The DealMachine Real Estate Investing Podcast

In this episode, DealMachine CEO David Lecko shares the exact framework he uses to turn AI into a reliable team member, writing out the playbook first the same way you would train a new hire, then letting it run on a schedule. He walks through real examples from inside his own company, including a customer success manager with zero technical background who connected AI to his CRM and closed a deal in his first six calls. The best part is that none of it requires code or a new hire, just a few hours to teach AI how you actually work.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - AI Hype vs Reality

1:23 - Team's Replacement Fears

3:02 - Treat AI Like Hiring a Person

6:09 - Customer Success Manager Example

9:22 - Six Actionable Steps

13:04 - Podcast Booking Automation

15:56 - Building the AI Org Chart

17:55 - Rolling Out Cloud to Employees

20:10 - How to Make the Org Chart

21:05 - Skills vs Agents Explained

22:01 - Combining Skills Under an Agent

23:20 - Monitoring State Regulations

24:36 - Outro

LINKS:

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Cold email might be the most underrated lead generation channel in real estate wholesaling, and Tim Yu breaks down the exact four-part system his team uses to get sellers to reply. He walks through pulling hyper-specific distressed lists in DealMachine, then writing personalized subject lines and value-first emails that earn the open. He also gets into the deliverability mechanics that keep your sending domains out of spam and the follow-up cadence that turns replies into real seller conversations.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - The 4-Part Cold Email System

2:49 - Part 2: Crafting the Message

4:25 - Subject Lines That Get Opened

5:19 - Writing the Email Body

8:37 - Part 3: Mechanics & Deliverability

10:08 - Tracking Your Key Metrics

10:54 - Staying Compliant (CAN-SPAM)

13:07 - Part 4: Email Follow-Up Cadence

13:57 - Turning Replies Into Deals

15:17 - Outro

LINKS:

Instagram: Tim Yu

https://www.instagram.com/itstimyu/

Skool: Tim Yu

http://www.skool.com/newbreed

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Join Us for DealMachine Unveiled: https://www.dealmachine.com/unveiled

Tom Nardone, the Millionaire Mailman, started investing in 1983 while still on his mail route and quit the post office at 35 to go all in. Today he runs a strategy most investors overlook: buying vacant land, dropping a brand new mobile home on it, and pocketing 75 to 125 thousand dollars per deal. He breaks down how he finds the right neighborhoods using Zillow comps and DealMachine to drive for dollars, and how Florida's hurricanes keep creating buildable lots. If you want a low-competition play most people haven't figured out, this one delivers.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - Intro & Hosts

1:34 - The Certified Letter Edge

2:42 - Life After Quitting USPS

5:17 - Starting Over in 2026

6:21 - Top Mistakes New Investors Make

8:45 - The Financial Bridge to Quit W2

12:29 - Raising Capital on Cruises

14:12 - Private Money vs DSCR Loans

16:59 - Lessons From Recent Deals

18:40 - Anatomy of a Six-Figure Deal

23:36 - The Gopher Tortoise Problem

26:28 - Valuing Lots & Square Footage

29:55 - Son's Glamping Venture

31:06 - What's Next: Subdividing & Metal Buildings

34:16 - Where to Find Tom & Final Advice

35:58 - Outro

LINKS:

Instagram: Tom Nardone

https://www.instagram.com/gethugechecksgmailcom/

YouTube: Tom Nardone

https://www.youtube.com/@TomNardoneMillionaireMailman

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Join Us for DealMachine Unveiled: https://www.dealmachine.com/unveiled

Fourteen years of wholesaling and fix and flip in Jacksonville, Florida, and Obi and Shelby Dorsey of Freedom Home Buyers are still at it while most investors have come and gone. In this conversation with David, they walk through what's actually kept the business alive across every market shift since 2011, from a disciplined buy box to a hard rule on marketing spend. They get candid about why scaling their team past 20 people backfired and how they settled into the leanest, most profitable version of the business yet. They also cover self-managing 35 rental properties and how they use DealMachine data inside their Salesforce CRM to find and close deals.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - Meet Shelby & Obi

