$140K in 3 months wholesaling Jacksonville virtually
A 5% contact rate means 95% of the list never answered. Craig stopped trashing that 95% and started hitting it again in sequence.
About
Craig is a licensed real estate agent who learned the phone cold calling expired listings. After a bad partnership burned him, he restarted solo in January and now wholesales Jacksonville, FL virtually. He runs the whole operation with one cold caller and about $1,000 a month in marketing spend.
Operating market
Jacksonville, FL
Favorite features
The Challenge
Craig got his real estate license and started the way most agents do, cold calling expired listings from PropStream. His first check was $6,500, on a seller he approached with a cash offer and ended up listing. Scaling was messier. He bounced between channels. Two weeks of cold calling on a single line Mojo dialer, then SMS blasts, then $600 into Facebook ads with zero leads. Then a website. He uploaded a list, called through it three times, and threw it away. Nothing got recycled and nothing got tracked.
A partnership made it worse. His partner insisted on a $2 an hour overseas caller whose rural wifi muffled every conversation. Two callers in a row hit a 1% contact rate: 10,000 dials and barely 100 people reached. Craig lost money, wasted two months of data, and stopped marketing. He even tried DataSift once and quit after three days. "I was completely lost," he admits. The data he had bought over the summer sat untouched.
What They Built
Getting the data straight from the county
The pre-filtered PropStream pulls gave way to Duval County records: high equity, absentee, and the utility disconnect list. The disconnect list arrived with tenant names on it, so Craig retraced every address back to the real owner. That one fix turned a throwaway list into his best source.
That's where a lot of my deals came from actually, was the disconnect list.
Cutting the county file down to records that sell
Craig filters out commercial, anything over the $400,000 value range, and anything over 2,500 square feet. What stays: single families, mobile homes, vacant land, and 2 to 4 unit buildings in the zips his buyers want. The trimmed file breaks into buckets and campaigns small enough to track inside DataSift.
Restarting lean with one vetted caller
Back on his own in January, Craig called alone for three weeks, locked the first contract, and got paid. That check hired a cold caller he chose and vetted himself, about $500 a month. Every interested seller comes back to Craig directly: follow up, warm leads, contracts, all of it.
I restarted into the business January 4th and I had a deal locked up January 8th.
Hitting the same records from more than one angle
Cold calling carried 100% of the restart. After the auto lead gen challenge, SMS came back into the flow. Direct mail comes next, aimed at records the phone and the texts never reached. The whole machine, tools and VA included, runs on about $1,000 a month.
Before and After
Before DataSift
- Achieved Data Clarity
- Consistent Deal Flow
- Inconsistent Deal Flow
- Poor Marketing Flow
- Little Data Clarity
- Relied On Google Sheets
- Consistent Deal Flow
- Data Clarity / Organization
- Wholesales, Flips And Does Retail
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Didn't Understand Data Management
- Strong Real Estate Agent
- Wanted To Break Into Wholesaling But Didn't Know How
- Healthy Scale
- Data Driven Decisions
- Consistent Deals
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Inconsistent
- Little Data Insight
- Unorganized Bulk Marketing
- Strategic Focus on Niches
- Enhanced Lead Flow and Certainty
- Streamlined Marketing Process
- Efficient Use of Data
- Direct Mail & Deep Prospecting
- Broad, Unfocused Strategy
- Inconsistency in Results
- Dependency on Luck
- Marketing Clarity
- 6 Figure Months
- High Deal Volume
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Proper Data Management
- Weak Marketing Flow
- Poor Data Management
- Lack of Focus
- Manual Efforts
- Successful Scale
- Total Data Clarity
- Clear Marketing Approach
- Large Deal Spreads
- Improper Data Management
- Poor Marketing Method
- Inconsistent Deal Flow
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Clear Data Management
- Clear Data Management
- Successful Scale
