, and you found us online somewhere possibly and probably wanted a change in your life for one reason or another. So where were you at before the program?

Robert (01:09):
So, I was working a job that for bear term I hated. And so it was right around the time that, well, let's backtrack. I'm heavily into the automotive space. I've been doing that since I graduated high school. I graduated back in 2015, went off to Texas, went to a trade school. I learned three different trades within the automotive space. It was mobile electronics, it was fabrication, and then it was upholstery. And so I left that MECP certified, which stands for Mobile Electronics Certified Professional. Came back, got a job, and I was in that space for, I would want to say from 2015 to about 2021 or so left that. And then I went to a dealer where I became a advisor.

(02:04):
So still in the same space. I wasn't working on the cars. I was more or less helping the dealership serve them or service them for lack of weird term. And so I did that for about a year and then I left. And then that's when I moved to San Diego. And then I came out here and I got a job and it was at another dealership, but I was installing alarms. And so then I did that for a couple months. I left that and then I started working. Ironically, it's funny, I started working in homes, so it was like multimillion dollar homes I was working in. I was installing various things between security systems, alarms, audio systems, things of that nature, and then left that. And then I went back to Northern California and then I got a job out there and I was a service advisor, but it was more or less outside of the retail side. So I was working for a company where they had vehicles and I was servicing them and I was basically anything that they needed I was doing.

(02:59):
And then that was a job. That was the turning point for me because I was like, okay, well, because I've always wanted to own my own business. I've always wanted more for my life. And so I got that when I was in that job, I was like, this can't be, can't be the end all, be all I, I'm just tired of working from somebody else by their set of rules. And even when there's things that you don't necessarily agree with, can't do anything, you got to listen to them. So was like, that was a turning point for me. And so about a year ago I did a program, I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, 75 Heart.

(03:34):
So I did that program and one of the things in that program is you have to read 10 pages of a nonfictional book. And so again, 75 days can't, 75 hard. And I went through, I want to say eight books or so, something like that. One of the books I read was Rich Dad, poor Dad. That was actually one of the last books I read before the program was done. So there was a couple of books I read that was on the mindset, stuff like that. And so then I read Rich Dad, poor Dad, and one of the things that he talked about is real estate, but the whole book itself just changed everything for me. Everything. I don't want to be cliche and say, oh, the book changed my life, but it literally did. Right? That's the only reason why I'm here talking to you.

(04:16):
Read the book. And it just had me looking at things differently and I was working at a job that I hated. I was trying to figure out something that I wanted to do. And one of the things that I realized about me is, and I felt like everybody could relate to it, is when you get something new, it's always exciting. At first, it's getting a new car. You get a new car and it's like, oh, I want to drive it the first day. Or it doesn't matter what it is, brand new pair of shoes, like, oh, I want to wear these shoes. But as time goes on, it gets a little less exciting.

(04:47):
And so relating that back to real estate, I found real estate. I found something that I wanted to do, which was investing, wholesaling and then getting into fixing, flipping. But I knew that given my situation that I was in that I didn't like, I didn't want to jump in something based off of motion. So I found real estate back in February, realized I wanted to do it, and I waited a month because I wanted to see is this something I really want to do or is this something that is my scapegoat that I want to get out of my current situation? And so waited a month. I was looking at videos online because again, before I even made the jump, I knew it was wholesaling I wanted to get into was like, how do I get into real estate with no money?

(05:27):
I need to figure out how to do this. Everybody knows real estate, it takes capital. So I was like, how do I get into with no money? So I researched wholesaling, and then that's when one of your videos popped up and I started watching it. I probably watched it, maybe it was two to three times, different videos and then a month flew by and I was like, okay, I'm ready to do this. It's been quite the journey, but no regrets for sure.

Alex (05:53):
That's good. That's good, man. I want to say Rich Dad Poor Dad was one of those books for me too that changed my life and changed my viewpoint and then smart move on. Hey, honeymoon phase real estate, am I actually interested in this? Checking yourself that self-awareness I think super important. And then thanks for shouting out the YouTube videos too. Watch it two or three times. I give away the farm. I give away as much as I can on there.

Robert (06:16):
Well, so what's funny, what led me to your videos and really drove me in was the authenticity. I'm a content creator myself, so I'm heavily into the automotive space. I'm a car guy at heart. It's my life. I film cars. So one of the things I try to really dial in on and really be the center of everything is authenticity and really showing this is me and not trying to put up a front. And so when I saw every video, I kind of saw that I saw the authenticity in it and I was like, okay, I can relate to that. And then that's pretty much how I got into it.

