HighLevel Custom Fields for Real Estate Wholesalers: The Complete Setup Guide
In This Guide
Key Takeaways
- ✓GHL's default fields (name, phone, email, address) capture less than 20% of the data a wholesaler needs to qualify, prioritize, and close motivated seller leads.
- ✓Property fields (ARV, estimated repairs, equity %) let VAs pre-qualify deals before they reach your desk, saving hours of manual back-and-forth.
- ✓Call and activity fields (call count, disposition, callback date) give you a real-time picture of VA productivity without requiring a separate spreadsheet.
- ✓Custom fields plug directly into automation triggers - you can fire different workflows based on motivation score, lead source, or asking price without any manual sorting.
Why GHL's Default Fields Aren't Enough for Wholesaling
Out of the box, HighLevel gives you a standard contact record built for general service businesses: first name, last name, phone, email, address, company, and a handful of social fields. For a gym, an agency, or a dental practice, this is enough. For a real estate wholesaling operation, it's completely inadequate. You're tracking more than a person. You're tracking a property, a deal, a seller's motivation level, a VA's activity history, and a series of qualifying data points that determine whether this lead is worth presenting to a buyer.
Without custom fields, VAs end up taking notes in the GHL Notes tab in an unstructured format that can't be searched, filtered, or reported on. You can't run a report on "all leads with ARV over $200K and motivation score of 4 or 5." You can't trigger an automation that fires only when the estimated repair cost is below $30,000. You can't filter your pipeline view to show only leads where the callback date is today. Custom fields solve all of this - and they take about 45 minutes to set up correctly once.
Property Fields: What to Capture on Every Lead
Property fields are custom fields attached to the contact record that describe the physical asset. In GHL, create these under Settings → Custom Fields → Contact. Use the Number field type for financial figures, Text for addresses and descriptive data, and Dropdown for standardized values like property condition or list type.
| Field Name | Field Type | GHL Token | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property Address | Text | {{custom.property_address}} | Subject property - distinct from contact's mailing address |
| Property City | Text | {{custom.property_city}} | For market-specific filtering and routing |
| Property Zip Code | Text | {{custom.property_zip}} | Used in pipeline views and comp searches |
| Bedrooms | Number | {{custom.bedrooms}} | Basic property qualifier for ARV comps |
| Square Footage | Number | {{custom.sqft}} | Used in ARV per-square-foot calculations |
| ARV (After Repair Value) | Number (Currency) | {{custom.arv}} | Estimated value after full renovation |
| Estimated Repairs | Number (Currency) | {{custom.estimated_repairs}} | VA or investor's rough repair estimate |
| Equity Percentage | Number | {{custom.equity_pct}} | Calculated field: (ARV - Mortgage) / ARV |
| Property Condition | Dropdown | {{custom.property_condition}} | Options: Excellent / Good / Fair / Poor / Tear Down |
| List Type | Dropdown | {{custom.list_type}} | Probate / Pre-foreclosure / Tax Delinquent / Absentee / Cold |
Organizing Fields Into Folders
GHL lets you group custom fields into folders in the Settings panel. Create three folders: "Property Data," "Lead Qualification," and "VA Activity." This keeps your field list from becoming an unusable scroll of 30+ items and makes it easier to train new VAs on which fields they're responsible for filling in during which part of the process.
Lead & Seller Qualification Fields
Lead fields capture the seller's situation, motivation, and timeline. These are the fields your VAs fill in during the first qualifying call and update as the lead progresses through the pipeline. They're the most important fields for determining deal priority - a seller with a motivation score of 5, asking price at 60% of ARV, and a 30-day timeline should jump the queue over a motivation 2 with a 6-month timeline and a price expectation at market value.
