$45K fee from free county data and patient follow-up
$45K wholesale fee from long-term FTM follow-up strategy. Nurse background, zero paid lists.
About
Jamisha is a nurse who wholesales remotely, working Arizona deals from Hawaii with a local partner. She spent her first two years and at least $40K on paid lists and VAs before switching to free county data. Now she runs a lean two-person operation built on correct numbers and long follow-up.
Operating market
Arizona
Favorite features
The Challenge
Jamisha is a nurse. When she started wholesaling two years ago, she did it the way the YouTube videos said to. Buy big lists, 30,000 records at a time. Hire cold callers and VAs. Stand up Podio and a Slack channel. She worked long hospital shifts in Hawaii while her team called mainland lists across a six hour time difference. The VAs could only do what she showed them, and she had not done the reps herself yet.
At least $40,000 went out the door in those first two years. Lists got dialed two or three times through and shelved. One early contract nearly broke her: bad numbers, a bad area, no buyer, and a seller whose patience ran out while she apologized and canceled. That feeling still haunts her. By the time she took the first to market challenge in January, she had every reason to be skeptical of one more program.
What They Built
Replacing paid lists with free county data
The challenge flipped her model. She pulls her own county records now and sees what the county sees in real time: who is behind on taxes, whose paperwork looks off, which foreclosure notice is really a due on sale clause. She even works death certificates before probate opens, reaching heirs no list provider has touched.
It takes some work to get it, but no one else is doing it. They're not reaching the same people you are, because everyone's just going to download the list.
Chasing correct numbers instead of leads
Her VA has a single job: find correct numbers for the people they are not reaching. Jamisha dropped the dialer, moved to one by one click to call, and answer rates hit about 55%. New exhausted records get her personal deep dive: relatives, other properties owned, liens, and whether buyers are even active in that area.
She's like, Oh, I need to bring in leads. I'm like, Nope, we just need correct numbers. So we need to find the people we're not contacting.
Following up every four to six weeks until the seller was ready
Her biggest deal came from a probate lead with an out-of-state beneficiary. First conversation in February. The seller's husband got sick and the sale went on the back burner. Jamisha called back every four to six weeks, no pressure, nurse-style listening, just staying in front of her. Months later the seller called, two days before Jamisha's next planned touch, ready to move fast.
Once I realized it takes like sometimes 12 to 13 touches for a contract, I was like, oh man, I can relax when I'm on the phone.
Partnering with an operator who had the buyers
Hawaii prices made her home market a bad fit, so she joined forces with an Arizona wholesaler she met in a sub-to community. He had the buyers, the title company, and the local knowledge. She had the data and the KPI discipline he lacked. Their first deal went under contract in March and closed in April, three months after the challenge started.
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
- A VA Works Every No-Contact Lead in DataSift
- Daily Follow-Ups Run From the Sift Line Tasks
- Nine Deals Under Contract After the Stacked Niche Switch
- Cold Callers Sent KPIs by Hand Outside the System
- Expensive PPC Spend With No Return
- Follow-Up Leads Vanished Into an Abyss in the Old CRM
- 60,000 Records a Quarter Feeding His Bulk Callers
- Four Contracts Signed in 10 Days
- Three Deals a Week, Two Weeks Running
- First Direct to Seller Push in 30 Years of Business
- A $10,000 Mail Campaign That Produced Nothing
- 15 Years Buying Only From the MLS and Wholesalers
- New lender agreed 12 days after the first collapsed
- $105,696 net profit after closing costs
- Nine properties contracted at $360K, sold at $450K
- Hard money lenders would not lend on rural portfolios
- Local title companies refused assignments and passthroughs
- Seller would only sell one house, priced far over appraisal
- Still Runs on a $500 Monthly Budget
- An $85K Deal Off a 50-Name Stacked List
- 13 Contracts in Six Weeks From 250 Prospects
- About $40K Spread Across Six Months, Still Behind
- Five Contracts in a Row Fell Through
- Shotgun Lists Across Too Many Zip Codes
- One Contract Per 25-35 Leads, Half the Typical Ratio
- Each Caller Brings 16-18 Leads a Week
- 50,000 Free County Records Called on a Four-Month Cycle
- Two Partners Dialing Everything Themselves From 2017 to 2019
- VA Cleaned Every County Download by Hand in Excel
- Another Blanket ListSource Pull Whenever the Pipeline Ran Dry
- Same county-data system expanding into Texas and Miami
- $800K in revenue from six or seven deep-research deals
- About 20 people across data, calling, research, and sales
- PropStream tax delinquent lists arrived after owners had already paid
- Two years hunting a golden list that did not exist
- Bandit signs at intersections, cold calling all day from a coffee shop
- Four deals closed faster than his first three
- 8,200 dials and 25 leads in one November
- Four VAs running one calling and texting protocol
- Generic YouTube advice with no sequence to follow
- Back at a sales job four months after going full time
- Spent $35,000 on marketing with zero return
- About 35 Leads Per Deal Across 347 Total Leads
- $253K In Cash And Equity From One Package Deal
- 40 Properties Wholesaled In Under Four Months
- 12-Hour Days And A 45-Minute Commute
- No Deals Found Through Realtors, MLS, Or Craigslist