Alex (06:58):
I appreciate it. Probably maybe a whiteboard video of mine you think? Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'm talking for an hour straight, so it's me on there. I can't fake it. Now that being in the car industry or having knowledge of the car industry knowledge of, hey, you could fix up a car and resell it and make a profit, did that understanding help you with real estate too of like, Hey, this is just a bigger type of transaction. There's just more zeros onto it, but you can obviously fix up a house, resell it. Did that kind of make wholesaling make sense for you and more believable too?

Robert (07:28):
That's exactly why. So, that's why that was one of the reasons why I decided to get into Build the Set, because I was like, this is me fixing, obviously it started off as wholesaling to build a capital to get into fixing, flipping. So, my mindset was like, this is literally just the car. It's just again, more zeroes. Obviously you can't move, but it's basically the same sense. You get a house, you fix it up and then you keep it, you rent it out or you sell it. So, that was pretty much my mindset around it.

Alex (07:55):
Okay, cool. Yeah, so the fundamentals were the same. That's awesome. I know this is about you, but what's pretty funny, when I was, I think 16 years old, I worked for a automotive accessory car shop and that's where I used to just cold call all the time for that company. And it's kind of where I got my start just calling people and convincing them to work with me one way or another and then got into real estate a few years later.

(08:18):
Alright, so that's pretty cool. And you wanted to be your own boss. You saw wholesaling, you saw our videos, and then you decide to enroll into this program, our Real Estate Skills Pro Wholesaler Program. Why this program? Was it just the authenticity? Was the MLS appealing to you at all getting on market deals or on market deals into off market deals? Anything specific on that front or was it just, Hey, I need a trusted source to learn wholesaling from and maybe you trusted us the most?

Robert (08:46):
I think it was authenticity, right? So that was one thing. Another thing is once you start researching wholesaling, that's when you kind of go down the rabbit hole, different ways of doing it.

(08:57):
And I did see some people advertised like, Hey, I can show you how to wholesale off market deals, but then I realized that requires money. My whole point was to get into it without any money. And so that was my biggest thing for sure. Yeah, because there were other videos that I saw of course online, but again, it's coming from a, and again, I'm not sure if that was your whole thing around it, but me being a content creator, I could see other things when it comes to content. When I'm looking at a video, I can see, I'm not going to say I know a person based off a video, but you can kind of gauge and I think that was my biggest thing. I saw your video. I was like, Hey, this guy's pretty cool. He's not all in your face yelling, screaming by his course he's teaching you. He's providing value and then he's telling you where you can go to get more value. That was my biggest thing. And so that's what drove me.

Alex (09:53):
Okay, cool. You're probably thinking like, man, if I got to listen to more videos from this guy, I got to somewhat like him. I got to like the way he teaches.

Robert (09:59):
Yeah, no, like I said, no regrets, man. The program taught me everything. I remember when I finished the program, I was like, this is literally the best thing I've ever seen. Everything. It's put together so well that it literally tells you everything that you need to know, right? With that program. I mean I'm kind of proof, right? I had no real estate background, I had none. I knew nothing about real estate. Went through the program and it led me to my first deal.

Alex (10:28):
I'm glad you say that because that program, it took a long time for me to create probably a year and a half. A lot of sacrifice went into it, but the thinking was if I have to be able to teach someone that doesn't know anything about real estate, but also make it appealing for someone that knows about real estate already is kind of difficult,.

(10:46):
But obviously you went through it, you're able to learn. But the learning aspect I think is so important. I think a lot of people, you can go on YouTube, you can get all these different pieces of information. This segment here now about off market, now you know about On market now you know about assignments, now you know about double close, but a lot of times people don't actually get closer to their goals of actually closing a deal. That's the most important thing. I don't want you to come in the program and not close a deal. I want you to close a deal and make money and close more deals and start doing it consistently and change your life and be your own boss enrolling in the program. The whole intention is I need to teach you everything, but we also got to help you take action and you got to take action towards your goals.

(11:26):
And I think a lot of people try and shortcut that or they don't go through a program, whether it's my program or another program, and then they start taking action, but they don't know step C from D or whatever it is. And so it sounds like as we're talking a little bit before this, you went through the whole program first, right? You're in the Philippines having fun, celebrating your birthday, but you went through the whole program first and maybe that gave you the confidence now to take action now that you kind of maybe knew everything that you knew the whole process.

