Bird dogging and beginning wholesaling are not the same, although there are a lot of similarities between them. The control over who has the buyers is the largest difference.

Let me explain. Bird dogging basically is finding houses (or buyers) for another investor who buys and then sells or keeps. It is the same as finding a deal and assigning to another buyer (i.e. wholesaling). Beginning wholesalers do a lot of this, but usually the bird dog does not make nearly the kind of money that the wholesaler earns.

I was bird dogging houses for the investors when I started in this business. I became super good at finding deals but had no idea how to sell properties, i.e. how to find buyers. That is where wholesaling becomes different. A wholesaler must become good at all aspects of the business – finding deals as well as and finding buyers.

I thought I was making great money when I was bird dogging: $500 to $1000 per house, and I was finding 5-10 deals a month. I decided to go at it alone and find my own buyers and my income increased dramatically. I started getting 3-5k on every deal doing as many deals a month as before.

Now that I really got to wholesale houses strong, I am using hard money and I close on all my contracts. Only occasionally would I do an assignment. You really begin to see the difference in bird dogging and true wholesaling as your business grows.

With all apparent similarities, once you take a closer look you see that the main difference is control. I don’t depend on anybody but myself, I have a group of buyers I sell to on a monthly basis, and I have people that bird dog for me. I may pay them 500 or 1000 for their work while I make up to 5k just seeing through the deal they found. You see the difference?

Bird dogging is an excellent way to start. You may want to do it to complement your other income and never go further than that. But if you are planning on get in the real estate business full time (and being able to do it when the market is up or when the market is down), you need to push to become a wholesaler as soon as possible.

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