- Cold Calling From A Printed Spreadsheet In The Parking Lot
- Pulls Nearly All His Data Straight From the County
- Runs Jacksonville Virtually on $1,000 a Month
- Locked a Contract Four Days After His January Restart
- Scattered Across SMS, Facebook Ads, and a Website
- Partner's $2 an Hour Caller Hit a 1% Contact Rate
- Called Lists Three Times Then Trashed Them
- 50,000 sqft warehouses in negotiation, one to two leads daily
- $59,000 spread on his first big wholesale deal
- Every eviction filed in New Jersey, worked daily
- Old CRM buried callers in highlight and right-click drama
- Phenomenal months, then crickets for months
- Overnight pharmacy shifts, 84 hours in a single week
- Knows the playbook works and is replicating it
- First off-market contract four months after starting
- $250,000 assignment fee on deal one
- Weak cash position after funding ground-up projects
- Questioned whether real estate money was even real
- Two years spending on development deals, not making much back
- $40,000 month tracking with fixed costs
- Five first to market deals since April
- Probate filings pulled daily in multiple counties
- Two mail campaigns, response rates he did not like
- Costs fluctuated month to month with list spend
- Custom Podio build, broad absentee and vacant lists
- Owner buried beside her son after two years unclaimed
- Runs every heir search solo now
- Five heirs found, contacted, and signed across Texas
- Needed a specialist for her first deep heir search
- Paper records only, fathers listed by initials
- Probate leads dead-ended with no findable heirs
- Every No Recycled On A Two-Year Rehash Cycle
- Three VAs Clean Data Before A Single Dial
- Three First To Market Niche Filters Worked Daily
- Loose Onboarding And Under-Corrected Bad Hires
- Team Swung From Large To Small To Solo
- Broad Marketing Across Every Niche At Once
- Mornings and evenings back with his family
- 8 person crew handles whole projects in sets of two
- 40+ properties across three portfolios in about six months
- Afraid to take on payroll and a crew
- The bottleneck on his own projects
- Software job eight to five, real estate five to midnight
- 55% Answer Rate On One-By-One Click To Call
- Free County Data Replaced Every Paid List
- $45K Fee Closed One Week After The Callback
- Podio, Slack, And Multiple VAs, No Traction
- 30,000-Record Lists Dialed Two Or Three Times Through
- At Least $40K Wasted On Lists And VAs
- Four Marketing Attempts on a Couple of Lists
- A Three-Person Team at About $1,800 Cost Per Contract
- Almost Two Years Nomadic Across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East
- Behind a Jacksonville Desk 95 Percent of the Time
What changed
The moment came while she sat with the course videos, running them twice until the concepts stuck. She had spent two years assuming data was something you buy.
I was like, wait a minute, data is free. I don't have to pay for it.
Her question afterward was how she had missed it. Pulling records straight from the county meant seeing what the county sees, ahead of everyone still downloading the same lists. That realization ended her list spending for good and pointed everything at correct numbers and follow-up instead.
The Results
The numbers on the $45,000 deal are simple. The seller signed on a Tuesday. Buyers offered $15,000 to $20,000 under ask, so her partner countered a $5,000 discount to his first choice buyer, who closed the next day. The wire landed within a week of the seller's callback. Split two ways, that is $22,500 a side. She stared at the deposit for two days.
The contrast carries the story. Two years and at least $40,000 in paid lists and VAs produced painful lessons and no momentum. Nine months of free county data, one VA, and patient follow-up produced two closed deals, including her biggest fee to date. Her one regret is skipping mail when it was first recommended; she wants it back in the sequence now.
We're helping the sellers, sellers definitely helping us. Like we just need to like trust the process and do good by people.
Get results like this. Start your free trial.
Related Stories
.avif)
What our users have to say
Get results like this. Start your free trial.
Common questions before you start
Is there a free trial?
Yes DataSift offers a 7 day free trial. In those 7 days you’ll receive all necessary materials to learn exactly how to leverage Sift in your company.
How much does DataSift cost?
Our lowest plan starts at $149 a month and our highest plan is $1250 a month.
How long does setup take?
Your account ships with the lead management default build already wired. Boards, statuses, tasks, automations — ready on day one. Add your team, import your data, and your lead manager can start working leads the same afternoon.
I'm coming from Podio, REsimpli, or Go High Level. Why switch?
Every CRM needs someone to move leads where they belong. The difference is what catches the misses. Most CRMs hand you an empty box and tell you to build it. DataSift ships with the workflow assembled — boards, statuses, tasks, and 26+ automations already wired. You're not paying for a database. You're paying for the system that already runs your lead management.
How do I migrate over my data from another CRM?
Contact our support team through our support chat and they will give you all necessary materials and information to make sure you get all of your data uploaded exactly how you want it.
Does DataSift work with my dialer?
Yes. Ready Mode, Smart Dialer, Call Tools, Smarter Contact, Aircall and Kixie connect directly. A wrong-number disposition in the dialer flips the phone status in DataSift in real time. A new-lead disposition fires the full Call New Lead sequence. Other dialers connect through CSV upload or Zapier.
