Building the buyer side first or the seller side first, when you plan to JV either way

Question

I'm list building, no deals yet, and I've realized I'm building the wrong half without deciding it on purpose.

I've got about 400 records of absentee owners and pre-foreclosure in two zip codes, and roughly nine cash buyers I've actually spoken to, of which maybe three would take a call from me twice. So I'm heavy on the seller side by accident, because seller data is purchasable and buyers aren't.

The argument for keeping it that way and JVing out disposition: seller acquisition is the harder skill and it's the one that transfers. If I can consistently put houses under contract at a price that works, there will always be somebody with buyers who wants half. That's a durable position and I never have to hold a buyer list current.

The argument for flipping and building the buyer side instead: a real buyer list is the thing that makes deals not die, and it's harder to copy. Everybody with a card and a data subscription has my seller list. If I become the person twelve wholesalers call when they need a disposition partner, I see every deal in two zips without paying for a single lead, and I pick.

The counterargument to that one is I'd be building a business that depends entirely on other people's acquisition, which sounds fragile the moment they learn disposition themselves.

I don't think there's a clean answer here, which is why I'm asking. If you were starting now and knew you'd be JVing for the first year or two, which half would you build deliberately?

diane_kowalski · Answer

I'm on the land and hold side so my angle is sideways to yours, but the buyer question looks different to me than you're framing it.

Nine buyers isn't a small list, it's an untested one. Three who'd take your call twice is the number that matters and you already know it. On land I found that a buyer list is really a list of what each buyer actually wants, price band, condition, whether they'll take something without utilities. Once you have that written down for even five people, you stop sending blasts and start sending one email that closes. That's the asset, and it's built by asking questions, not by collecting cards.

Which means you might be able to build the buyer side without abandoning the seller side, because it's fifteen conversations rather than a data purchase.

omar_haddad · Answer

I'd build acquisition, and my reason is selfish. I'm on the renovation end and the wholesalers I actually answer are the ones whose numbers survive a walkthrough. Most don't. I get sent deals where the repair figure came off a spreadsheet and my number lands 15 or 20k higher, and once that happens twice I stop opening their emails.

So the scarce thing isn't a buyer list, bramble. It's a wholesaler whose contract price leaves room after a real scope. If you get good at that, disposition partners find you and the split conversation goes your way, because they know the deal will actually close.

One warning on the disposition path. Being the guy twelve wholesalers call means you're vouching for other people's numbers to your buyers. Get that wrong twice and the buyer list you spent a year building goes cold on you, and you didn't even make the mistake.

Building the buyer side first or the seller side first, when you plan to JV either way

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