Robert (11:56):
I watched a couple videos, a couple courses and went through it and just like anybody, I was like, Hey, I can do this while I watch, right? Why not? I got two version of one stone, but then I kind of reverted back to my mindset when I joined, but right before I joined, because my thing is I could do this without being taught it, but it's just going to take longer. I am going to make 10 times more mistakes. I can avoid those mistakes if I just get taught the first time. And so went through a couple of courses and again, I was going to jump right in, but then I was like, you know what? Let me get the knowledge first because I could run into something that I could have avoided, right? Run into a problem that I don't know, potentially blew up a deal. Whatever I could have avoided if I just went through the courses and learned how to deal with that. So that was my thing as to why I went through the courses first and then I went all in on it.

Alex (12:51):
Good. That's always my recommendation. Anyone who comes in, I say go through the whole thing first. Don't hang on every single word, but at least have knowledge of where you're going to be going. Just like you said, you're going to get caught up, you're going to make mistakes if you don't do that. And right, I believe anyone has the power and knowledge to be able to wholesale what my goal for you is just I'm going to help you do it faster and easier and have less mistakes and then also not leave money on the table. Maybe there's going to be some harder deals and let's help you navigate those waters so you can actually monetize it as opposed to, like we were talking about earlier, some people have one little thing of adversity and then they're like, oh, this deal's done and this deal that you did now your first deal, let's talk about, you obviously face adversity with it.

(13:36):
And that's why I wanted to talk about this deal too, because there's a lot of deals that you have adversity on. Not every single one. Everything fits right to order and is a very simple close. And I'll just say right now, this isn't necessarily easy. I think it's simple, but it's not going to be easy. And one of the most important things I think from going through the program, and obviously you already have a really strong mindset, but that's why I talk about mindset in the beginning of the program, and we're talking about earlier the know-how the knowledge is 20% of it, but the 80% is going to be the mindset of when you don't want to send an offer a day, are you still going to actually do that even though you emotionally don't want to when they say, Hey, we got to double close as opposed to assign it, are you going to just go radio silent and not actually do what you need to do to close the deal? And so having that right mindset I think is an integral part of not just wholesaling, but any entrepreneur. And that's going to be valuable for you wherever you go in life as well. But for this particular deal, let's talk about how you found it, because this path is something, it's basically the path of one of the ways to get deals by focusing on market. It ended up being an off market deal, but this is how on market leads to off. So if you can talk about first how you found this one.

Robert (14:51):
Yeah, no, for sure. So I found this deal from an On Market deal that I reached out to From an agent? From an agent, correct. So I have access to the MLS. Nice. It's amazing. Yeah, I tried doing Redfin and I'm just like MLS is better, but obviously you could still do it on Redfin, right? Not saying you can't, but MLS, it gives you those agent remarks, so it helps a lot. Confidential. Yeah. So for better detail, I believe it was on a Sunday actually. I went out to this property that I found on market for my agent.

Alex (15:28):
So, you found the property first sale, it was on the market. You called the agent on a Sunday?

Robert (15:34):
Correct? Yeah. So it on, it might've been a Saturday. So it was a Saturday, found the property on market, called the agent, and he was like, yeah, I'm going to be doing a open house tomorrow, which was on a Sunday. He was like, come through, look at it. This was a little bit, I was a little into calling agents and putting out deals. So I was like, do I really want to go? You don't want to waste your time. One of those things. So ended up going, I was like, I'm going to just go whatever. It's down the street from me. So I went, met him there, the agent there, and he was cool. Went to the house, looked at it. Long story short, we agreed on the price. And so we got in contract and literally right before I was going to close on that house, the agent calls me, or excuse me, right when I was going to sign it to the end, buyer agent calls me, he says, Hey, we have a problem.

(16:25):
The house wasn't put in a trust, we're going to put it on hold for long story short. And so then he was like, but I have this house that I'm going to potentially be selling off market in the next couple of weeks or so, friend whose dad passed away, they're going to want to sell the house, all that stuff. So, then I would say about a month or two went by because of the fact that the father passed away, they wanted to get stuff out of the house and it was sentimental to them, so I'd be impatient. And so I remember he texted me and he was like, Hey, I finally got that summit on summit. So we called his summit. He's like, Hey, I got someone under the contract, meaning with him, he was going to be the agent to list it. And so I was like, great.

(17:08):
So let's get the ball rolling. And so then I remember we put an offer out, and again, this one, this particular house, the seller had three other offers before I stepped in. So one of the neighbors offered her a hundred K. One investor offered her 180, and then one investor offered her one 90 believe or so. And the seller only wanted 200, but I don't think the investors knew that. And so I came in, I gave her two 10, and again, we were able to make it happen. But yeah, man on market deal led me to an off market deal. And yeah, it was amazing.

