DealMachine - any good?

Question

I recently ran into a fellow inv DealMachine.

I've just started RE investing, and am looking to find deals, but i'm not sure if I should go with DealMachine.. It sounds too good to be true.

Please advise.

Thanks!

Jim Holub · Answer

@Jared Abbott I’ve been looking at DealMachine and other D4D apps and to me, it comes down to time investment and scalability. The process of D4D is the same whether you are using a spreadsheet or DM. You are paying a fairly high price for the convenience. Full disclosure I haven’t used the app. But this is the cost breakdown I’ve come up with:

DM

200 properties per deal:

Mailers (3 times each property)

3 * $.99 * 200 = $594

Skip Trace

$.99 * 200 = $198

Total/deal

$792

“DIY”

200 properties per deal:

Mailers (3 times each property)

3 * $.06 * 200 = $36

Skip Trace

$.12 * 200 = $24

Total/deal

$60

You can see that the DIY method is considerably cheaper, but I would guess you are probably going to spend at least 2-3 hours for every 200 prospects using the DIY method (not counting driving time which should be the same regardless of method). With deal machine, you can do the entire process right from the app and be done as soon as you finish driving. So my plan is to do the DIY method until I get my first few deals. Then take the profits from those deals and use them to purchase a D4D app like DealMachine or Propstream, to get more deals quicker. Then, once I no longer have the time to D4D’s, I can hire other people to do the driving and provide them with a D4D app to use to find even more deals for me. I think trying to scale up this way using a spreadsheet and manual methods is infeasible.

Q. Avery · Answer

@Jared Abbott

I recently started utilizing DealMachine virtually (active duty military), and I can say that my acquisitions cost per unit has dramatically decreased.  This product integrated with my (non-producing) marketing systems that I had in place, this tool makes me marketing powerhouse!

John McAllister · Answer

@jim

@Jim Holub I am interested in how it worked out. I am looking into starting up with the deal machine.

Are you still using it?

How many deals came from using Deal Machine?

Jim Holub · Answer

Here is an update to my Deal Machine experience. The basic plan ($20/mo.) does not track your routes, so unless you plan on doing that manually, the basic plan is useless. So I upgraded to the $119/mo plan. There are other D4D apps that track your route, but they don't have the owner information or skip tracing option included. I've just reached adding 400 distressed properties to my leads list and have gotten one angry call (didn't like me taking a picture of his house), and 4 leads. Of those leads I'm putting in an offer on one of the properties, working with the other two to put together an offer. Keep in mind I'm prospecting in the Denver Metro area which is a very hot market. I've only been focusing on owner occupied properties. I'm not contacting any absentee owners but plan on putting together a separate custom mailer for just those properties. I think the ability to create custom mailers is another upgrade so an added cost. My total cost so far is $588 and I started on August 28th. I haven't quite hit the $792 I predicted in my above post, but close. Still no closed deal though. I also included skip tracing every lead in my estimate above, and I have found that isn't necessary to do for every lead.

The app performs well and is very simple to use. You drive, spot a distressed property, click the address on the map, add it as a lead, snap picture of the property. You can either decide to send a mailer right then, or wait until later. You could even skip trace from your phone right then and call the property owner while you are at the property. Haven't tried that yet. I choose to wait until later to send the mailer because I want to take a minute and review the lead before I send a mailer. The app can be a little glitchy in areas with poor cell service, but generally very good. Tech support is super helpful and have been available whenever I've needed them evenings or weekends. You can earn badges for adding a certain number of leads or for getting your first deal. I don't really pay much attention to the "gameification" aspects, but if your into that, cool.

David Lecko · Answer

Totally get having a smaller budget when starting out. I wanted to share something that would be helpful, even if you're not using dealmachine. If you're driving for dollars, we've found that it takes finding 200 distressed homes, followed up with 3x each over the course of a few months. So that would be a good goal for you if you're going to drive for dollars! DealMachine can just make things easier and more scalable for ya once you are ready!

Rebecca Sequeira · Answer

@David Lecko - is there a discount/promo code for Deal Machine (for BP members)?  I think I remember hearing one on a BP podcast, but can't remember for sure. Thanks

David Lecko · Answer

Glad to hear more than one of you having a positive experience with dealmachine!

Jared Abbott · Answer

@Canesha Edwards thank you!

Canesha Edwards · Answer

@Jared Abbott

Hello Jared,

I used Deal machine briefly. I believe the monthly price is too high. The app is pretty accurate in terms of  recording addresses. However, enhanced searches ( provides phone numbers) or to sending mailers directly from the app cost an additional fee.  If you have a decent size marketing budget, then the app might be a good fit. Just my two cents.

DealMachine - any good?

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