How to Close More Deals & Master Disposition w/ Cody Cressey

Mike DeHaan: [0:00] Really quick before the show starts, in case you haven't heard, we have a growing community of investors called the scale community, which is full of people learning to make massive income with their real estate businesses, so they can reach financial freedom a little bit faster than building a rental portfolio solely over time, because honestly, that takes decades and who has time for that. So if you're an investor who is serious about growing and creating a scalable business without needing to be a slave to it twenty four seven, then go to collectingkeys.com/scale and apply. And if you're a good fit, we would love to have you join the community. So again, collectingkeys.com/scale, go ahead and apply, and see if you're

Cody Cressey: [0:37] a good fit. All seasoned wholesalers know that, but I really think that a lot of newbies don't.

Mike DeHaan: [0:43] What is going on, guys? Welcome to today's episode of the collecting keys real estate investing podcast. This is the show where you should make massive income, not just passive income with your real estate investing business. And today is Monday. It's the scale show. And I am super excited for today's episode, because we have on one of my really good friends who's also now one of my like, co partners in my local market here in Spokane, and is literally the most gifted, I would say, wholesale off market real estate salesperson I've ever met. So Cody Cressy, super stoked to have you on the show today, man. Just so people kinda know what you're about a little, like, give us, like, the three minute intro kind of how we met each other, what your business has looked like over the past couple years, and kinda what you specialize in now.

Cody Cressey: [1:33] Well, first of all, thanks for that intro, Mike. I'm tearing up over here. So I mean, think we started around the same time. It was like 2018, 2019, you know, and I just chose to do cold calling for off market deal finding. Wholesaling was supposed to be a means to an end. So we wanted to collect rentals and maybe do some flips. We started to cold call, we found that we were pretty successful at that. And we closed around, I think it was 49 deals. I was just rounded up to 50 deals for the first year.

Mike DeHaan: [2:01] The first year deal week in year number one. Yeah. That's freaking wild.

Cody Cressey: [2:06] And, you know, you say that in one sentence, but there's so many gray hairs here if anybody's tuned into the YouTube channel. I also did that from Europe. Maybe that's a different show for a different time, but I was living in Sweden. So middle of the night.

Mike DeHaan: [2:19] So yeah, you lived in Sweden, and you did 49 deals in your first year, all virtual.

Cody Cressey: [2:24] Yep. Yep. Working a regular job and then doing that in the middle of the night. So takes big action to get things off the ground. Right? Just like getting a plane off the ground. So So anyways, after that, we partnered up with some local guys and they brought some seed capital in. We did the whole song and dance with, you know, two, three salespeople, dispositions, TC, project manager. We're clipping like 60 flips out, maybe, I don't know, 80 wholesales a year. So like, hundred thirty hundred fifty deals for those following two years. And that was a lot of fun. That also is a couple sentences that packs a lot. But that's where I really cut my teeth in this business and learned a lot. Right? I still encounter deals where there are things that I've never seen before. But most everything, I feel like not most everything, but, like, you know, let's say 90% of deals. It's like, I understand how to do pretty much everything. And that's just from all those reps. You know what I mean? Ten thousand hours or whatever people say. So

Mike DeHaan: [3:25] Yeah. You've been a hustler just like, you know, Dan and I were. And I think that was why you and I kind of bonded so early on. So I remember back early, early, like, you know, 2020 when before Dan and had even done a deal yet, you and he would talk on the phone, like all the time, just talking about, like, deals and things that we were working on and, like, our goals and, like, random stuff. And it's funny because, I don't know, I considered you one of my really good friends long before I even met you in person.

Cody Cressey: [3:51] Yeah. Same.

Mike DeHaan: [3:51] I got remember the first time we met we went at the little restaurant, like, the pizza place that's kinda by my house, and we and we sat outside. Yeah. And you were like like, oh, dude. Like, you are a big dude. Know? Ali said that you were fit. You didn't work out. And I was like, I forget that I haven't seen you because I've been talking to you almost

Cody Cressey: [4:07] That we've never met in person. Yeah.

