Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Once you’ve got some momentum and your phone is buzzing with seller leads, it might be time to consider bringing in an acquisition manager - real estate. But don’t even think about hiring one if your pipeline’s dry or your systems are sloppy. Hiring before you’re ready is like putting premium gas in a car with no engine — pointless and expensive.
A real estate acquisition manager is the frontline warrior of your wholesale business. They're the ones turning chaos into contracts. They don’t just talk to sellers — they know how to convert them. From the first call to the signed agreement, they handle the entire front end of your operation. They’re deal hunters, relationship builders, and number crunchers, all rolled into one.
They manage the lead intake process, making sure no potential deal slips through the cracks. Acquisition specialist simplify complex projects. They're also the ones following up consistently with motivated sellers and closing the gaps between “maybe” and “let’s sign.” On top of that, they negotiate purchase prices, confirm terms, and get the paperwork in place to close real estate transactions quickly and profitably.
When a property comes in, a solid acquisition manager jumps into evaluation mode. They analyze comps, calculate MAO (Maximum Allowable Offer), and determine whether it’s even worth your time. A great one doesn’t waste time — yours or theirs. The real estate acquisition manager must have a deep understanding the flow of deals, local pricing, and your internal systems to function at the top of their game.
You’ve got deals slipping through your fingers because you’re drowning in follow-ups? That’s why you hire. An acquisition manager allows you to find more real estate acquisitions. Nothing else matters.
A skilled acquisition manager owns the early game: scheduling calls, setting appointments, handling negotiations, and guiding sellers through the due diligence efforts. They allow you to shift from working in the business to scaling it.
Free up your brain to focus on strategic planning, market trends, and leveling up your company.
When you bring in an acquisition manager, everything starts to shift because of this pivotal role.
You stop grinding inside the business and start running it. You’ll notice more consistent lead flow, cleaner data, and smoother organization. The chaos calms down — and you get time back to focus on strategic growth.
It’s how you build leverage — and freedom ain’t just a dream anymore. It's strategy.
The title may sound fancy, but let’s get real — this job is about grit, consistency, and knowing how to work a lead until it turns into cash. The daily responsibilities of an real estate acquisition manager include converting cold leads into warm deals, evaluating properties under pressure, and managing the contract process from start to finish. They’re also responsible for documenting everything inside your CRM — every call, every note, every offer. Whether working with a single house buyer or multiple properties, they separate milk from mildew to determine what is a valuable asset.
Financial analysis is part of the gig too. Your acquisition manager should be running numbers daily — checking valuations, forecasting assignment fees, and making sure your company isn’t bleeding money on bad offers. You want someone who thinks like an investor, acts like a closer, and operates like a boss. They have a keen understanding of financial modeling. They are your senior manager and first line of defense against risk management.
This role isn’t for the soft-spoken or easily rattled. A strong acquisition manager needs a serious skill set. First off, they better be able to negotiate with confidence and handle objections without breaking a sweat. They also need sharp communication skills — not just with sellers, but with your internal team of managers, assistants, and transaction coordinators. They have to to be detail oriented and a sharp eye willing to work closely with everyone to get residential acquisitions. Your AM has to have a hustle and preferably a gut instinct when opportunities arise.
They need to know the market like the back of their hand. What are properties selling for? What’s trending in the area? Success means being in tune with local market trends means they can spot deals before others even know what hit them. On top of that, they need to manage their time like a pro. This role is fast-paced and detail-heavy. A keen eye and clear communication for all services required. One missed call or forgotten follow-up can cost thousands.
A top-tier real estate acquisition manager has strong financial acumen. They have to know when to make strategic acquisitions and more importantly, when not to. They know how to assess risk, protect your margins, and estimate renovation costs on the fly. They're not afraid to push for a better deal, but they also know when to pull back and walk away from a bad one.
Let’s not get it twisted — acquisition is the front end, and disposition is the back end. The acquisition manager brings acquisitions in, while the dispositions manager gets it out the door and into a buyer’s hands. Without a steady acquisition flow, your disposition side has nothing to sell.
Some businesses bring in senior acquisition managers to handle the more complex side of things — managing multiple managers, handling larger portfolios, or overseeing new territory rollouts. If you're scaling hard and fast, you’ll need someone in that role who can lead, train, and optimize.
Now let’s get honest. You might be ready to hire an acquisition manager if your business is growing faster than you can handle. If leads are sitting cold in your CRM or you're fielding seller calls during dinner, you're already bottlenecking growth. If you’re consistently doing 3 to 5 acquisitions a month, it’s time to consider offloading the front-end grind to someone who can do it better — and do it full-time.
But here's the flip side. If you're still figuring out your processes, if your CRM looks like a graveyard, or if you’ve only closed a few acquisitions total, hiring now is premature. A good real estate acquisition manager needs systems to plug into — not chaos to fix.
Before you start interviewing an acquisition manager, you need a working lead management system. You need a plan for the real estate acquisitions before you acquire the acquisition managers. Whether it's Podium, DealsDone, GoHighLevel, or something custom, it should be running daily and tracked like your business depends on it — because it does. You’ll also need a follow-up strategy that’s written down, repeatable, and already producing results.
Make sure you’ve got the cash flow to pay commissions — usually 10 to 15% of the assignment fee. And define the job clearly: your acquisition manager isn’t a magician. They're responsible for managing leads, locking up deals, and staying accountable to a system. That’s how development inside your team starts — with clear expectations and structure.
