Success in Real Estate Investing: Wholetailing, Landlording, and Crypto (Old Dawg’s REI Network)

The host of the Old Dawg’s REI Network talks with Josh Miller about how he got started in real estate investing, what wholetailing is, investing in crypto, how to find the right zip codes and distressed property owners, and more!

In this podcast (see the video link below), Josh, Founder and CEO of GoForClose, reveals how he built up his REI business, buying properties at a discount, and the lessons he learned.

2:00: Intro

3:22: Josh’s Story, from Corporate to Real Estate Investing

15:00: Using Data to Find Distressed Property Owners

19:14: Getting a Cash Flow out of Crypto

22:29: Deciding What to Do with Your Properties (i.e., a Disposition Strategy)

24:23: Wholetailing vs. Wholesaling vs. Flipping

25:22: Who is a “Distressed Property Owner”

26:25: New Investors Every Month (Saturated Markets)

30:56: Data Mining to Find Distressed Property Owners

32:24: Finding the Right Zip Codes

36:31: Figure Out What You Want

39:50: Josh’s Biggest Mistake in REI

41:23: Josh’s Biggest Success in REI

42:28: Josh’s Advice for Established Investors Nearing Retirement

51:06: “Wrap It Up” Lightning Round

What is the Old Dawg’s REI Network?

The Old Dawg’s Real Estate Investor Network is an investor podcast. The host talks with various real estate investing professionals about tips, tricks, and techniques in the industry, with an audience of listeners, 50 years of age and older, who are motivated to increase their cash flow for their retirement years.

Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/xT_Nd7GFtk0

Cheat Sheet: How to Build Success in Your Real Estate Investing Business

1. The Best Advice for Real Estate Investors and Wholesalers Starting Out

Do what you’re good at. This sounds cliché, but think of it this way: if you’re a natural at sales and a people-person, but you struggle with marketing, then be a salesman and outsource someone to market to leads for you.

Maybe you’re a better marketer than a salesperson, like Josh. Josh was good at data and marketing, but not sales, acquisitions, or dispositions, so he outsourced people to handle those tasks that were not in his skill set. As a result, Josh built his investing business while speaking to almost none of the property owners himself.

It is always better to stay in your lane and outsource areas of your business you’re not comfortable with or are less proficient. This way, you don’t feel overwhelmed or lose sales opportunities because you’re spread too thin.

2. Wholetailing vs. Wholesaling vs. Flipping

Wholesaling is when you get the property under contract, and you find another investor who will buy that contract. Wholetailing is when you actually close on the property, and then you relist the property. The only difference between wholetailing and flipping is that (with flipping) you fix up the property yourself and make repairs on your dime. With wholetailing, at the very least, you may do a trash sweep and pressure wash, but you do not make repairs or renovations.

3. Does Investing in Bitcoin or Crypto Work?

In 2021, Josh’s answer was yes, and there were several ways to make it work. Josh loaned crypto out to companies and earned interest back. Returns vary, depending on how aggressive you want to be. Josh was conservative, earning between 6% and 8% at the time.

However, what needs to be understood is that crypto and bitcoin are not where you “make your money.” Josh makes his money in real estate and keeps it passive in crypto.

4. What is the best method for finding distressed homeowners?

Data is key. Lists are available through third-party sites, like PropStream and ListSource, but every subscriber can pull those same lists. That means a lot of competition for the same owners.

5. What’s the Best Way to Choose a Market?

Find the right zip code. Before you even go about finding distressed homeowners, the best thing you can do is find the right zip code. Think of it like a needle in a haystack: when you find the right zip code, you make the haystack a lot smaller.

The free HottestZip tool shows where investors are buying, zip code by zip code. You can identify the areas where cash buyers are active and focus your marketing on the absentee owners and distressed property owners there.

Stop Reinventing the Wheel

Josh created GoForClose to “stop reinventing the wheel.” He wants fellow real estate investors and wholesalers to achieve the same success he did.

GoForClose works differently today. Here is how it works now.