Mike DeHaan: [4:09] Yeah. Like, almost

Cody Cressey: [4:10] About a year. About a year before we met in person. Yeah. Forever. Well, I was stuck over there during COVID too. So that was another reason we hadn't met. You know?

Mike DeHaan: [4:18] Yeah. But, like, the thing that always stood out to me about about you is, you know, we approached the business from such a different way because Dan and I, we had engineering backgrounds. And so we approached things from this very, like, data driven analytical approach. And, you know, we had solid systems. We had solid marketing. Like, we were comfortable with that, but we weren't able to close deals. And then we started doing stuff with you guys with, like, some of little JVs. And we were just like, you guys don't do any of that. You literally just, like, are talking. And somehow these deals are falling in your lap. Yeah. And so like that, did you even realize at that point in time that you were doing something that was so out of the norm and we're crushing it that much? Or did you just think that it was that easy and everyone else was stupid?

Cody Cressey: [5:01] No. No. I I mean, we definitely realized it, you know, because we could see what our competitors are doing, we hear what people were doing. So, you know, we tried to stay humble, but in the beginning, we kinda could see that, like, okay. We're pretty good at this, you know, and why is that? And the quick answer is all that stuff you're talking about systems, marketing, KPIs, as important as it is, which I fully understood, I just went ahead and didn't do any of that, and I hired people to do that for me or partnered with people to do that for me or with me. So I never focused on those things because I'm a high eye for anybody that's ever done a disc profile test. And so I know that that kind of stuff, though I can do it and I can fumble through it, it's gonna take my focus off what I'm great at, which is sales and talking to people and taking care of people. That's my gift. So I guess we just stayed in our lanes and, like, you know, the first year, the accounting was a mess, and we figured that out at the end, you know, because we made $500,000 in our first year of business, and we're like, I think we'll figure it out. And we did figure it out. Right? So jump out the plane, build a parachute on the

Dylan Koch: [6:07] way down. Cody, from, like, my perspective hearing that the first time, there's a lot of people out there that would kill to do that many deals their first year. Right? And especially even now you're doing maybe one deal a month or two deals a month. Would you contribute like that eighty twenty principle of just doubling down on your strengths and maybe hiring out your weaknesses? Or if there's a one man operator who is like, hey, wanna get better at sales. What would you advise them to do in that situation? Well, I mean, I

Cody Cressey: [6:35] still think as a one man operator, there are services that you can pay for. It all comes down to your time, like, every single day. Like, I would just advise to maybe, like, sort of catalog your week and write down what you're doing every single week. And then you could go back and look at that and be like, how much time did I focus on offer making? How much time did I focus on prospect follow-up? And how much time did I focus on designing my business cards and KPIs and all this crap? Like, KPIs are the if you know, I think everybody knows what it means, but if you don't, it means a key performance indicator. If there's no performance, there's nothing to indicate.

Mike DeHaan: [7:09] Yeah.

Cody Cressey: [7:09] Right. So the the key is to produce. You know what I mean? And then figure out the systems and the things along the way. So I'm not directly answering your question, Dylan, but I'm agreeing with you with the $80.20 that I think that if you're really good at something, find something that you can pay for or a service or a person or a or a partner. You know what I mean? If you wanna scale, that's really the only way to go. I don't know anybody that has scaled a 7 or 8 figure wholesaler business by themselves. I've never heard anybody doing that.

Dylan Koch: [7:40] Totally. My origin story was I think it took me I think almost four or five months to do my first deal and that wasn't from lead flow. That's because I sucked on the phone. Sure. And right? And so someone like Cody comes in and just like starts slinging them without any of that stuff. It should be motivating and not, you know, the other way around to other people who are listening. Yeah. Exactly.

Mike DeHaan: [8:00] Yeah. Totally. So what do you think most people get it wrong, Cody, when it comes to doing sales like this? Because it's not like you just have your target demographic of sellers. Like, you've taken down deals with the old cranky landlord. You've taken it down with, like, the the nice couple that's, like, your age to Sure. The older single lady to Yep. The crackheads. Like, I've seen you do deals with every spectrum you could possibly think of on sellers. So what do you think the, like, average investor that's trying to get better at that? They they get it wrong.

