Wholesale Real Estate Salary: How Much Can You Make Wholesaling?

Maybe you’re facing a pivotal point in your professional life where you’re asking, “Is this all there is?

If you’ve ever considered the possibility of making a career move into wholesale real estate, you’ve undoubtedly wondered about the potential of your wholesale real estate salary.

We’re here to make sure you start wholesaling real estate the right way. This entails having realistic expectations about how much money you can earn on your real estate investment journey.

Whether you’re in New York or New Braunfels, given the state of the world today, there’s never been a better time to consider the possibilities of wholesale real estate.

As beginners in your quest to discover if this is the right fit for you, we’ll help you understand

• What are the secrets to making the most money through wholesaling real estate
• How you can maximize your wholesale real estate salary
• Why this is a great time to consider wholesale real estate as your next career move

Click below to jump to each section so you can enhance your understanding of how much money you can make through wholesale real estate:

• How Much Do Real Estate Wholesalers Make?
• What Is The Average Salary For A Wholesaler?
• Wholesale Real Estate Salary In California
• Do You Need A Degree To Wholesale Real Estate?
• What Are The Qualifications To Become A Real Estate Wholesaler?
• How Much Money Do You Need to Start Wholesaling?
• How To Make Money Wholesaling Real Estate (3 Ways)
• How Do Real Estate Wholesalers Get Paid?
• What Is The Job Market Like For Real Estate Wholesalers?
• Is Real Estate Wholesaling A Good Career?

Ready to take your real estate investing to the next level? Learning wholesale salary is just the beginning. Schedule a FREE Strategy Session with us to learn how our Ultimate Investor Program can unlock even more opportunities and strategies in the Illinois market. We'll also help you tailor an investment strategy that's right for you. Don't miss out—take the next step toward maximizing your investment potential today!

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*Before we begin our guide on wholesaler salaries, we invite you to view our video on How To Wholesale Real Estate Step by Step (IN 21 DAYS OR LESS)! Host and CEO of Real Estate Skills, Alex Martinez, provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for beginners to start wholesaling real estate!

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How Much Do Real Estate Wholesalers Make?

According to ZipRecruiter, as of the fourth quarter of 2024, the average annual pay for real estate wholesalers is $55,699 nationwide. However, when you understand the simple concepts of how wholesalers make their money, such as finding distressed properties and negotiating deals, you can see how much a wholesaler makes. Like house flippers, the sky’s the limit!

Whether full-time or part-time, the key to achieving a solid wholesaling real estate salary is learning how to succeed with a proven process and a trusted guide to help you get started and keep you on track for financial success.

Working smarter, not harder, can help you earn a lot of money and succeed where others may fail. Successful real estate wholesalers create systems that help them find off-market real estate deals and connect with the right potential buyers, which ultimately determines how much you can make per deal.

With an average wholesale assignment fee of around $10,000 per transaction, it doesn't take many deals to quickly earn a respectable income as a wholesaler. Even just closing one deal every two months, an amateur wholesale investor could achieve a wholesaling salary of around $50,000 in their first year.

While not expected right out the gate, how much you can make wholesaling real estate becomes evident when you find examples of annual wholesale real estate salaries ranging from $240,000 to $600,000 by selling 5-10 wholesale houses monthly.

Wholesale beginners may start by doing everything themselves, but it’s crucial to quickly consider adding valuable members to your team, like direct mail marketing, acquisitions, real estate contracts, bookkeeping, etc.

As stated, it may take several months to get in gear on a streamlined system that nets the amount you aim to achieve. Even when you have a gift for negotiation and connecting with people, much like being a real estate agent, there’s an art to achieving success in real estate investment.

The amount you will make from each wholesale real estate contract will correlate with your level of commitment. When you master the end goal of purchasing an undervalued wholesale property and finding someone willing to pay the price, you’ll uncover the secret to winning in this industry.

Managing expectations, new wholesalers are not likely to earn $100,000 in their first year as passive participants in their business. If wholesaling houses were that easy, everyone would be doing it.

If you're willing to put in the effort and take the risk, you can achieve incredible rewards.

Read Also: How To Wholesale Real Estate With No Money

What Is The Average Salary For A Wholesaler?

Most wholesalers don’t earn a traditional annual salary. If you’re getting started and want to shoot for a baseline of making a minimum of $5,000 per deal, it’s easy to project potential earnings by balancing the deals you can pull together.

According to Donald Tepper, a Real estate investor and licensed Realtor in Virginia, “In some areas, like where I am (Washington D.C. metro area), wholesale deals can bring in $10,000, $20,000, or more. I know some people who average over $25,000 per deal. But that’s generally easier to accomplish in higher-priced areas.”