Alex (17:46):
So yeah, you're reaching out actively to on market deals and think what a lot of people don't realize is if an agent is listing a distressed house on the market, they found that distressed house one way or another. They're probably good at finding distressed houses and they may have other distressed houses that they know about, and every house before it's on the market is off the market. So in this case, yeah, you talked to an on market agent who has a deal, and they told you about this off market one. Did you even have to ask about it? Did he ask if he had other deals or he just brought it up?

Robert (18:16):
I can't remember.

Alex (18:17):
It doesn't matter.

Robert (18:18):
Yeah, I can't remember exactly. I may have asked if not, he might've told me because of the fact that the original house that was put on hold at the time, we had a place on hold. So he might've mentioned it or I might've asked, I can't directly remember. Then that agent is my friend to this day.

(18:37):
I met him at the property. Ever since then, we talk about business, about personal. So it is cool, man. Definitely a friendship that I value.

Alex (18:47):
So with this deal, I think another important thing is you had a relationship with the agent. This is part of why working with agents and on the market is so important is sometimes you can get a little bit of insight information that helps you close a deal. You may know where the seller wants or where their ideal offer is, and if that works with your numbers, you can offer that or even a little bit above it and make the deal happen. And that's going to give you confidence, certainty that you can close a deal. In this case, that allowed you to close the deal. And so right, you offered two 10, they accepted it. Now what happened? And I guess what were the closing terms on this? Did you have a closing timeframe that you wanted to close it within?

Robert (19:30):
Yeah, no, that's actually a good point. So because of it was off market and the seller's dad passed away, again, it was sentimental. And so one of the incentives incentive that I gave the agent to give to the seller was, Hey, I understand that it's sent to her, but let's just get in contract. We can have a 30 day close. Because her whole thing was she wanted to get in the house and get some stuff out. So I'm like, okay, I need to lock this in. I can't just have it floating in the air. And so I was like, let's get in contract. I'll give her a 30 day close, which gives her plenty of time to get in their stuff out of the house. In the meantime we can get the paperwork going. And so that ended up going, she ended up taking it. So we got in contract, we actually ended up closing sooner than 30 days. Now the terms was 30 day close seven day inspection, and that was pretty much it.

(20:23):
And as far as the end buyer, so I had a couple end buyers lined up, I sent it out to three, all three were interested, but two of them tried to negotiate the price and one just accepted the price. So I was like, okay, well obviously the key thing with that though is making sure that you maintain, at least for me, I made sure that I maintain those relationships. Just because I didn't assign it to the other two doesn't mean that I'm going to blow 'em off or not respond. Right? It's like, Hey, in contract with this property now, but if things don't work out, I'll let you know. Just basically giving 'em an update even though they're not buying it, right? Because I want to make sure I maintain that relationship. So everything worked out.

Alex (21:05):
Yeah. So you found those buyers first before ever finding the deal, right? Correct. Yes. Good job. How'd you go about finding those buyers?

Robert (21:13):
So, I did the Google Ninja trick, and then I also found some on Facebook marketplace or Facebook, like the groups and stuff like that.

Alex (21:20):
And you found three good ones that were obviously responsive, serious people. Okay, so first off, right there, great job doing that because most people would do all of these steps and then not find the buyer until they get under contract, and then they lose out on a lot of deals that way. So good job doing that. All three of them wanted it. So you vetted, right? Part of what we do is we find their buying criteria and make sure it's a deal that they actually want. You obviously did that. They all three wanted it, and then when you sent it to three, two, were negotiating on price. One was going to take out the price that you wanted, so easy, no brainer to work with. That one great job. You made your life easier.

Robert (22:00):
I think the reason why, I could be wrong, but I think the reason why the other two was trying to negotiate is they knew it was off market. And at least from my experience, I could be wrong, but they might've wanted it at a higher ROI because of the fact that it was off market. There were no eyes on it. So like, Hey, I could get this for a little lower and potentially pocket more. So that could have been the reason why they're trying to negotiate. But the reason why I didn't kind of open a negotiation because somebody was already trying to get it for the price that I, you know what I mean?

Alex (22:31):
You have leverage.

Robert (22:32):
Yeah, but if you're going to get a property under contract and then find an end buyer, you're asking for a whole lot of stress.

Alex (22:43):
Yeah. It's a scary situation.

Robert (22:44):
Yes, it is. It's very scary situation because once the property is underneath contract, the time takes.

Alex (22:50):
Yep.

Robert (22:51):
What I mean? Three days day inspection.