Cody Cressey: [8:30] I think that they overcomplicate it. I think that they treat it like a sales job, like if you're selling solar or you're doing some type of door to door sales where you need to stick to this regimen, and I gotta walk them through my process. And because so many people are focused on all these books and all these podcasts, which are great. Like, those are awesome tactics to keep in your mind. But at the basis, I think where people get it wrong is they don't treat people like people, and they treat them like prospects. And I know that sounds really simple and, like, cliche, but it couldn't be more true. Like, when you're sitting in someone's living room, like I've told my old sales guys this, like, if they have dog hair on the ground and there's trash everywhere, you need to sit on that sofa if they invite you to. You need to get down on their level and look at them and mirror their body language and just listen to them. You know, we got two ears and one mouth. And I was taught that from our early age in sales. And I think that that's one of the keys that you can kind of remember on appointments and sort of be able to correct yourself by just listening more, focusing on being likable and matching tone. And I think that when I've gone on appointments with other people or or sales guys that I've trained, I hear them. Maybe it's because they wanna impress me because I was their boss at the time, but they're just yapping. You know what I mean? And they're not pausing, and you watch that encounter, and you're you're thinking to yourself, like, does that guy, like, like my guy?

Cody Cressey: [9:58] Like, I think at this point, he I don't know if he likes him or because he's not letting him speak. And it's really that that caveman. Like, I like you. I will sell house. Like, I'm serious. Like, you if you can get people to like you and you're close on price, they're gonna work with you. You know?

Mike DeHaan: [10:13] Yeah. Totally. I mean and perfect example of that, just this what this past weekend, you know, your sister's also very good at this as well. You guys have the same, I don't know, the the Cressy code over there. That's what you can call your your sales book when you wanna be a narcissist and write a book about yourself. But, like, she's she's also very good at this. And we literally got a deal here in Spokane, you know, that came in off of piece of mail. She responded to it relatively quickly. And there was competing offers that were $30,000 higher than she got the agreed to contract for. And fully came down to that the seller liked her better and was willing to give her $30 for just like rapport. And so like those of us that are kind of hardheaded, you can't even imagine that. But when you live in the live in the eyes of the seller, right, what are they worried about? They're worried about their own security. They're worried around their comfort of the transaction. They're worried about trust. They wanna give somebody $30,000 purely because they kinda like the vibe of that person better. Absolutely. Which is crazy.

Cody Cressey: [11:13] Absolutely. And, like, little bullet points on that were, like, this gal had a dog that she told Ali on the phone prior that she only likes girls, the dog. You know? And she told her a couple other little nuggets. So Ali remembered these and used them on the appointment in person, and she really trusted her. She had a great appointment, and she got the deal. You know? So exactly like you said.

Dylan Koch: [11:34] I mean, for anyone anyone that's listening, go like, rewind sixty hundred twice. Could just listen to all that again. That was like really good. But Cody, back up just a little bit. Did you have any formal sales trading from like a previous employer or books that you read? Or is this just all natural

Cody Cressey: [11:49] for you? I had a job from 2014 to 2018 working in sales as an account manager. Okay. So I got trained by my former boss, and he was a very talented salesman. It's always been a natural thing though, if I'm gonna be honest, you know, from yard sales as a kid, my parents could see it in me, and they're like, my gosh, that kid's gonna sell ketchup popsicle to the lady in white gloves or whatever. So it's been something that I've known about. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Right? So I never thought that, like, what what's my business? Salesman? Like, I need to start a business, and then sales will will complement that inside of that business. But the more that I've learned, the more that I've pushed in sales is that, I mean, life like, literally, life is sales. And if you get good at this skill, it's gonna help you out in every aspect, in my opinion. Having a smile on your face and saying please and thank you opens so many doors. Right?

Dylan Koch: [12:45] It does. Totally.