Hiring doesn’t have to be complicated. Look in Facebook investor groups or real estate-specific LinkedIn job boards. Ask around in your buyer’s list — someone might be looking for a career shift. Look at entry-level roles in sales, customer service, or even door-to-door gigs. The right person might not have real estate experience, but they’ll have hustle and hunger.
Look for candidates who’ve worked in commercial real estate, car sales, or insurance — people who know how to handle rejection and close under pressure. Your real estate acquisition manager doesn’t need to be a superstar on day one, but they do need the potential for development.
Start by role-playing a seller call. See how they handle pressure, objections, and curveballs. If they freeze, they’re not ready. Ask for past experience — especially if they’ve been an acquisition specialist or worked in real estate acquisitions before. Look for people who are competitive, coachable, and detail-obsessed.
Train them by having them shadow you for two weeks. Let them listen in on calls, watch you negotiate, and study your contracts. Then hand them leads and let them work. Review their calls every day. Give feedback. Set targets. This is where you measure not just their results, but their growth as part of your team of managers.
Expect 90 days before they start clicking. Six months to real independence. You’ll be heavily involved in the beginning — reviewing calls, correcting tone, and walking them through the sales process.
Start with self-study — SOPs, recorded calls, training videos. Then shadow your acquisitions. Break down tone, pace, objection handling. Create a name for your real estate acquisition manager course. Build a brand and sear into their brain like a cattle prod.
From there, give them leads. Let ‘em mess up. Then debrief and tighten the game.
Let them observe 3–5 seller appointments. Give them small roles at first — intros, building rapport. Then level them up gradually. Always recap after each session.
Set the foundation:
Curate your best content — then pull from top podcasts and YouTube channels. Organize it by skill: rapport, rebuttals, contracts, financial analysis.
They should always have something to sharpen there real estate skills with.
Map every step: From lead to close. Plug in scripts, pain point questions, objection responses. Create a flowchart so new hires can see the full picture.
Mock calls every day. One cold open, one objection drill, one closing scenario. Record them. Review together. Refine constantly. You don't need a bachelor's degree but you need repetition. Real estate reptition. It is worth repeating. Confidence comes from real estate role playing repetition — not just talent.
When it comes to tracking your real estate acquisition manager, if you can't count it. It doesn't count.
Track everything:
Celebrate wins. Tackle weaknesses. Keep the energy high.
Be the backup. Let them lead the appointment, but stay close. Debrief after every deal — no sugarcoating. Coach them up, then let them take the wheel.
Don't set them up to fail. Give them what they need to win. This includes CRM access, call scripts, comp tools, and contract templates. If you're doing portfolio acquisitions or working with multiple managers, give them access to tools that help with financial planning and valuation as well.
The more organized your system is, the faster they’ll produce results. Sloppy tools create sloppy acquisition managers — and that costs you deals.
You need to track performance like a hawk. That means looking at contact rate (calls made vs. connections), appointment setting, conversion from lead to contract, and average assignment fee. It also means understanding whether your acquisition manager is helping you grow or just keeping you stuck.
They should be making 50 to 75 calls a day, having at least 2 to 5 quality seller conversations, and sending out 1 to 2 offers consistently. If you’re not seeing growth in your signed contracts, it’s time to recalibrate.
One good acquisition manager can do a lot. But when your lead volume triples or you start expanding into new markets, you’ll need more muscle. That’s when it’s time to build a team.
Structure it with junior reps handling cold outreach and follow-ups, and senior reps closing deals and mentoring others. Add a sales or operations lead to oversee your managers, track KPIs, and keep development goals aligned with the company strategy.
You can also bring in support staff to keep data clean, appointments booked, and CRM records updated. That’s how you go from hustling solo to building a scalable real estate machine.
Don’t wing this. Don’t hire without a system, don’t skip onboarding, and for the love of all things wholesale, don’t expect your acquisition manager to bring you leads. Their job is to convert — not generate.
Also, remember they’re managers, not magicians. They need feedback, training, and a system that works. If you’re expecting them to fix everything without direction, you’re setting them up — and yourself — for failure.
Hiring a real estate acquisition manager is a power move. But only if you’re ready. Only if your systems are tight. Only if you’ve got the leads flowing and your own follow-up game is maxed out.
Get those pieces in place, then bring on someone who’s sharp, driven, and ready to win. Train them, track them, and build your empire deal by deal. That’s how the real M.O.B. does it.
Tracy do you use a VA to pre-screen seller calls or an in house assistant?
Calls go to patlive first to collect information from the seller and then my acquisition manager prescreens them.
Awesome thank you!
Tracy, how do you compensate? Purely commission?
We pay 10% of the profit.
Thanks for the info Tracy! Hiring an acquisition manager is something I will be looking to do in the future. I see you pay 10% commission. That's good! I've seen some others pay 20% as well.
Glad you liked it!
Hi, Tracy - great post! We're about to hire our first AM, but are trying to find the best structure to pay her a commission while also making sure she doesn't cross any legal lines by getting paid that way. How do you structure the relationship and whose name(s) go on the contract when your AM is locking up the deals?
We have a "how to hire an acquisition manager" training in our members site!
Great Stuff. Thanks for posting
Brilliant Writing
Thanks for the article. I am ready to hire an acquisition manger. Do you have any tips on how to compensate and motivate them?
I do! We have a “how to hire acquisition manager mini-course”. Get on live chat and ask Mallory for the special link to buy it.