Think you need to spend thousands to make money in real estate? Think again.

The great thing about wholesaling properties is that it provides quick, easy income with little to no capital, and does not require a real estate license. Traditional real estate investing is dependent on good credit, and the methods that do not require credit such as lease options and "subject to" financing don’t have the immediate payout that wholesaling does. Wholesaling is also the lowest-risk real estate investment there is, period.

Many people refer to wholesaling as "flipping houses." When you wholesale, you let someone ELSE do all the hard work. All you have to do is find a property and an investor, get the property under contract, assign the contract to the investor, and boom – instant profit. Sound good? Just follow these steps for FAST, easy cash!

First, you’ll need to find investors. The best ways to go about this are to join your local Real Estate Investment Association (REIA), or run ads in the paper. Don’t wait until you have properties to begin making a list of buyers. Whenever someone calls to inquire about one of your properties, get their names, phone and fax numbers, and email addresses. Find out what type of properties they’re looking for. Keep doing this and you will soon have a long list of buyers to contact when you have a house to sell.

Create an "I Buy Houses" ad and put them all over your area. With enough exposure, your phone will ring off the hook with people looking to sell their house to you. Most of these will be facing foreclosures or need a lot of work – that’s okay. Determine the after repair value (ARV) to assure that you won’t be wasting your money on a property that isn’t going to get you a profit (see my article, "How To Determine ARV," for some tips and examples).

Once you find properties to wholesale, advertise them to your existing list of buyers. If your list is small, you can also put out ads just as you did to attract sellers, and advertise for "Handyman Specials" or "Homes for Thousands Below Market Value." You get the idea.

IMPORTANT: When people call to inquire about your property, be sure to take down their contact information. Even if they do not end up purchasing the particular property they contacted you about, you’ll have their name for your list and be able to send them information on future deals.

So you’ve got a property, you’ve got a buyer, your property is under contract…now what? You have a couple options; one is to assign the contract, and the other is to do what’s called a simultaneous closing. Contract assignments are simple – when you put a property under contract, you simply include the words "and or assigns" after your name as the buyer. To protect yourself in the event your buyer backs out, you should put an escape clause in the contract, which could be something as simple as "subject to approval from partner." The buyer then takes over your contract, and you collect an assignment fee before closing.

In a simultaneous closing, you actually purchase the property, then turn around and sell it to the investor, usually on the same day. You just collect the difference between what you bought the property for, and what you sold it for. This method is best when you stand to make a lot of money on a deal, because neither the seller nor the buyer will know exactly how much your profits were. Not that you are trying to rip them off, because it’s only a good deal if it’s good for all parties involved (especially you, of course). Be aware that there are closing costs associated with simultaneous closings.