Unlike real estate agents, wholesalers make their money on the front end by finding a great real estate deal. By becoming an expert in buying low and selling high, wholesalers can confidently make more money as they close more deals.

As beginners, it’s easy to forget that wholesalers must find their buying and selling sweet spots. One quick way to fail is by trying to earn so much that the real estate investor who is potentially buying your deal (a.k.a. the cash buyer) is not going to make a profit.

Case in point: Let’s say the average three-bedroom, two-bath house in Anytown, USA sells for $200,000 and your typical investor wants to buy the distressed house for $150,000 before they start repairs. As the wholesaler, when you get it for $120,000 and flip the contract for $150,000, you just earned $30,000, minus fees.

A common rookie mistake is getting a property under contract that doesn't have enough profit margin for an investor after paying a wholesale fee.

In that same example, if the inexperienced wholesaler gets the house under contract for $150,000, there’s no room for your assignment fee when the real estate investor is locked into their goal of getting the property for $150,000.

Keep in mind that most in the business of wholesaling real estate are paid through their assignment fee on each closed deal. Less frequently, you may find wholesalers or acquisitions associates who earn an annual salary as an employee of a larger investment firm. Again, what you earn is typically 100% inside your negotiated control.

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 *Want to learn the proven strategies for finding cash buyers? View our video below where Alex Martinez covers How To Find Cash Buyers For Wholesale Deals! [FREE & ONLINE]!

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Wholesale Real Estate Disposition Manager Salary

As we talked about putting successful systems in place, it’s smart to have a disposition manager in place to streamline processes. As an owner who is scaling your business, you won’t do everything daily on your own.

Getting the right people on the bus as Jim Collins says in his epic book, Good to Great, you can focus on your strengths and hire Disposition Managers to manage your purchase contracts with the homeowners all the way until closing, paying them a salary, percentage of profits, or possibly 10-20% of the gross earnings.

Working closely with cash buyers, title companies, sellers, and agents the disposition manager works many relationships to ultimately sell the wholesale contract.  Disposition managers may effectively freelance for a host of wholesalers to multiply their earning potential.

Wholesale Real Estate Salary In California

For a myriad of reasons, California is a great place to consider wholesale real estate investment. First, property market values continue to appreciate. This attracts billions in investment capital to the state every year.

Second, many are exchanging the rising tax rates in California for more affordable places to live. This results in homeowners with a ton of equity looking to sell their real estate. 

While ZipRecruiter notes the average wholesale real estate salary in California ranges from $52,249 (25th percentile) to $64,300 (90th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $82,987 per year. It’s always wise to research the cost of living where you aim to find your deals.

Read Also: How To Wholesale Real Estate In California: Step-By-Step

Do You Need A Degree To Wholesale Real Estate?

The beauty of wholesaling real estate is that you don’t need a degree or a real estate license!

While it’s easy to argue a degree may help in terms of business acumen, how to market investment properties or negotiation strategies, many in the industry maintain these skills can be learned from the right mentor. Never underestimate the power of surrounding yourself with an excellent community of professionals who’ve “been there, done that.”

To create a launchpad to a successful career in real estate, there are certifications, micro-credentials, and other learning pathways that may not cost as much as a four-year degree. These may offer an edge in the world of wholesaling real estate and help you stand out when talking with prospective sellers, potential buyers, or employers.

In as little as one term, through online learning, you can learn the principles and theories of real estate, wholesale property, market value, and legal considerations.

The wholesale real estate salary does not depend on degrees, but rather your years of experience and skill with people, numbers, and the local real estate market(s) where you plan to conduct business.

Under the category of “highest-paying jobs, you can get without a degree,” those in sales and real estate have a history of high earnings potentials without higher education. To get ahead in this field, focus on marketing, sales techniques, economics, communication, years of experience, mentorship, on-site training, apprenticeship, or licensing programs.

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*For in-depth training on real estate investing, Real Estate Skills offers extensive courses to get you ready to make your first investment! Attend our FREE training and gain insider knowledge, expert strategies, and essential skills to make the most of every real estate opportunity that comes your way!

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What Are The Qualifications To Become A Real Estate Wholesaler?

When you understand this real estate investment strategy, you know it's all about connecting with people facing financial challenges, getting properties at below market value, finding your target niches, and selling the property as the transactional middleman.