Mike DeHaan: [12:46] Yeah. It's huge. You know, and the funny thing is too is this isn't just on the acquisition side. But one of the interesting things that we've been going through with this whole, I guess, like, partnership that we started up just a couple months ago is, you know, for our backyard home buyers national company, we have a guy on our team that does disposition. And so kinda one of the thoughts, I guess, when we started up was that, you know, you guys get the deals, we kick it over to him, he would do the disposition for us. What happens so often is he goes and calls the same book of buyers that we've all used before. They won't give him the time of day, but then you call them. And even if it's somebody that you, like, kinda lightly know, you're able to get them interested in your deal. So you're selling it on the disposition side as well. Yeah. And so I guess do you have, like, the same sort of sales process or, like, I don't know, way that you approach those conversations, or is it kind of a different methodology because it's a more, I don't know, sophisticated individual?

Cody Cressey: [13:45] Yeah. Anybody that's listening, if you have a b to b sales background, it's definitely more in line with that. So now you're talking to a professional, you're talking to an entrepreneur, you're talking to somebody who's gonna put up their own capital. I think one of the biggest strengths that you can have as a wholesale dispositions manager or a solo operator doing dispositions is have some knowledge on rehabs. If you don't, you should straight up tell them that because these guys will sniff it out in a second. If you don't know what PEX plumbing is and Romex wiring is, you need to go Google that because these are just simple terms that these guys can spout off like that. And so with us having done a handful of rehabs in the beginning, I saw more success with dispositions when I knew what I was talking about, and then they take you more seriously. At the end of the day, if you're giving a great deal away, they're gonna buy it if you get it in front of them. But the deals that are on the line, those can be sold with tactics that it's almost like if you're coming across more experienced, which a lot of times at this point in my career, I am. There's a lot of investors that are on their seventh, eighth, tenth flip, and they know my old company name, and they know how many flips that we've done.

Cody Cressey: [14:54] So they trust us. You know what I mean? I take that seriously too. I don't want to sell people bad deals because I want repeat business. So, you know, getting off the rails, but that's kinda how I treat those.

Mike DeHaan: [15:06] Yeah. It's more reputation based. Right? Like, I I think a little bit. And then also too, like, you said people are gonna sniff out BS a little bit more when it they also have an expertise in what you're trying to do versus with a seller, they're typically coming from that position of desperation chasing security.

Cody Cressey: [15:21] But like b to b sales, like, they are like an account, basically, you know. So if anybody that hasn't done that or doesn't understand that, if you need to go to business school like I did, what they teach you in those roles for account management specifically is that's a relationship you need to foster. So we're talking about lunch on a monthly basis or at least a quarterly basis. Coffees, little gift cards, like because that guy is gonna buy multiple deals from you each year. You know what I mean? I mean, I bet you if we open up comments on this thing, how many people are actively doing deals, like, how many of you just text a list of seven to 10 buyers? I know you send out your Mailchimp of 1,500 buyers, but we all know it's like the same seven guys that are coming back around. So take care of those guys. Chop it up with them just like me and you did. You bought deals from me. I bought deals from you. And we spent hours on the phone. Therefore, we had trust.

Mike DeHaan: [16:11] Mhmm. Totally. And you know what's so funny too is like what you just said there about getting people on the phone and actually doing that. It is amazing how many people are just so resistant to it. Once you say Dylan, we thought we people ask us about Disbone scale all the time. And every time we say that they go, Okay, cool. That makes sense. So anyway, I'm gonna go sign up for Mailchimp.

Dylan Koch: [16:29] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, a lot of problems in this business, and not even problems, but a lot of issues can be solved just by picking up the phone on every aspect of this business. Yeah. And it gets better with reps. Like, someone who's not as naturally gifted like myself, like, Cody is, it just takes reps. You eventually get better at it too. Or hire a Cody. Those are your two options.

Mike DeHaan: [16:49] So something that I guess, like, when people are looking at I don't know. I would say, like, like, building out their sales process. You know, you're saying the as an individual, not as, like, a a product or a transaction. Ultimately, if you want scale, you have to have some level of, like, process or uniformity with it.

Cody Cressey: [17:08] Sure. Absolutely.

