Concept
Deal Flow
What it is
Deal flow is the steady stream of property opportunities coming across your desk. Not closed deals, not offers — just leads that fit your buy box. The math from the Finding Deals transcript: the flip business runs on volume at the top of the funnel. You look at 100 leads, you might make offers on 10, you might close 1. If the 100 isn’t there, the 1 isn’t either.
Sources include the MLS (easiest to access, worst margins — “the easier it is to get access to that house, the higher the price is going to be, it’s simple economics”), direct mail, wholesalers, driving for dollars, cold outreach, and realtor relationships. Ross runs nine separate direct mail lists by audience and pain level. Each list targets a specific combination of buy box, seller type, and motivation.
Why it matters
From the finding deals video: thin deal flow is the silent killer of new flippers. “When you only see two leads a month, both start to look good.” You start bending the buy box. You fudge the comps. You rationalize overpaying. The max allowable offer stops being a ceiling and becomes a target you talk yourself into beating.
Full deal flow kills that. With real volume coming through, you can say no to most of them without feeling any pain. There’s always another one behind it.
Deal flow is also what lets you sit out a hot market. When prices run past where the math works, you don’t have to buy anything. You keep the machine running — mailers going out, relationships warm, MLS alerts running. Ross in the crash video: “The ones that succeed are the ones that stay in the game long enough to see around more corners.”
Flippers who stop marketing during hot markets have to rebuild the entire funnel from scratch when things turn. They miss the best part of the cycle.
How it shows up
From the building-lists transcript, Ross’s live setup: nine dynamic lists in Property Radar, each one a different combination of buy box plus audience plus pain layer. Pre-foreclosure list, probate list, widow list, owner lien, tax delinquent, vacant landlord, expired listings, brat list (inherited). Monthly mail run is roughly 2,335 pieces, mostly handwritten letters at about a buck a piece, with a six-month drip sequence following each initial letter. “I plan on buying maybe like 20 houses, maybe 30 this year.”
His funnel note: “I had the list be much bigger. There were times where I was spending tens of thousands of dollars on mail. But I’m not really wanting to buy that many deals. I need good leads.”
For a first flip, the full stack isn’t needed. One channel, worked hard. Pick direct mail and commit to it for six months. Or build three solid wholesaler relationships. One channel worked consistently beats six channels dabbled in.
The channel that takes zero budget and zero list: driving for dollars. Get in the truck, drive your target neighborhoods, write down distressed addresses. “It’s the cheapest way to build a list and it trains your eye at the same time.”
Related
buy box, max allowable offer, 70 percent rule, direct mail, list building, motivated seller, driving for dollars