(22:53):
Three day MD, you have same day inspection. And it's like, from my experience, those agents do not play about the EMD. They're calling you almost every day. Hey, is EMD and EMD get in. So like I said, everything worked out with this property and I'm happy.

Alex (23:11):
So, did you assign the deal before you had to put an EMD within three days? Did you sign it right after so that your cash buyer put in the EMD?

(23:18):
Yeah. Perfect. Alright. Yeah, that's my favorite thing to do. So you didn't have to put any money into the deal at all.

Robert (23:24):
I've had a situation happen before where I was close to putting in the EMD and the buyer was on the fence, and so I was super close in putting an MD in and come to find out that the buyer backed out and had I put that MD in, I would've lost the money. And so ever since then, I've always tried to be better at judging it. Of course, vetting the cash buyers, but also judging the situation like, Hey, is this guy serious before I potentially do this to buy us some time? Ever since then, I've always tried to aim to have the end buyer put in the EMD, that way they have a little skin in the game. If they come in with just verbal, they can always back out of that.

Alex (24:06):
Yeah, sign the contract, let's get it done, let's get it locked in.

Robert (24:10):
Exactly.

Alex (24:11):
So okay, you signed the assignment, you signed the paperwork, you signed it within three days of getting under contract. Another big reason to find your cash buyers first. It's darn near impossible to do that. If you get a deal under contract, then start finding cash buyers, you're eating into the 72 hours you have to assign it. So yeah, you're following everything step by step.

(24:31):
Well, I guess first off, good job with the 30 day close accommodating to the seller's needs. You weren't like, Hey, we got to close in 14 days or sooner. You adjusted that you made them feel comfortable with you. Phenomenal job, whether that's an on or off market deal, that's what you want to do. So we talked about how you found it. Let's talk about how you closed it, like that closing process. I know some things came up.

Robert (24:52):
The title company that we worked with, I'll keep names out of it of course, but the title company that we worked with, they weren't investor friendly at all at all. I kind of got a glimpse of that once. I can't remember exactly what the conversation was, but I ended up talking to the, I was like, Hey, I'm going to be putting this in my partner's LLC. Something happened within the conversation and she thought that I was going to assign it or she got the idea that it was going to get assigned. Then she started raising concerns like, Hey, she spoke to the agent. He was like, Hey, is this guy going to make money off of this? That's not fair. This money could be going to the seller.

(25:43):
And this was before I sent in the assignment between me and the cash buyer into escrow so that it can handle. Then that was right before that. And so then I remember thinking like, Hey, I'm not going to send this in because then it's just going to blow everything up. And then she's literally going to have the proof on hand. So I try to get the agent to close or close Esker with that title company and open it up with another one. But he was like, no, we're already in it and I have relationships with them, yada, yada, yada. And so I was like, okay, well I, I'll aim to take care of this outside of escrow, the assignment fee. And so then some time went by and the only thing with that is good thing I'd have a relationship with the agent. If we're taking care of it outside of escrow, you don't really get updated on anything.

(26:31):
And so sometime went by and closing day came, and so I relayed the message to the cash buyer, which I think was somebody that sourced his deals for him. I can't think of the name off the top of my head. There's a disposition and then there is acquisitions. His acquisitions guy I was in contact with, I was like, Hey, we're going to take care of this outside of escrow. And so I don't think the message got back to him.

(26:59):
And so then on closing day, he tried to get it to go through escrow. He tried to get the assignment to go through escrow so everything could just get taken care of there. And so then the title rep saw that and she blew up, we can't do that. I'm not going to do that. That's not fair. The seller could be getting this money, yada, yada, yada. And so basically how it got fixed was because what ended up happening was the agent was telling me everything.

(27:27):
Again, I was outside of the picture technically I didn't have that assignment in escrow. And so the agent was literally calling and texting like, Hey, this is happening. That's happening. He was literally giving me up date today and I was like, man, it's closing day. I'm supposed to be getting paid and it is about to get blown up. And so the agent said he hopped on, it was like a four or five way call between, it was agent, the end buyer, his lender, and one other person. And so basically what ended up happening was the end buyer ended up paying cash for the property. So he ended up closing it, right escrow. And then I believe what was told to me is he then went to his lender, got his money back, and then he paid me outside of escrow.

(28:12):
Got it. And it was a little nerve wracking because I've never met the end buyer face to face, never met him when they closed escrow. I didn't get the assignment fee on that day. He still had to do some things on his end. So they closed on Friday. I ended up getting paid on Monday.

Alex (28:31):
Alright, nice.