Mike DeHaan: [17:10] How did you approach that? Especially when you're at home front, you guys were doing several 100 deals a year. Yeah. Like, there's there's no way that every single one was just shooting from the hips. Right?

Cody Cressey: [17:18] No. No. Absolutely. Yeah. So do you want me to walk you through our process?

Mike DeHaan: [17:22] Or Yeah. Just just walk through the process or give like, what's some actionable stuff that people can use to better refine their sales process?

Cody Cressey: [17:29] It's a pretty detailed process. And I'm sure if you YouTube it or or Google it, like, you'll figure out, you know, different processes and stuff like that. But if I were to bullet point it for you, I mean, we start out with like a lead manager talking to the lead, and they do a warm pass over to the acquisitions manager. The acquisitions manager is gonna have a various amount of touches depending on the motivation level or the price level of the prospect. Right? So if we fast forward to the in person appointment or the on the phone pitch, Now we're going to talk about our script. And our script is reminding the seller of everything that they told them about the property, the condition, reminding the seller about how we're gonna help them and how we feel like this is a good fit for us, and this could be a win win. Right? And a lot of times we do this in person. I know a lot of people listening and a lot of people in scale are doing in person acquisitions in their markets, which I always believe is a more is gonna be a higher rate of contract and closes. You know? Depends on what you're doing. If you're doing a volume game nationwide or if you're doing it locally for one to two deals. So we'll pretend like we're doing it locally, one to two deals. Right?

Mike DeHaan: [18:32] Mhmm.

Cody Cressey: [18:33] And then after you give your pitch and you get your offer accepted, we will take a moment to explain to them exactly what's gonna happen next. So our transaction coordinator, Samantha or whatever, she's gonna reach out to you and she is going to get this into the title company. We're gonna open up escrow, deposit that earns money that we both agreed on. And then from there, you're just gonna be contacted for your signing appointment. So we tell them exactly what's gonna happen, and then we leave them with a folder that has all that information on a little one sheet with bullet points, really simple. Like, this is what's gonna happen because just like anybody, you're gonna retain about, you know, 20% of the information you just heard. So now they have something to revert back to. They have the acquisitions manager's business card. They have the transaction coordinator's business card, and they have a gift card for $20 to Starbucks, just as a little thank you from us, you know. So that's what we would do on all the in person appointments. And we had them in the office ready to be mailed out as soon as we sign a deal virtually, and we would send that out as well virtually. So now you're getting something. You're getting walked through our process. Right? Like, when you call Verizon or something, are you are they like, so what do you wanna do?

Cody Cressey: [19:39] Like, I don't really know. Like, they walk you through the steps. Right? We're gonna pass you here. Now you're on hold for this. Now you're there. Now you're with the customer service team, and we got your issue solved. So the prospects are looking for the same thing. They're like, where do I go now? What do I do? So you need to direct them through your business and have a process for that. And that looks different for everybody, but that's kind of how ours looked.

Mike DeHaan: [20:01] Yeah. Just setting basic expectations and actually doing what you say you're gonna do, which Yeah. You know, is fundamental courtesy for human beings on top of it. Right?

Dylan Koch: [20:10] Yeah. Exactly. But it's just saying, like, a confused mind takes no action or something like that. So you're just taking away all of

Cody Cressey: [20:16] the possible confusion and steps in the process and laying it out in an easy to digest format. Yeah. And that process was set for every lead. So even if we got a text lead where ARV is 300 and they want three fifty, everybody got an offer. So we still got on the phone, the acquisition guy still went through the script, they still made the pitch, And we actually got a lot of deals that way just by working the system.

Mike DeHaan: [20:40] One of the things we get asked about so regularly is around, like, specifically the offer process and how exactly you recover when, like, a seller rejects your first offer or, you know, that initial conversation that you have around the offer is, like, significantly lower than the seller's hoping for. I mean, I've seen you get deals in those sort of situations. Yeah. What are some tips or, like, thought process around, like, specifically the offer and and how to get better and how to, like, continue that conversation after they've they've rejected you?

