Told a six-person group exactly what I buy, three houses in seven months

The original contract request is the right instinct and I'd push it one step. Read the assignability clause in it, not just the price. I've seen contracts where the seller's own paperwork prohibited assignment and the group planned to double close around it without telling the buyer, which changes who is holding what risk and how the closing gets structured. Whether a double close is even practical depends on your state and the closer, so I'd ask the closing agent what they'll do before anyone signs.

Also, on house two, did your kill fee survive a nine week delay? Most buyers' patience is priced into the fee whether they know it or not.

12 business days and you still inspect? I come from the trades and I can't get a sewer scope scheduled in 12 days half the time. Are you walking it yourself and skipping a formal inspection, or do you have someone on standby?

You screened the wholesalers the way I'm learning to screen tenants. Two refused to show a document and you stopped doing business with them. That's the whole thing, isn't it.

Your box excludes septic and unpermitted additions, which I'd guess kills half of what comes at you. Do you say no to lot line and zoning oddities too, or does that not come up in those two zips? A nonconforming use with no records behind it has eaten more of my time than any structural problem.

The $500 kill fee is the part I've never heard of. Is that a normal thing buyers offer, or did you invent it to get to the front of the line? I'd worry it signals I expect to back out.

This works because your band is $95k to $140k in two zips with real rehab buyers behind it. Out where I look, the houses are $38,000 and there are maybe three buyers in the county, all of them related to each other. A group here can't build a buy box because there's no buyer depth to build against. Not a criticism of your post, just the ceiling on the model in thin markets.

The thing I'd copy is the response time, having worked with a small team. Did you commit to something like same day yes or no? On my side of the business, the vendors who get the good work are the ones who answer, and the cheapest ones lose out. Same dynamic here, I'd bet.

Is there a paid role in this? Someone who writes the buy boxes, keeps them current, and routes deals to the right buyer, taking a slice of the fee. Sounds like canton did that job for free and got paid in first look, which is fine for him, but in a nine or ten person network somebody has to own the routing.

What funded the 12 day closes, and did the fee change based on how you paid? A cash close and a hard money close look identical to the seller and very different to the closer's timeline. If you were borrowing, I'd want the draw and clear-to-close timing confirmed in writing with the lender before promising 12 days to anybody, because that promise is what your whole position rests on.

Being the standing buyer sounds good until you're the one who always pays the fee. Do you ever check what the seller signed against what a similar house sold for on the open market, to see how much your convenience is costing? House three at $96,000 plus an $11,000 fee is $107,000 to you, and I'd want to know what that house does on a normal listing.