The key to your wholesale real estate salary starts as you:

• Find out how to properly communicate with sellers
• Understand how to acquire properties to wholesale
• Learn how to spot what kind of properties are good for what type of investors
• Understand how to buy low, sell high and achieve the best price for maximum profit
• Learn the ins and outs of getting investment properties under a purchase contract
• Learn how to disposition properties to the right buyers  
• Discover how to find new investors to buy your properties
• Find a coach who can show you some of their lessons learned by trial and error

Like realtor counterparts, it’s important to do your research, find a mentor, consult with a trusted attorney, understand the laws in the state(s) you want to conduct wholesale deals, establish your professional brand, know your target market, etc.

Then, just like the inspirational movie, Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.”

Getting The Max For The Minimum

While many believe maximizing your wholesale real estate salary is about the art of buying and selling, it’s more about marketing and understanding people. Yes, you must know the numbers. But, if you are ineffective at communicating and spreading your message of how you can help solve problems of both sellers and buyers, you won’t get very far in this field.

In most cases, when you understand the basics of people and have a grasp on the business of selling, you have the qualifications to become a real estate wholesaler. Consider situations when people may be in trouble or need to sell a home quickly.

Here are a few examples:

• Financial challenges
• Divorce
• Job loss or relocation
• Distressed property with no funds to repair
• Burned out landlord
• Military members who don’t want to maintain two mortgages or become a long-distance landlord when PCSing
• Probate property due to death of homeowners

One of the advantages of wholesaling houses is that beginners don’t need a lot of money to get started. While it’s not the recommended path, even if you don’t have a lot of money or have poor credit, you can get started in wholesale real estate.

Purchasing distressed wholesale houses or properties in foreclosure, you’re typically working with highly motivated sellers. Hence, you earn your profits and increase your wholesale real estate salary by attaching a wholesale fee as a targeted percentage or set price based on the amount of each transaction.

How Much Money Do You Need to Start Wholesaling?

Technically, with the right strategy and a great guide, you can start wholesaling without any money whatsoever. Because you aren’t purchasing the property, you don’t absorb the financial risk involved in typical real estate transactions.

As the middleman in the transaction, you’re purchasing the real estate contract that gives you the right to sell the property to the right buyer for the right price. Your financial risk is minimized when you learn how to connect a seller in search of the right buyer.

Like anything in life, if you want to be successful in wholesale real estate, you must consider your risk tolerance and how you will maintain your margins.

When you learn step by step how to develop a predictable process, you increase your likelihood of success as a wholesaler. Your short-term investment strategy enables you to make money by selling property that you never owned.

As one of the most attractive real estate transactions, some deals can be closed within hours or days instead of weeks or months.

Unlike traditional home or property purchases, wholesaling focuses on finding cash buyers, so it eliminates the need for external funding or qualifying with excellent credit scores.

To begin achieving your dream wholesale real estate salary, consider these costs:

• Direct mail marketing
• Uncovering the undervalued real estate
• Building a network
• Knowing your numbers
• Finding motivated sellers
• Searching for homeowners’ contact information
• Researching interesting real estate markets
• Paying a guide to walk you through your first few deals
• Other fees associated with getting under contract

Your Biggest Cost May Not Involve Upfront Spending

Many new wholesalers make the mistake of not properly researching, not understanding the local market, or not gaining familiarity with the financial nuances of wholesale real estate. As such, they make costly mistakes like house flippers by not knowing how to price properties, estimate renovation pricing, or crunching their profit margins correctly.

Absent these preliminary numbers, the relatively low risk of wholesaling can turn into a series of unfortunate events and costly mistakes.

While you technically don’t need any money to get started in wholesaling real estate, it’s our recommendation to avoid attempting this strategy without any money whatsoever. Having this knowledge will offer a cushion in the event something goes wrong and increase your confidence to succeed by achieving your ideal wholesale real estate salary via this financially rewarding business.

How To Make Money Wholesaling Real Estate (3 Ways)

Dipping into the real estate market without buying properties might seem far-fetched, but wholesaling proves it's entirely possible. As a strategy that thrives on quick turnarounds and sharp negotiation skills, wholesaling can be a lucrative avenue for those keen to make their mark without a hefty upfront investment.

Here, we'll delve into three proven ways to profit from wholesaling real estate, guiding you through the steps of this enticing venture:

• Assignment Fee
• Wholesale Profit
• Proft Share

1. Assignment Fee

The assignment of contract method is the most common, the quickest, and the lowest cost because it doesn’t cost any money out of pocket using this strategy.

In some instances, this method presents challenges when the seller and the end buyer see what you are making on the deal. It may make sense to consider Plan B if you want to maximize profit.

2. Wholesale Profit

Double Closing or Wholetailing results in profits earned. While this takes longer than assigning the contract, this method still carries less risk and takes less time than traditional fixing and flipping houses.