Robert (28:32):
Yeah, so it was a little uneasy your first time doing this. You don't know if he's actually going to hold his into the bargain. But everything worked out. And I remember when I woke up and I saw, because it was a 20 K assignment, assignment fee, and I remember when I woke up and I saw that I got emotional because of everything that I went through to get that. Like you say, it is simple, but it's not easy. So I just remember being emotional every time I tried to talk about it to somebody, like my parents, my girl, I was just get emotional. I had to stop talking because it was just a long, long time coming for sure.

Alex (29:12):
Man, congratulations. Yeah. Yeah. Wouldn't make that happen. And thanks for giving us a play by play. I think the most important thing is some of these deals can get shaky and you were in an area where you have the least practice in. You can call agents fumble through words. You can get deals under contract, cancel them, but getting it across the finish line at the end, there's many deals I've had that are like that too. It can get a little hairy at the end. We got to finagle something, we got to make it, especially if you're working, if there's miscommunication between cash buyers and title companies, escrow or different attorneys, but you didn't falter. I mean, number one, you identified the right people to work with. I think that's one of the most important things. If you didn't know this cash, if you didn't have a serious cash buyer, wasn't willing to make it work, that could have blown it up a lot of things. If you did a lot of different things, little things differently, this deal could have not happened.

Robert (30:08):
It was funny. It had me thinking once everything was about to get blown up, I was like, I wonder why the cash buyer, I wonder why he decided to save it because he could have just let it blown up and then just went after it himself. But then I was thinking, well, if it blows up, he's out of the deal also and he won't be able to get it for any less than what I'm selling. So I was like, okay, I guess it makes sense as to why he did what he did to try save the deal.

Alex (30:38):
And any smart cash buyer knows that, hey, you found this deal and you brought him this deal, and the more he pays you, the more deals you're going to bring him, the easier he is to work with. You only have good things to say about him here. You can't say that about the other cash buyers. And so he's probably in that area that your wholesaling, he's probably going to be your number one go-to guy this next time around until he does something wrong. So I think right before we're talking about being on the other side, being cash by yourself, being a fix and flipper. If you have a wholesaler bringing you a smoking deal, you want to make that guy happy or that girl happy if he would've went around you, the opportunity cost of that is you not bringing him a deal for the next month, for the next 12 months. And that's a lot of money if you're fixing and flipping, that's half a million dollars of profit there.

Robert (31:23):
Yeah, yeah. Well that's true. It's funny because the same deal that led me to this deal, he was buying also.

Alex (31:31):
Oh, really?

Robert (31:31):
Yeah. So the same on market deal that I got that we had to put on hold because things with the trust, he was buying that one too. So we got in contract with that deal. He signed the assignment fee or the assignment contract. I was just going to now switch it over from my name to his name through the agent, through the addendum. Right before I was going to do that, that's when I got a call from the agent. So he was going to buy that deal also, but then he ended up buying this deal. So that one's actually supposed to be ready this month, if not next month.

Alex (32:03):
So, you have that one in the pipe. And then also you have another one that might be a fix and flip too that you're working on too. Yeah.

Robert (32:11):
They're aiming to purchase it as a fix and flip. I'm excited about that one honestly, because I'm excited to dive deeper into the real estate investing and the mind of a quote cash buyer.

Alex (32:25):
Yeah, we'll show you how the sausage is made. We will dive deep into that. We'll talk about that after too. Yeah, the lending side, the fix and flip side, the operations management. So I mean, good job, right? We talked about beforehand too. You don't want all your in one basket necessarily, and you've got a couple other eggs, right? You've got another wholesale deal you're working on another fix and flip deal. My favorite space to be in is when you're wholesaling one to three deals a month, you got that good cashflow and then you're fixing and flip, fixing, flipping one deal maybe every quarter. And that's a great business. That's a great entrepreneurial business right there. You're living a very good life because of this consistency. So you're doing a great job and I'm super proud of you, dude. Yeah. A lot of people watch YouTube. A lot of people talk about being a real estate investor. Not a lot of people actually do what it takes to make it happen. So pat yourself on the back for that.

Robert (33:17):
Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's been quite the journey for sure.

Alex (33:23):
I guess as we're getting towards the end of this, is there one main thing you learned from this? Is there one valuable lesson from maybe this deal or going through the program that sticks out the most or something now that maybe would've helped you in the beginning?

