$15K probate deal in under 2 weeks after coming back
Left DataSift, tried another CRM, came back. The automation and data tools were irreplaceable.
About
Neil Mattei Jr. quit college after one semester in January 2017 and has wholesaled full time ever since, starting as a teenager. He runs a lean two-partner operation with virtual assistants, focused on probate and tax delinquent first to market data. He met his business partner by messaging him after a YouTube video in 2021.
Operating market
Baltimore, MD
Favorite features
The Challenge
Neil Mattei Jr. quit college after one semester in January 2017 and went straight into wholesaling as a teenager. For years the operation ran on a custom Podio build, with cold callers dialing broad absentee and vacant lists. It worked, but only as long as he kept throwing money at it, and marketing costs swung with each month's spend. He had been an early DataSift user too, on again and off again since launch, convinced it was valuable but finding it very technical. He never fully committed, ran his business on another CRM instead, and felt the difference.
The start of this year forced the issue. Two direct mail campaigns came back with response rates he did not like. That sent him back to his first deal, which came from a tired-landlord conversation at the courthouse where he once pulled records himself. Whatever happened to extremely niche data?
What They Built
Pulling probate filings every day, then two years back
In April he and his partner made first to market data the engine: probate filings pulled daily in multiple counties, plus tax delinquent lists. Early contracts landed within the first two to three weeks but sat months from closing, waiting on fresh probates. So they pulled the previous two years in their two major counties, and that back-list produced the first closing.
Committing to the CRM instead of fighting it
The technical fatigue that pushed him off the platform before became a discipline project. Follow-up now runs through DataSift as the main CRM, and his costs sit pretty much fixed instead of fluctuating with last month's list spend.
I kind of just put my big boy pants on, right? I was like, all right, I got to figure this out. The best time is now.
Starting title before the probate paperwork exists
Their acquisitions process locks deals early, even when a seller has just opened probate and holds no letters of testamentary yet. They frame it as taking the work off the seller's plate, coaching each seller through the process.
If we can agree on a price that makes sense for both of us, our whole process is why not just go ahead and get the ball rolling?
Training a lean team like a gym routine
The team meets three times a week. Early in the week is theory on one core fundamental, empathy for example. Later in the week is role play, with each other and against a ChatGPT bot, aiming to make the hardest call of the day the first one.
Before and After
Before DataSift
- No Deep Understanding Of His Own Data
- Gave Up Bulk Dialing And Texting Years Ago
- Relying On Inbound Leads And Bought Deals
- A Contract Per 12-13 Qualified Leads
- 10,000-record Niche Lists, Filtered Monthly In Sift
- Focused Down To Indiana And Ohio
- Owns The Operation Now, 50-50 Split
- $300K In Spreads In His First 90 Days
- Almost $600K In Contracts Ghosted Or Backed Out
- Five States At Once, Spread Too Thin
- All The Profit Going To Someone Else
- Running An Agency For 14-16 US Investors
- Homegrown Closer Converts Over 20% Of Offers
- Text Blasts First, Smaller Call Lists After
- Whole Philadelphia Metro Recycled Through Rehash Campaigns
- Sequences And Lists Fully Dialed In
- Over 50 Deals A Year Across Two Companies
- New Construction Plans Stalled By Rates And Costs
- Deep Prospecting Alone, Before Any System
- Two Cheap College Duplexes, Bought With A Partner
- Everything Done By 6pm
- $1,500-1,800 A Month Total Marketing Spend
- 150 Dials A Day, First To Market
- 200 Probates A Month From Weekly Courthouse Runs
- $800K A Year Running Solo
- No Online County Data In His Market
- Long Hours Getting The Business Started
- Years Of Flips And Contractor Headaches
- Tuesday At 2 Hunts Generate His Own Deals
- 4 Deals And $330K Equity In 30 Days
- Sales Leader Owns Leads, Casey Tunes Systems
- 325,000 County Records, Scrubbed Nightly By VAs
- Full Operation: Acquisitions Agents, Sales Leader, VA Data Team
- Team Waiting On Leads To Come In
- Doing Well, But Knew He Could Do More
- Watching Every Lead Himself, Day To Day
- Callers Grinding Through Manual Data
- Two-man Team: Casey Plus One Acquisitions Guy
- Cutting edge 1-1 sales and marketing integration
- Improved accuracy when making offers and estimating rehab costs
- Leak proof communication between clients, buyers and contractors
- Thorough marketing and acquisitions from anywhere in the world
- Real estate companies that want documented communications with contractors, clients and buyers
- Wholesalers who want to enter into new markets
- Investors looking to have leak proof marketing and acquisitions
- Anyone looking to wholesale virtually
- A significant boost in confidence to create a great life for you and your family.