2:53 - Why Wholesaling Is Their Focus

4:40 - How It All Started 14 Years Ago

9:38 - Shelby Joins the Business

12:30 - Evolving Their Marketing Channels

14:35 - Using DealMachine Daily

16:13 - Lessons From Scaling Up

19:59 - The Truth About Marketing Methods

24:27 - Their Perfect Buy Box

29:29 - Property Management Tips

32:18 - Advice for New Investors

34:01 - Where to Find Them & Name Stories

36:55 - Outro

LINKS:

Facebook: Obi Dorsey

https://www.facebook.com/obi.dorsey

Facebook: Shelby Dorsey

https://www.facebook.com/shelby.dorsey.9

Website: Obi Buys

https://www.obibuys.com/

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Join Us for DealMachine Unveiled: https://www.dealmachine.com/unveiled

Martine Richardson built her entire rental portfolio without putting a dollar of her own money down, and in this episode she shows exactly how. She walks through her private capital framework, starting with how to find deals below market value and structure funding from private lenders instead of banks. She also breaks down what those lenders actually want to hear before they'll fund a deal, and how to structure the deal so they keep coming back to fund the next one.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - The 20% Down Myth

1:18 - 5-Step Capital Framework

3:53 - First Rental Property Story

5:22 - Easier Than Wholesaling

6:13 - What Private Lenders Want

8:18 - The Freedom Funding Formula

12:13 - Handling Objections & Doubts

14:40 - Outro

LINKS:

Instagram: Martine Richardson

https://www.instagram.com/coachmartine_/

Website: Martine Richardson

https://www.martinerichardson.com/

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Join Us for DealMachine Unveiled: https://www.dealmachine.com/unveiled

Zachary Betters is a former physician assistant who now runs a 150-deal-a-year wholesaling operation out of Charlotte, plus a new construction division that's built as many as 100 houses in a single year. He started with one live-in flip he learned to remodel using a book from Home Depot, then built up rentals, fix and flips, and eventually a full wholesale system with a 26-person team. In this episode, he walks through how he found private money lenders through everyday conversations with people outside the industry, and how the business model shifts between wholesaling, flipping, and building based on what the market is doing.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - Intro & Business Overview

1:13 - The First Live-In Flip

3:38 - Medical Career & First Rentals

6:57 - Pivot to Flipping & First Hires

8:08 - Discovering Wholesaling

10:05 - Getting Back Into Flipping

11:21 - New Construction & Private Money

14:23 - Leaving the Medical Job

16:54 - Building a Team & Acquisitions Role

20:24 - Market Rules & Legislation

25:45 - How They Find Deals Today

29:19 - Kids & Why Real Estate

32:44 - Biggest Challenge & The Partnership

39:59 - Where to Find Him & Final Advice

41:56 - Outro

LINKS:

Instagram: Zachary Betters

https://www.instagram.com/zbetters01/

Website: Better Path Homes

https://www.choosebetterpath.com/

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Join Us for DealMachine Unveiled: https://www.dealmachine.com/unveiled

Damon Lines runs Sellers Advantage, a Southern California wholesaling company that spends over $1 million a month on real estate marketing. In this episode, he breaks down how that budget gets split across TV, radio, billboards, mail, and PPC, and why some channels lose money for months before they pay off. He also shares what building a 23-person team taught him about scaling marketing without losing control of the results.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - An Overview Of Damon Lines' Business

0:46 - Branding Across Markets

1:51 - How The Partnership Formed

6:53 - The Foreclosure Auction Model

12:45 - Selling The Company & Going Direct-To-Seller

14:57 - TV Costs & Marketing Mix

20:41 - Team Structure

22:09 - Scaling Too Fast & Systems

26:50 - Fox Appearances & LA Market

31:01 - What Buyers Do With Deals

34:58 - Damon's Investing Strategy

39:57 - Advice For Beginners

41:42 - Where To Find Damon

43:54 - Outro

LINKS:

