Brad Bone is a longtime Collective Genius member who, alongside his twin brother Justin, has been investing in real estate since 2015 and built a wholesaling operation in Jacksonville, Florida while running it remotely from California. He's also the founder of River X, an AI platform that helps real estate investors automate follow up and appointment setting through their CRM.

This episode covers how Brad scaled a flipping and wholesaling business three time zones away, why he eventually paired his team down to run leaner, and how he turned an in-house AI follow up solution into a second company. If you're a real estate investor who wants to tighten your ROAS, fix your follow up, and understand when a side opportunity is worth building into a real business, this one is required listening.

Timeline Summary

[1:30] – Host Leon Barnes introduces longtime CG member Brad Bone and his two businesses in real estate and AI

[3:00] – Brad shares how he and his twin brother started investing in 2015 after buying at the courthouse steps

[4:30] – Growing up on a Kansas pistachio and cotton farm and where his work ethic came from

[8:34] – Watching the 2006 real estate run up plant the seed while selling advertising to mortgage brokers

[11:38] – Why direct mail replaced the courthouse steps and what it took to be a player in 2015

[15:18] – How attending IMN conferences pushed the brothers to leave Bakersfield for the Southeast

[16:01] – Picking Jacksonville almost at random and sending a cousin to run acquisitions on the ground

[18:42] – The real secret to operating remotely: building culture and core values over Zoom

[19:36] – Why pairing the team down to 10 to 12 people beat chasing growth for growth's sake

[22:04] – The 2026 theme of more marketing and headcount lifting gross revenue but not net

[23:42] – Lessons from 2021 rate hikes and why he stopped buying off inspection reports alone

[24:14] – Knowing your exact return on every marketing dollar and every employee

[26:46] – Where the AI idea started and hearing about ChatGPT from his barber

[31:42] – Launching the Rainmaker platform with real AI texting, emailing, and voice calls

[34:51] – His philosophy of letting AI set appointments and humans build rapport and trust

[36:58] – Treating AI follow up as a ROAS enhancer that takes you from 3X toward 6X or 10X

[39:32] – Narrowing the buying business to pure wholesaling for a simpler, cleaner operation

[42:35] – What his farmer parents think of two sons running real estate and tech companies

5 Key Takeaways

1. Pair Down to Scale Net — Bigger teams and more marketing can lift gross revenue without moving the net. Brad found his sweet spot at 10 to 12 people and treats leaning up as its own form of success.
2. Culture Has to Be Built On Purpose Remotely — When your team is three time zones away, culture and core values don't happen by accident. You have to make a deliberate effort to create them over Zoom.
3. Know Your Return On Everything — Track your return on every marketing dollar and every employee. In a tighter market, you can't blindly throw money at channels and hope they work.
4. Let AI Do Follow Up, Let Humans Close — AI is best at reengaging dead leads and setting appointments. Keep humans focused on rapport, trust, and solving problems, and you've got a winning split.
5. When You Solve Your Own Problem, You Build a Business — River X started as an internal fix for follow up. The opportunities worth chasing fit naturally into what you already do; the rest are just shiny objects.

Links & Resources

• River X — riverhub.ai
• Prime Buyers (Jacksonville home buying business) — primebuyers.com
• River X on Instagram — search River X AI
• Brad Bone on Facebook — connect directly
• Collective Genius Community — explorecg.com

Enjoyed This Episode?

If you've ever felt your follow up slipping or watched good leads go cold in your CRM, Brad's take on treating AI as a ROAS enhancer is worth a second listen. Share this one with an investor friend who's still trying to figure out whether their next big idea is an opportunity or a distraction. To hear more conversations with members who've grown through real trial and error, head to ExploreCG.com to learn more and apply.