Cody Cressey: [21:12] It's really tough to pinpoint. Right? Because every situation and every offer is so nuanced with what they need and how you're going to go for the close. Right? Specifically with real estate and in the fact that this is one of the only, like, high ticket items that is, like, negotiable. Like, when you're selling other things or buying other things, the price is set, and there's a little variance. But these twenty, thirty k swings, it's really fascinating if you think about real estate and how it can be sold and bought off market. But anyways, the way that we do it mainly is we'll sit down with the seller. And like I said in in the beginning, when we talked about the process earlier, is we'll remind them of everything that we'll we're gonna need to fix because we just want that to come up in their head again, that there's rehab to be done here, and there's work to be done. And along you know, setting that up, like, something that I've always done is on the appointment is I'll ask seller, like, well, what do you think that's gonna cost? Like, you know, that new kitchen. And oh, actually, we got a quote a couple months ago. It's it was, like, $15,000. You know? It's perfect. In my head, I know I can do a a kitchen from Lowe's for $7,500, including appliances. So, like, I'm so I'm doing this math along the way, and then I'm using that math against the seller at the end of the conversation. Hopefully, there's no sellers listening to this podcast. So I'm counting it all up. Right?

Cody Cressey: [22:33] So I think that math is a big deal when we're winning a lot of these deals that are close or there's other people involved because people are not stupid. So if they understand that their house is worth $300,000, we'll use that for some simple math, fixed up. Right? $30,000 to sell it. Now we're at $2.70. So we walk them through the rehab, and we say, so it's gonna be around 60 k. Like, we agree on that. Yeah. I I think it's gonna be around 60 k. So we take that off.

Mike DeHaan: [22:59] I wanna emphasize that part where what you just said right there where you say you agree with that because that is a collaborative discussion. Because we do sales training regularly in scale. And I've heard people start to do this, but the problem is they are telling them. This is what the what the reno is.

Cody Cressey: [23:15] No. No. This has to be a discussion like you're a consultant. You need to be the real estate professional. And that's something also that I'll preface these meetings is that I'm gonna walk around the property. I'm gonna do all this. I'm gonna give you an offer, blah blah blah. And if at the end of it, we don't end up working together, I just wanna point you in the right direction because I've been in this business for a long time and I have a lot of contacts, and maybe there's a different way I can help you out. And people really appreciate that, and we have done that before where we just pass it to a realtor or we pass it to, you know, whatever. Like, we help them out with a contractor or whatever they might need if they don't end up working with us, you know. And on that note, taking care of people, we've had sellers that we have not bought their houses, give us referrals and ended up winning those deals. So that's the whole thing. Like, you know, Alex from Mosie talks about that is taking a prospect and making sure you leave no stone unturned, asking for another referral, asking for repeat business. So anyways, back to the math, you know, so now we're at $2.10. Right? We're at $2.70 minus 60, and then we need to make a couple bucks, and we're gonna have some closing costs. You know what I mean? So I'm gonna be I'm gonna be at $1.70. You know what I mean? And so when you do it that way, there's no, like, questions in the seller's mind.

Cody Cressey: [24:27] The only questions are if they disagree with your rehab and they disagree with your ARV. Because nobody's getting around selling their house costs. Nobody's getting around closing costs. Those are all understandable numbers for them. You know what I mean? And so something that you can do, and again, I hope there's no sellers listening to this, is you can use comps that are slightly lower. So you know your ARV is $3.20, but they're saying 300. You know the rehab's 40, but they're saying 60. There's your spread. Yeah. There's your gap. There's your spread. And I think that all seasoned wholesalers know that, but I really think that a lot of newbies don't. And so and a lot of people don't use math. Like you said, Mike, they'll just say, hey. So we looked at the house. We really liked it. I think it's gonna be a really good fit for us, blah blah blah. They're just talking. They're not listening to the prospect. They're not asking for answers. And they say, we're gonna be able