With a double close, you will need to secure the funds to purchase the property only to turn around and sell to your buyer. The goal is to sell immediately, ideally within minutes, so you aren’t on the hook for the wholesale property longer than necessary.

As mentioned, in assignments, the buyer sees how much you're making. In some cases, when they see you’re making a substantial profit off their difficult circumstances, it may put the sale in jeopardy. Therefore, many wholesalers avoid the drama and go the route of the double close.

3. Profit Share

Finally, the least preferred method allows the wholesaler to partner with the end buyer to split the profit of the sale or receive equity in the property. For instance, instead of taking a wholesale fee, a wholesaler may negotiate an ownership stake in the property with their end buyer. 

If the property is fixed and flipped, then the wholesaler would be entitled to their portion of profits. If the property is held as a rental, then the wholesaler could receive a proportionate share of the rental income after all operating expenses are paid.

This method is not the route of choice, since there are many variables to consider including rehab budget overages, accounting of all income & expenses, consequences if the deal goes sideways or business plan changes, etc.

How Do Real Estate Wholesalers Get Paid?

There are several primary methods in which a wholesale deal allows for the wholesaler to get paid. Here are a few of the primary methods:

Paid Directly From Buyer

As with the traditional sale of products or services, buyers may directly issue a personal check or a wire transfer to the wholesaler.

Title Company Cuts A Check

Similar to traditional closings, the wholesaler may receive their funds through disbursements from the title company out of escrow.

Profit Share

In this method, anytime the wholesaler partners with an end buyer in splitting profits, the end buyer will have to close the deal before the wholesaler sees their share of the funds. As you may imagine, these profits could take weeks, months, years, or not even occur at all!

This places the wholesaler at risk in terms of losing on the potential income. As such, this is the least recommended path for a beginner real estate wholesaler to make their money.

What Is The Job Market Like For Real Estate Wholesalers?

The beautiful thing about wholesaling real estate is that it's an entrepreneurial endeavor. This means that most wholesalers own their own businesses and are their own bosses.

This eliminates the need to look for a "job" because real estate wholesalers create their own income and opportunities. For many people, the burden of running your own company can be too great and they may prefer a traditional 9 to 5 job. 

For others, the opportunity to work for themselves and take charge of their destiny can be extremely motivating.

Depending on your availability and level of commitment, the income potential in wholesale real estate can be unpredictable. Still, the virtually limitless earning potential in the wholesale real estate salary is appealing to many.

Success Story: From Working A 9-5 To Wholesaling Houses Full Time!

Can Wholesale Real Estate Be A Full-Time Job?

Absolutely.

Many people transition from unrelated full-time careers into the wholesale real estate business as a side hustle or for their initial entrepreneurial adventure.

Yet, unlike a traditional 9-to-5 job, unless you’re working for a corporate entity earning a wholesale real estate salary, you won’t see a steady paycheck every pay period in these real estate jobs. In fact, you may hit a dry spell where there’s no steady source of income at all.

Be smart. Plan for contingencies. You never know when you’ll appreciate having a cushion to fall back on when things don’t go according to your plans.          

You’re the one who has control over your potential earnings, so hustle when needed and learn to delegate to your team of hired hands when you can.

Final Thoughts: Is Real Estate Wholesaling A Good Career?

As you can see, wholesale real estate is one of the easiest ways to enter the business of buying and selling property with little or no income and seemingly small amounts of risk. Wholesaling is a strategy that real estate investors use to monetize distressed houses without having to purchase anything themselves.

With its straightforward learning curve, wholesaling is quite simple, can be done from anywhere, and offers excellent returns through the unlimited potential in the wholesale real estate salary. It doesn’t require a college education, isn’t dependent on your credit score, doesn’t entail the long waiting periods, risk, or the rising costs of rehab, and isn’t contingent on finding the right lenders.

Ready to take your real estate investing to the next level? Learning wholesale salary is just the beginning. Schedule a FREE Strategy Session with us to learn how our Ultimate Investor Program can unlock even more opportunities and strategies in the Illinois market. We'll also help you tailor an investment strategy that's right for you. Don't miss out—take the next step toward maximizing your investment potential today!

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*Disclosure: Real Estate Skills is not a law firm, and the information contained here does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney before making any legal conclusions. The information presented here is educational in nature. All investments involve risks, and the past performance of an investment, industry, sector, and/or market does not guarantee future returns or results. Investors are responsible for any investment decision they make. Such decisions should be based on an evaluation of their financial situation, investment objectives, risk tolerance, and liquidity needs.