Techniques and Tips for Real Estate Wholesaling with Tom Zeeb

CREI Partners

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In today’s episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with to Tom Zeeb about using his proven techniques to find profitable real estate wholesale deals. Tom shares his strategies for finding and negotiating real estate deals for any exit strategy.

Back in 2001, Tom was broke as a joke. A near-death experience while whitewater rafting pushed him to find a new way to break free of his 9-to-5 job. His first “deal” almost took him under as well, but real estate investing saved him in the end, both personally and financially.

Hundreds of deals later, he is happy to share the negotiation, marketing, and business techniques that set him free, so you can do the same. Simple, structured, and step-by-step techniques that take you from spinning your wheels to making profitable deals.

Investors of all levels struggle with their businesses. Newbies want to get started, but often hit a wall of confusion and start spinning their wheels. Intermediate and advanced investors often find that they made a wrong turn and built a business they aren’t actually happy with, but don’t know how to fix and re-engineer it.

Tom Zeeb works with real estate investors of all levels to get their business built (or re-built) correctly, so that their personal goals and lifestyle stay at the center of everything they do, giving them more money, time, and freedom to spend as they please.

Topics on Today’s Episode:

Tom’s experience in real estate investing and how it saved him, both personally and financially.
The role of networking and building relationships in finding good investment opportunities. Real Estate investing is a team sport.
The use of public records and other resources to identify potential investment opportunities. Divorce, death, being an out-of-state owner, etc, are all available in public record and may lead to owners that are trying to sell their homes quickly This allows targeting with direct mail or other outreach.
If the sellers are distressed and need to sell, helping them by wholesaling or buying as an investment is a helpful act of service.
Sellers may not have time or money to sell their property in a more traditional way. Wholesaling can be a service to “buy and hold” rental investors, or rehab investors, to help them find appropriate deals.
Be sure to understanding assignable contracts and options in investment opportunities.
The importance of marketing, negotiation, and having an exit strategy in real estate investing.
The 3 P’s of negotiations: Pinpoint the problem and get to the deeper layers of the problem, Package deal that solves the problem, and Persuade them to accept it.
The science of negotiation defines how to get predictable responses. 3 tips for successful negotiation follow.
Reacting to a number introduces doubt. Flinch about the number, every number, to get the upper hand. Act surprised.
Meeting location: The fairest place to meet is in the middle in negotiations. Bracketing: set your initial high to engineer where the middle of the bracket is and help the seller feel like you gave something.
Specific numbers: Offer a very precise number such as $203,579 rather than $200k. Helps seller feel the number is higher, that the buyer has tried to maximize the purchase price, and it sounds heavily considered and calculated.
Negotiating residential real estate can be more emotional and pride based. Negotiating commercial real estate is more fact and spreadsheet based.
The importance of having a mentor in real estate investing and the benefits they provide.
Tom’s proudest moment: After Tom requests testimonials from sellers, there can be unexpected answers that reinforce that he is helping them in big ways.