Robert (33:41):
Something that would've made it a little easier is understanding that every, no, you hear it, but it is one thing to hear something, but it's another thing to understand it no, that you get is closer to a yes. There were days where I was sending offers, getting doors slammed in my face and stuff, and I felt as if nothing was happening. I felt like nothing was going to happen. I felt like I wasn't progressing, but all along I was just learning at the same time. I was building that grit. The hardest thing we talked about before is you get doors slammed in your face every single day or whatever the case is, but you still got to show up. That's the hardest thing. So I think one thing that I know now that would've made it a little easier is understanding that that's part of the process. That's all part of it.

Alex (34:40):
It's one of those things. I mean, you could have told yourself that too, but you got to experience it. Exactly.

Robert (34:44):
Experience it, because it's one thing to hear it and you're like, oh, okay. Yeah. But then it's another thing to experience it and to actually be in it.

Alex (34:53):
Awesome, man. I guess lastly, we talked about the deal, talked about the experience of getting $20,000 wired to you, makes you a bit emotional. I remember my first deal right around there, $20,000 I guess at this point, there's probably going to be a lot of people watching this that are students, but also a lot of people that are thinking about getting into wholesaling. A lot of people that may be thinking about joining our community into the program. Anything to say to people that are maybe on the fence or whether they enroll in this program or on the fence about wholesaling. Anything to say to them?

Robert (35:30):
If you're thinking about doing it, do it. That's number one. There's a quote that I've heard in the past. It didn't really resonate up until recently, and I'm sure you've heard it. It's he who says he can. And he who says he can't. It's usually both, right? The first property I got on the contract, I had to cancel it because I got out of too high a price, and it literally felt like a heartbreak. I remember sitting in bed and I was just laying there like, oh, this is the end of the road. And it goes back to what I talked about, that door closes, but you still got to show up the next day. Right?

(36:08):
The second deal I got underneath the contract, it was a nightmare from the time I got underneath the contract until they blew up, it was an absolute nightmare. I went through that for two, three weeks and every day I was putting out fires every single day, every day. And what happened with that one was I was one signature away and one week away from closing out, one the buyer backed out. I remember I was in the gym, I get a text from the buyer, I'm backing out. Long story short, he told me he was backing out and I felt gutted. I didn't even finish my workout. I went home terrible. But again, had to show up the next day. And of course there was some in between. Another one that stood out to me too, and there was, there was one in the Bay Area that I got underneath the contract for this guy that met at re event.

(36:55):
He ended up not wanting it because he was scared of the market. He didn't know it was uncertain. So I had to cancel that one. Of course, I tried to find other buyers and they always try to negotiate and it didn't work out, so I had to cancel it. And that agent told me that she was going to basically ruin my name, basically tell everybody not to accept the deal for me. And hearing that without even, you're still learning. You haven't closed the deal yet. I felt terrible. Still had to show up the next day. Right?

(37:28):
One after that one, you follow me here. The second one I got in his contract where the buyer backed out. I tried to go back and grab it because it was sold in the market. And so I had an agreement with the agent. Again, it was a whole nightmare, even canceling it, the end buyer wasn't cooperative. They were telling that he needed to sign. He didn't want to sign. So they were telling me like, Hey, isn't this your friend? I'm like, I don't even know this guy, but you guys dunno that. Yeah. So I went back and tried to grab that one. I basically was upfront with the agent. I was like, Hey, I understand this is still in the market. I can help bring a buyer for you guys if it's the least I can do, given what happened. And I didn't even want anything crazy for it.

(38:07):
I was just going to help them find, of course, for a little small fee. And so I ended up reaching out to a buyer that I found on Google, and he basically told me that he didn't agree with the numbers and he didn't agree with the numbers. And so then I found out that he went around me and got the property. And so then I confronted him about it and he basically said that what I was doing was illegal, yada, yada, yada. And so that happened, right? Still haven't completed my first deal, but I still had to show up the next day. And so my thing is, I say all that to say is mindset is the absolute most important thing when it comes to not only this, but anything that you do that you're going to face resistance. He who says he can. And he who says he can't is usually both, right? If you say that you can't do something, then chances are you're not going to be able to do it right? But if you tell yourself that I'm going to make this happen, then it's going to happen. You can only lose if you give.

Alex (39:06):
Hundred Percent. And that adversity got you to this deal making $20,000. And that adversity you just shared with me, 99% of people aren't willing to go through that to get a deal. Aren't 99% of people would've stopped on the first one, then that rest point of 1% would've stopped on the next one. The next one, how many deals do you have to cancel before? How many contracts to cancel before that first deal?

Robert (39:29):
Like four or five.

