Paul Wakim
Paul Wakim has been a guest on Collecting Keys, the real estate investing podcast hosted by Mike DeHaan, Dan Austin and Dylan Koch.
Creating A Wholesale Real Estate Marketplace with Paul Wakim of TwnSqr
Paul Wakim, co-founder and CEO of TwnSqr, explains how his company evolved from a seller-prediction algorithm in Pittsburgh into an off-market dispositions marketplace where investors can post deals, host their own buyers list, and JV with other users without handing over buyer contact information. Mike and Dan compare it to InvestorLift and press Paul on deal security, JV agreements, and how the platform builds trust between strangers. Paul also shares how he bought a Pittsburgh house for $1 and sold it for $86,000, and why partnerships are his top advice for new investors.
Key takeaways
- TwnSqr lets a wholesaler send a deal to another user who then emails it to their own buyers under their own name, so the two split the deal as a JV — buyer names, emails and phone numbers stay hidden from the deal's seller unless a JV agreement is signed.
- The platform is free for buyers receiving deals (they can even submit an offer without an account), but seeing all deals in a market requires a paid membership ($149/month or $1,180/year) specifically so buyers can't bypass the person who sent them the deal.
- TwnSqr deliberately does not provide JV contracts or police title disputes; Paul's assumption is a serious wholesaler protects their own position with earnest money, first right of refusal, or a recording with the county. Reviews, profiles and performance metrics (like a user's email open rate and offer rate) are on the roadmap as trust tools.
- Paul's pre-COVID seller-prediction algorithm hit 95% accuracy using county data on credit card debt, foreclosures, code violations, deaths and divorces — then broke completely when Pennsylvania shut down real estate for four and a half months and everyone's behavior inverted.