1. Find a Motivated Seller

Your first deal starts with finding someone who needs to sell fast — not someone browsing the market at full price. Common sources: pre-foreclosures, absentee owners, inherited properties, tired landlords, and vacant homes. You can find these through driving for dollars, direct mail, or a property-data platform that filters for distressed indicators.

For your first deal, it’s worth picking one lead source and working it consistently rather than spreading thin across five different channels.

2. Run the Numbers Before You Offer

Before you talk price with a seller, know what the property is actually worth and what a buyer will pay for it. Pull comps for after-repair value (ARV), estimate repair costs, and back into a maximum allowable offer — typically ARV minus repairs minus your assignment fee minus the buyer’s required margin.

Getting this number wrong is the single most common reason a first deal falls apart at the buyer stage — you lock up a contract at a price no investor will pay.

3. Get the Property Under Contract

Once you and the seller agree on a price, you sign a purchase agreement that includes an assignment clause — language that explicitly allows you to assign your rights in the contract to another buyer. Without that clause, you can’t legally wholesale the deal. Use a real estate attorney or a vetted template rather than guessing at the language yourself.

4. Find Your Buyer

With the property under contract, you now need a cash buyer willing to take over that contract at a price that includes your assignment fee. Sources for buyers include local investor meetups, cash-buyer lists, and wholesaler/investor communities where JV partners and buyers are actively looking for deals.

Having a buyer list built beforeyou lock up your first contract shortens the time between signing and closing significantly — don’t wait until you have a deal to start building relationships with buyers.

5. Assign the Contract

Once you have a buyer, you sign an assignment agreement that transfers your rights and obligations under the original contract to them, in exchange for your assignment fee. The buyer then steps into your position as the purchaser.

6. Close With a Title Company

The closing happens between the seller and your end buyer, handled by a title company or closing attorney. Your assignment fee is typically paid out at closing directly from the title company, separate from the seller’s proceeds.

Use a title company experienced with assignment closings — not all of them are, and a title agent unfamiliar with the structure can slow down or complicate your first deal unnecessarily.

Common First-Deal Mistakes

• Overestimating ARV — leaves no room for your fee once a buyer runs their own comps.
• No buyer list ready — a great contract with no buyer lined up can expire before you find one.
• Skipping the assignment clause — makes the deal legally impossible to wholesale as structured.
• Working with an inexperienced title company — can stall or derail a closing that should be routine.

Where to Find Your First Buyer or JV Partner

If you don’t have a buyer list built up yet, PropKnob’s JV chat and marketplace are built for exactly this — connecting with cash buyers and JV partners before you need one, plus free calculators to run your ARV and offer numbers as you go. It’s free to join.