- Tips and tools to maintain a steady flow of income, regardless of external circumstances.
- Knowledge of how to succeed in any market condition.
- An understanding of how to achieve long-term success with solid marketing processes.
- A big boost in confidence to make a great life for you and your family.
- Tips and tools you can use to get a steady flow of money coming in, no matter what's happening out there.
- Learned how to succeed in any market condition.
- Understanding of how to achieve long-term success with solid marketing processes.
- Anyone, regardless of budget, looking for a strong start to avoid common mistakes.
- Business owners who want to have simple processes for their VA's to follow.
- Investors willing to create a steady monthly income to secure the future of their family.
- Those who tried many ways to succeed but still aren't seeing good results.
- Efficient KPI Tracking
- Enhanced Follow Up Process
- Data Driven Decisions
- Fully Integrated With REISift
- Streamlined Sales & Marketing Flow
- Enhanced lead management
- Unorganized Data
- Expensive/Ineffective Tech Stack
- Basic Marketing Approach
- Poor Data Management
- Unorganized Processes
- Refined Direct Mail Strategy
- Clarity In All Business Operations
- Enhanced Team Management
- Strong Lead Management Flow
- Advanced Data Tracking
- Effective Marketing Flow
- Limited Marketing
- Targeting Constraints
- Poor Lead Management
- Difficult Team Management
- Reactive Marketing
- Ineffective Marketing Flow
- Empowered Data Management
- First to Market Strategy
- Automated Processes
- Strategic Focus
- Improved Lead Prioritization
- Enhanced Data Tracking
- Low Level CRM
- Successful But Hitting a Wall
- Missed Opportunities
- Poor Data Management
- Data Driven Decisions
- Full Data Clarity
- Consistent Deal Flow
- Strong Marketing Flow
- Lacked Marketing Clarity
- Difficult Marketing Flow
- Inconsistent Deal Flow
- Strong Lead Management Flow
- Strong Marketing Flow
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 moment came early this year, before any of the new deals. Two mail campaigns had flopped, and Neil traced the problem to targeting, not effort. His mind went back to the beginning of his journey: holding the courthouse door for two ladies who wanted to sell, his first deal, found in person at the records office.
I had that full circle moment earlier this year where it was like, okay, I need to get back to the roots.
He started pulling probate records again, this time daily and systematized, and locked up deals in the first month.
The Results
The first first to market closing was a Houston condo from the two-year back-pull. The seller had opened probate years earlier and was finally ready. Asking around $40,000 to $45,000, they contracted at $32,000, negotiated another $2,000 off, and sold at $45,000. That ended up a $15,000 wholesale deal, closed in roughly ten days to two weeks because the probate work was already done.
The mastermind post that started this interview tells the pace: first deal closing, four more first to market deals under contract, all since April. The interview month was tracking to around $40,000 in closed assignments. Before, broad lists meant spend that fluctuated month to month. Now overhead holds at $1,500 to $2,500 a month, and the goal is to push past $500K for the year.
Grateful for the community and the brilliant minds at REISift that have truly simplified our approach to this business.
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