All Forum Posts by: Mike Kehoe

Huh? Where did you disprove with your numbers? The link you posted referenced your one SEO strategy, which is why I referenced. Where did I ever say I spent $2M on mail? 

Quote from @Jerryll Noorden:

Quote from @Mike Kehoe:

I’d suggest you start with drive for dollars. This is still our best list after four years of wholesaling full time (we’ll do 120+ deals this year). We add 20,000 new records per quarter doing drive for dollars. You can start with much less. Send direct mail and cold call.

Good luck!

Hey Mike, 

Allow me to say this if you don't mind.
I wouldn't advise others to drive for dollars to be honest. Let me tell you why.

Driving 20,000 properties per quarter for 120 deals a year.

Put this into perspective.

Assuming those numbers are real.

Let me break this down for you.

4 X 20,000 = 80,000 properties/year to get 120 deals

this means you have to drive AND FIND 666 properties to get one deal.

That is a 0.15% success rate.

Now let's put this into perspective:

From the internet:

Now if you get one RESPONSE from every 100 properties you drive to find, you have a 1% success rate and is considered a VERY SUCCESFUL driving-for-dollars campaign.

Now what does this mean.

This means that it is considered REALLY good, above average, to get one response from every 100 properties you find.

But "response " is NOT a signed contract. How many responses do you need to get ONE contract signed? 20?, 50?

Let's take 20. That means you need to drive all over and find 2,000 (100 X 20) qualified houses to get one contract signed. And this is IF you are running a "VERY SUCCESSFUL" driving-for-dollar campaign.

So this gives you a 0.05% success rate if the data on the internet is correct  (and this is for a "VERY SUCCESSFUL" D4$ campaign).

The point I am trying to make is to be careful!

Words like "our best" are very misleading.

You are showing off numbers that are 3X better than the average "VERRY SUCCESFUL" D4$ campaign, and I am not saying you are not getting these numbers. I have no clue what you are doing so I can't comment on it.

But what I AM commenting on is you say "our best" method and therefore you are advising people to do the same.

THAT is wrong.

Your best compared to what? Strategies that have LESS than a 0.15% success rate? That is still quite horrible.

Our success rate is between 33% and 60% doing a completely different approach.

So I would NEVER advise anyone to do anything with a list or drive for dollars right?

"Your" best method doesn't imply it is a good method. 

Now the reason I am writing this is NOT to go against you. At all. I am writing this because that is the reason so may fail and give up.

They hear people make these claims, "I am doing 120 deals / year driving for dollars, and people just don't friggin THINK!!

So here they go, "I am going to do driving for dollars because this guy on Bigger pockets is succesful at it".

But no one told them that it will take them 2000 properties to drive and find.

How many hours per week is this? Most people don't have a team. 

They will drive 3 properties a day because they have a baby, work, a wife, a life, and then they are surprised why and how you are getting 120 deals/year driving for dollars while they can't get a single deal.

I know your intentions are honorable in trying to help people, but this actually does damage in my opinion.

Either way this is my humble opinion.

And congrats on your 120 deals this year.

100% of deals have not come from "drive for dollars." The other portion of our deals comes from absentee lists, PPL, and SEO (the minority are PPL and SEO). From the beginning, we've sent two-page offer letters to secure the majority of our deals. We started with low volumes, up to 13,000 per week on average today.

I'm not a service provider, I have no course, and I have nothing else to sell to this audience, nor will I ever, so this is just based on my experience as an operator. This is how we've gone from $240k in 2021 to $1.29M in 2022, to $2.6M+- assignment fees in 2023. I don't care about response rates; I care about Return on Ad Spend. On acquisitions, we focus on lead to contract, which we like to be at 8% to 9%. This quarter, we're down, closer to 6%.

Are you suggesting that aspiring wholesalers should rely 100% on SEO? If so, how long will it take to gain serious traction? In our experience (and the experience of my network that has the top wholesalers in the country in it), SEO, PPL, and PPC need to be responded to in under 2 minutes or, likely, you'll never get in touch with them. How many aspiring wholesalers with the conditions that you described (have a baby, work, a wife, a life, etc.) can do that?

Do I think they should do SEO right out of the gates? Heck yes. Do I think they need to supplement it with something that drives more immediate results? Absolutely. Even if it's only to get reps in so when the higher motivated SEO leads and the higher motivated more expensive PPC and PPL they can capitalize.

You can build a substantial "D4D" list on nights and weekends, and even more substantial with a VA driving virtually. Soon, they'll have AI drive for dollars as well.

There's no one way to do it, and to suggest there is, is harmful in my humble opinion.

I’d suggest you start with drive for dollars. This is still our best list after four years of wholesaling full time (we’ll do 120+ deals this year). We add 20,000 new records per quarter doing drive for dollars. You can start with much less. Send direct mail and cold call.

Good luck!

I had the same questions you had when I first started four years ago. Today, I have a virtual wholesale company that’ll do 120+ deals this year. Keep going. You can make it work. I’d suggest starting in an area that has a New Western Acquisitions office (I’m not with New Western). They see wholesalers as their clients. Reach out to the broker in charge of the particular location you’re interested in. Ask who they use for closings, what areas are hot, and any other questions you have. They’re usually happy to answer.

I'd suggest getting an LLC before you start. You can find a simple purchase agreement online.

As far as marketing, you should start with drive for dollars. This is still our best list. We add 20,000 new records per quarter doing drive for dollars. You can start with much less. Send direct mail and cold call. 

Good luck!

Most cost seg companies will do a free high-level analysis before you engage them. I'd have a cost seg rep run one and determine if it's worth it from there. 

We’ve invested in a few: 

- Pace Morby’s SubTo is good to learn creative finance. The community is great and does a lot of deals together.

- John Martinez sales training is great for learning how to talk to sellers if you want to wholesale.

- We didn’t have a great experience with the Land Sharks course because it was very basic. Could be a good starter course for a new year, but I’d look for others. 

Depends on your skill set, but there’s a lot of remote work opportunities in RE. 

Our acquisitions team and transaction coordinator are all remote.

Driving for dollars is a great, low cost way to start out. 

Our team uses the Deal Machine app to capture dilapidated properties while driving. You can mail directly from the app, or skip trace and call/text. There’s a ton of content online on how to use it, but this is how I’d start if I were you.

We use EOS and don’t think we’d have half the success we’ve had without it!