- Many ways to close deals
- Large deal spreads
- Poor data management
- Unable to scale properly
- Poor marketing flow
- Smaller Deal Spreads
- Increased Deal Volume
- Platform Utilization
- Realtor Collaboration
- Funding Efforts
- Lots Of Deals
- Data Driven Decisions
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Sales And Marketing Clarity
- Poor Data Management
- Poor Marketing Flow
- Relied On Bulk Marketing
- Lack of Clarity
- Automated Acquisition
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Data Driven Decisions
- Structured Follow-ups
- Increased Lead Generation
- Achieved Sales And Marketing Clarity
- Manual Acquisition Processes
- Ineffective Marketing Flow
- Minimal Lead Insights
- Poor Follow Up Flow
- Inconsistent Lead Generation
- Lacked Sales And Marketing Clarity
After DataSift
- Achieved Data Clarity
- Consistent Deal Flow
- Inconsistent Deal Flow
- Poor Marketing Flow
- Little Data Clarity
- Relied On Google Sheets
- Consistent Deal Flow
- Data Clarity / Organization
- Wholesales, Flips And Does Retail
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Didn't Understand Data Management
- Strong Real Estate Agent
- Wanted To Break Into Wholesaling But Didn't Know How
- Healthy Scale
- Data Driven Decisions
- Consistent Deals
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Inconsistent
- Little Data Insight
- Unorganized Bulk Marketing
- Strategic Focus on Niches
- Enhanced Lead Flow and Certainty
- Streamlined Marketing Process
- Efficient Use of Data
- Direct Mail & Deep Prospecting
- Broad, Unfocused Strategy
- Inconsistency in Results
- Dependency on Luck
- Marketing Clarity
- 6 Figure Months
- High Deal Volume
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Proper Data Management
- Weak Marketing Flow
- Poor Data Management
- Lack of Focus
- Manual Efforts
- Successful Scale
- Total Data Clarity
- Clear Marketing Approach
- Large Deal Spreads
- Improper Data Management
- Poor Marketing Method
- Inconsistent Deal Flow
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Clear Data Management
- Clear Data Management
- Successful Scale
- Many ways to close deals
- Large deal spreads
- Poor data management
- Unable to scale properly
- Poor marketing flow
- Smaller Deal Spreads
- Increased Deal Volume
- Platform Utilization
- Realtor Collaboration
- Funding Efforts
- Lots Of Deals
- Data Driven Decisions
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Sales And Marketing Clarity
- Poor Data Management
- Poor Marketing Flow
- Relied On Bulk Marketing
- Lack of Clarity
- Automated Acquisition
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Data Driven Decisions
- Structured Follow-ups
- Increased Lead Generation
- Achieved Sales And Marketing Clarity
- Manual Acquisition Processes
- Ineffective Marketing Flow
- Minimal Lead Insights
- Poor Follow Up Flow
- Inconsistent Lead Generation
- Lacked Sales And Marketing Clarity
What changed
The turning point had a dollar figure on it. A $70,000 deal with his Jacksonville buyers came together, and the JV split paid Craig $35,000. "That was just like a complete turning point for me," he says. He messaged Claudio, joined the auto lead gen challenge, and reopened the DataSift free trial he had once quit in three days. Working through Zac's emails, he finally saw the real problem. A 5% contact rate meant 95% of every list he had trashed never even answered. Some sellers sat stacked on seven different lists, still unreached. He stopped buying data and started working what he already owned.
The Results
The restart began January 4th. The first contract locked January 8th, a repeat customer who turned out to own eight properties. That check paid for his cold caller. A $70,000 Jacksonville deal followed with the local dispo partners he had built a relationship with; the JV split put $35,000 in Craig's pocket. Three months of virtual wholesaling totaled $140K.
The before and after is stark. Last year: $600 Facebook tests, trashed lists, a 1% contact rate, and two wasted months. Now: one market, one mastered channel, recycled county data, and $1,000 a month total spend, $500 for the caller and $500 for everything else.
I'm only spending about a thousand dollars a month right now on marketing.
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