Off-market wholesaling: from list to signed contract to buyer
A wholesaler puts a house under contract at a discount and sells the contract to a cash buyer for a fee. The daily loop is list, stack, skip trace, contact, follow up, offer, contract, find a buyer, close. County records give the list and the buyer names. Licence and disclosure rules differ by state, so check yours first.
How the money works
You earn a fee for the gap between what the seller accepts and what your cash buyer pays. Online blogs quote fees from a few thousand dollars to over twenty thousand. Those figures come from people selling courses and software, so treat the real number as "it varies a lot".
Your daily workflow
- Pull a list: tax delinquent, inherited, pre-foreclosure, likely vacant.
- Stack it with absentee owner or years owned, so you contact fewer, better owners.
- Skip trace for phone numbers, or send mail to the tax mailing address.
- Call, text within the rules, write, and follow up. One contact is rarely enough, so plan a follow-up routine.
- Run the maximum allowable offer with an honest after-repair value and repair estimate.
- Sign with an inspection period and the right wording about assignment.
- Sell the contract to a buyer from your list, then close through a title company that handles assignments.
Finding buyers from deed records
Half of wholesaling is the buyer side. County deeds show who has paid cash recently, and the repeat buyers are your list. LeadCounty builds a cash-buyers list from deed records in the app. Send those buyers a plain deal sheet with the address, price, photos and the numbers.
Rules to check before you market a deal
The common trouble is marketing a property you do not control without a licence, and not telling the seller you plan to assign the contract. States differ and some are changing. General information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state and change, so ask a local real estate attorney. Start with the state regulators page of the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials.
What LeadCounty gives you
- Lists and the score with reasons for each owner, per county.
- Letters, mail tracking, pipeline, tasks and a cash-buyers list.
- Free calculators for maximum offer, ARV, assignment fee and a deal sheet.
- One-row-per-property export for your CRM or skip tracer.
- Not included: skip tracing, dialer, texting, or a buyers marketplace.
Official sources and further reading
- ARELLO: state real estate regulatory agencies
- 47 U.S.C. 227 (Telephone Consumer Protection Act)
- National Do Not Call Registry
- FTC: CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for business
Outside sites are run by their owners. General information, not legal or financial advice.
Questions
How do wholesalers find sellers?
Mostly from county lists such as unpaid tax, inherited and pre-foreclosure, plus driving for dollars, mail and calls.
Can I wholesale with no money?
You need little cash, but you do need time and a budget for mail, skip tracing and tools. Beginners often underestimate that.
Is wholesaling legal?
Generally yes when done correctly, but licence and disclosure rules differ by state. Ask a local attorney.
How do I find cash buyers?
Pull recent cash purchases from deed records and contact the repeat buyers, then add investor clubs and online groups.
How we make these guides
Written by the LeadCounty editorial and data team from official county, court and state sources and our own weekly counts. We name the office behind every number, say what we cannot see, and fix mistakes when you tell us. See our editorial standards and methodology. General information, not legal or financial advice. Refreshed weekly.
Find the owners behind these records.
Official county records, scored with reasons, refreshed weekly. 7-day free trial.
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