Alex (39:30):
Okay, cool. Yeah. One thing we were talking about earlier too, I think the most successful investors canceled the most contracts. So when you can celebrate a cancellation, that's the way I always look at it. It just means you're doing your job, you're moving stuff forward. And then the plus side on all those deals was it seems like you started to weed out some cash buyers.

Robert (39:51):
So one thing I actually wanted to touch on this.

Alex (39:55):
You cash buyers, you found these three from these deal cancellations, kind weed.

Robert (39:59):
Yeah. So I actually wanted to touch on this. I'm glad you brought it up. I try to vet my cash buyers as much as I can. Sometimes you don't really know someone's intentions or know them until there are some resistance involved. They're put underneath the spotlight. They could say, oh, I'm this and that and send me this and I can do this and that. But then when you actually bring it, then that's when it's game time. And so one thing I've been trying to add to my vetting is communication. Of course, with everything that happened, them backing out, obviously that exes them out. But another thing I'm trying to incorporate with vetting 'em is in communication ones where you send 'em a deal and they don't respond or they say, oh, you'll text me like, Hey, are you interested in deal? And so they'll look at it and then they just won't respond. And then you text 'em like, Hey, what do you think? They still don't respond. It's like, okay, that's a red flag. Because my thing is, if I'm here working hard on my behalf and trying to give you business and then you're not responding when I get a killer deal, I'm not going to want to give it to you. I'd rather give it to somebody who has the open communication with me.

(41:14):
So, that's my biggest thing. And I think that would be my biggest advice, so to say with hash buyers is just try to be more commutative. That's even a word, but just try to communicate more. Even if it doesn't work out, tell 'em, Hey, this doesn't work out for this, this and that. They're constantly sending you deals that don't work out, and you keep telling 'em, okay, I get it, go somewhere, or whatever. But if you could see they're trying and they're just a little off or whatever, it's like try to give them that feedback. But yeah, it's a lot of vetting on my end.

Alex (41:51):
I mean, that's good. You got to do that. And that's huge. And we talk about that bit in the program, like communication. I'm going to work with a cash buyer that actually communicates to me, even if maybe this other cash buyer would've came in at a higher price, but he may buy a hundred houses a year, but if I can't talk to anyone, the darn company, we got a deal to close in 72 hours and $15,000 at that point is better than zero. So yeah, you've been able to see that. And then these cash buyers you're working with on these deals, you're working together to close the deal at the end of the day. And I think that's why in our program we actually call 'em financing partners. Just a little slight distinction. But yeah, that communication is so key when we're closing these deals and be willing to communicate maybe for this deal that cash buyer hopped on the conference call with five different people involved in the deal. You got to be willing to do that, whether you're wholesaling too, you have to be willing to do that to close deals too, on your side too, you would've done that. I know you would've done that if you had to do that to close this deal too. Right?

(42:51):
So it's nice when your cash buyers have your back too, and you're so right. You don't know someone's true colors until there's some adversity or they have to show up for you. They have to show up in some capacity. So I think this cash buyer showed up in a good capacity for you. And I know that I don't work with thousands of cash buyers. It's the ones that are communicative. And I have a handful of cash buyers. I've closed on 80% of my deals, and I generally go back to them all the time. And sure, I could fight and try and make 2, 3, 4, or $5,000 more per deal over time, but if I have a cash buyer that's going to close all day every single day, sometimes it's easier and actually a higher likelihood of getting the deal closed, working with them.

Robert (43:34):
Yeah, it's too big of a gamble to not do it that way to try to squeeze out all the profit and then try to go after somebody that you have no type of history with. So big of a gamble for sure, because like you said, like I said, time ticks. Once you get under the contract, time ticks time can make all deals happen.

Alex (43:54):
Kill all deals is always what we say. Well, good, man. I mean, we nailed it. I think we covered everything about this deal, the ins and outs. Your biggest thing for someone getting started was just do it. And he who thinks he can and he who thinks he can't is usually right. So I believe that too. Yeah. Well, good stuff, man. Robert, thanks for coming in. Any last words? Anything else?

Robert (44:19):
No, I think I've said everything I had to say.

Alex (44:21):
All right, man. All right. Well thank you. We'll wrap it up there. Congrats.

Robert (44:25):
Thanks, man.

*Disclosure: Real Estate Skills is not a law firm, and the information contained here does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney before making any legal conclusions. The information presented here is educational in nature. All investments involve risks, and the past performance of an investment, industry, sector, and/or market does not guarantee future returns or results. Investors are responsible for any investment decision they make. Such decisions should be based on an evaluation of their financial situation, investment objectives, risk tolerance, and liquidity needs.