| Field Name | Field Type | Options / Format | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead Source | Dropdown | Cold Call / SMS / Direct Mail / Referral / PPC / Driving for Dollars | Track which marketing channel generated the lead |
| Motivation Score | Dropdown | 1 (Low) / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 (Highly Motivated) | VA's subjective assessment after qualifying call |
| Seller Timeline | Dropdown | ASAP / 30 Days / 60 Days / 90 Days / 6+ Months / No Rush | When the seller needs or wants to close |
| Asking Price | Number (Currency) | Numerical value | Seller's stated price expectation |
| Mortgage Balance | Number (Currency) | Numerical value | Outstanding mortgage - used to calculate equity |
| Reason for Selling | Dropdown | Divorce / Inheritance / Financial / Relocation / Tired Landlord / Other | Motivation context for offer strategy |
| Last Contact Date | Date | Date picker | When VA last had live conversation (not automated SMS) |
| Do Not Contact | Checkbox | True / False | Manual opt-out flag independent of GHL's built-in DND |
Call & VA Activity Fields
Activity fields track what your VAs are actually doing with each lead. Without these, your only visibility into VA performance is through GHL's call recordings or manual call logs. With structured activity fields, you can report on total dials per lead, see which leads have been neglected, and ensure VAs are following up on callback promises.
| Field Name | Field Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Call Count | Number | Total number of dial attempts - VA increments this on each call |
| Live Answer Count | Number | Number of times VA spoke with a live person - separate from total dials |
| Call Disposition | Dropdown | No Answer / VM Left / Not Interested / Callback / Qualified / Appointment Set |
| Callback Date | Date | Date the seller asked to be called back - drives daily VA call list |
| Callback Time | Text | Specific time for the callback appointment (e.g., "2:30 PM CT") |
| VA Notes | Text (Long) | Structured notes from the qualifying conversation - VAs fill this with key points |
| Assigned VA | Dropdown | Name of the VA responsible for this lead - enables per-VA filtering |
Using Custom Fields in Automation Triggers
Custom fields enable conditional logic in GHL Workflows that would be impossible with default fields alone. Here are the most powerful automation triggers built from the custom fields above.
Trigger: High-Motivation Fast Track
When Motivation Score is updated to "5 (Highly Motivated)" AND Seller Timeline is "ASAP" or "30 Days," trigger a Workflow that: (1) moves the contact to the "Hot Lead" pipeline stage, (2) sends an internal notification to the deal manager, and (3) tags the contact priority-follow-up. This takes a manually observed data point and turns it into an automatic escalation - no one has to remember to move hot leads to the front of the line.
Trigger: Callback Reminder Automation
When Callback Date is set, trigger a Workflow with a Wait step until the callback date, then send an internal SMS to the assigned VA: "Reminder: Call {{contact.first_name}} at {{custom.property_address}} today. Disposition from last call: {{custom.call_disposition}}." This eliminates the need for VAs to maintain a separate callback spreadsheet - the CRM tracks and reminds automatically.
Trigger: Stale Lead Re-Engagement
When Last Contact Date has not been updated in 14 days AND the contact is in the "Nurture" or "Appointment Set" pipeline stage, trigger a re-engagement sequence. This catches leads that VAs accidentally let fall through the cracks - common in high-volume operations where the inbox moves fast.
Using Custom Fields in Pipeline Views and Reports
Once your custom fields are populated, GHL's pipeline view becomes dramatically more useful. In the pipeline settings, you can configure which custom fields appear on each contact card in the Kanban view. For wholesalers, the most useful cards show: Property Address, ARV, Motivation Score, Asking Price, and Last Contact Date. This gives the deal manager an at-a-glance view of the entire pipeline without clicking into individual contact records.
For reporting, custom fields are accessible in GHL's Contact Filters. Go to Contacts and use the Add Filter button. You can filter by any custom field value and export the resulting list. Practical use cases: export all contacts where Motivation Score is 4 or 5 for a weekly high-priority call blitz; export all contacts where Callback Date is today for the morning call list; export all contacts where Equity Percentage is above 40% for your buyer's list criteria.
Note that GHL's dashboard reporting widgets do not natively support custom field aggregations. For charts and visualizations of custom field data (e.g., a bar chart of lead sources by volume), you'll need to either export to a spreadsheet or use GHL's Reporting tab with smart list segmentation. The Reporting & Dashboards guide covers this in detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a limit to how many custom fields I can create in GHL?
Can custom fields be bulk-populated when I upload a contact list?
How do I make sure VAs fill in custom fields correctly and consistently?
Can I use custom field values in SMS message templates?
Does VA Horizon pre-configure these custom fields in the GHL setup included with VA packages?
What's the difference between GHL custom fields and GHL custom values?
Get Your HighLevel CRM Configured for Wholesaling in 48 Hours
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