Instagram: Damon Lines

https://www.instagram.com/damonlines/

Website: Sellers Advantage

https://www.sellersadvantage.com/

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Join Us for DealMachine Unveiled: https://www.dealmachine.com/unveiled

Most real estate investors don't have a lead problem, they have a time problem. Keith Gillespie breaks down the five efficiencies that collapse the time between a lead coming in and a closed deal, a framework built from more than a decade in the business. He also analyzes a real deal live on screen, a $67,000 Jacksonville rental netting over $575 a month in true cash flow with a DSCR above 4. The whole approach comes down to cutting the manual busywork so you can get offers out at volume and let real numbers, not feelings, drive your decisions.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - The Easy Way to Freedom

1:44 - The Five Efficiencies

8:13 - Deal Labs & the 90-Day Story

10:03 - How Deal Labs Works

11:29 - Live Jacksonville Deal Analysis

14:53 - Outro

LINKS:

Instagram: Keith Gillespie

https://www.instagram.com/keithg_rei/

Website: Deal Labs

https://www.deallabs.ai/

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Join Us for DealMachine Unveiled: https://www.dealmachine.com/unveiled

Seller financing in real estate can turn a $1,200 a month rental into an $1,800 a month deal where the buyer covers taxes, insurance, and repairs. Austin Hancock has converted more than 40 Oklahoma properties to this model, and he explains exactly how seller financing works, from structuring a contract for deed to setting up a lease option with rates between 10 and 12%. He also covers what happens when a buyer wants out early, why he offers cash for keys instead of foreclosure, and the legal mistake that gets investors sued.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - Intro

0:15 - Austin Hancock's Real Estate Business

2:28 - Quitting Spec Home Building

5:13 - First Rentals & Small Bank Financing

11:58 - Converting Rentals to Seller Finance

13:24 - How Seller Finance Deals Work

19:56 - When Buyers Leave or Default

22:41 - Lease Options Explained

28:39 - Ethics & Shady Investor Story

31:01 - Still Acquiring Deals?

32:33 - The Financial Impact

37:55 - Entrepreneur Identity & Fulfillment

45:04 - Race Car Driving Outlet

50:57 - Where to Find Austin & Outro

LINKS:

Instagram: Austin Hancock

https://www.instagram.com/austin.hancock1/

Website: Austin Hancock

https://www.austinhancock.com/

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/ 

Join Us for DealMachine Unveiled: https://www.dealmachine.com/unveiled

Zaman Pasha runs sales and acquisitions for a wholesaling business in Austin that went from 30 deals a year to 130 in just two years. In this episode, he breaks down the manual dialing strategy his team uses to track down sellers who won't answer the phone, calling relatives and other family connections instead. He explains why these messy title and curative title deals turn into some of their biggest payouts, with almost zero marketing spend involved.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

0:00 - Intro

0:14 - Zaman Pasha's Real Estate Business

1:31 - Turning Sales Into an Algorithm

3:02 - How the Business Started

4:59 - Splitting Land Into Lots

10:55 - Hiring a Non-English Speaker to Dial

13:04 - What Manual Dialing Means

14:25 - Confidence on Ownership & Using AI/Mentors

15:56 - Why He Doesn't Do Mentorship

16:55 - Cold Calling vs Manual Dialing ROI

17:49 - Hiring a Sales Killer & Lead Manager

20:21 - Marketing Spend Per Deal

23:00 - Mailers, Checks & Future Channels

24:25 - Scaling With Chip as Partners

29:07 - Austin Market Downturn

31:05 - Lessons on Building Processes

38:14 - Using AI & Written Rules

43:07 - Hiring With Test Projects

47:02 - Final Advice & Where to Find Him

49:27 - Outro

LINKS:

Instagram: Zaman Pasha

https://www.instagram.com/zaman_psha/

Website: Smooth Closing

https://www.smoothclosing.com/

Instagram: David Lecko

https://www.instagram.com/dlecko

Website: DealMachine

https://www.dealmachine.com/pod

Instagram: Ryan Haywood

https://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments

Website: Heritage Home Investments

https://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/