Mike DeHaan: [25:15] to offer you a $120,000

Cody Cressey: [25:17] for

Mike DeHaan: [25:17] your house with, like, no explanation. And people are just like, what? I hope you guys are enjoying this episode. We are seriously trying to grow this podcast so that the voice of what it really takes to grow a real estate business becomes kind of the norm versus the guru get rich quick b s that everyone is fed on a daily basis. With so many podcasts out there, it is hard for us to get discovered on our own. So a quick ask, please share this episode on your social media accounts. Be that a real story, whatever. And if you tag me at Mike underscore invest, then I will give you a follow and I will also send you a DM so that we can have a little chat about your business and any ways I could potentially help you grow. So again, please share it on your socials. Tag me at Mike underscore invests, that's with an s at the end, and I'll follow you and we can have a little DM and convo about your business. And maybe I can help you grow a little bit, or you could just say what's up to you. That'd be awesome. But appreciate everyone, and thanks so much for helping us grow. Cody, you know, you're doing

Dylan Koch: [26:15] that and everyone has their MAO, like all these calculators, right? How far underneath are you guys starting on that MAO that you guys know that you can offer on these places?

Cody Cressey: [26:23] Yeah. I mean, depends. Right? If they've already set a number and I know it's hard or if there's no number at all, then I'm gonna go 10 to 20 depending on the rehab under the MAO so that I can negotiate a little bit and come up. Right? Oftentimes, those numbers are done on the spot as well. I don't have an m I m a MAO until I get to the property. You know what I mean? So that's a quick especially if you have salespeople working for you, maybe have them send you the numbers. When they get really good, they will understand how to do rehab and you'll have them going low enough. I know a lot of your guys do this, Mike, your sales guys, they go low enough to where there's room for error. You know what I mean? Rehab ends up being 80, but you have it projected at 60. You have, you know, a 30, maybe 40 k buffer to protect you. You know what I mean? So that's something I see. We all see new wholesalers do that. They go up way too high, and then they're dis bowing a non deal that they're trying to make at this point a thousand, maybe $6,000 on. You know? And so you need to create that 20 k at least spread in my opinion. That's the standard that I teach because that could still easily end up being a $5,000 deal. People might disagree with your ARVs, they might disagree with your rehab, and then you're screwed.

Dylan Koch: [27:33] The number one buyer complaint about other wholesalers is they don't know rehab numbers, which forces it to lock up the deals too high, which then puts a bad precedent for the seller because they think they're gonna get that price when no one

Cody Cressey: [27:44] can pay that price. Of course. Exactly. So what you need to do as a new wholesaler is listen to your buyers and ask them, what did I do wrong? What did you see on that? Can you walk me through the rehab on this? And then take some freaking notes and write it down so that you know that a new furnace costs $2,800, and you know that an AC compressor costs $1,700, you know a roof costs $7,500. So then you can write that down. It doesn't take that long, and then you can impress somebody the next time you call them back. Hey. I think it's closer to 50. I thought maybe 30, but, you know, you taught me about the whatever, and I put that in my calculations. You know what I mean?

Dylan Koch: [28:20] Totally. And if you're gonna make if you're off and you're gonna make 25, you can still probably make five, like, go back going back to that. Right? Exactly. Nothing.

Cody Cressey: [28:28] So, yeah, that's the pitch when it's a difficult one and there might be multiple offers or they're at a hard price. You know what I mean? Other than that, this the process is the same, reminding them of the pain points, reminding them of the rehab, and then just going confidently in with your offer. You know what I mean? Just because sometimes we don't explain the ARV, and we don't discuss a value. And Yeah. And we don't discuss rehab, and we'll just go in with our offer with confidence.

Dylan Koch: [28:57] Cody, have one more question on that. And sorry, Mike, I'll let you talk. When you're doing the appointments, and sellers can feel that confidence, are you doing these offers on the spot after you just walk through and trying to lock it up right then and there? And I ask that because I used to be like, okay I got my numbers, I'll have to go home, pencil it out, then I'll call you tomorrow, and then never pick up the phone again. Right? So like, what does that kinda look like for

Cody Cressey: [29:18] you guys? Totally. I think that my checklist for that was motivation. Right? So I would if I knew that there was motivation or I knew there was other people coming out on the appointment or I knew that the people were already there previous to that day or that week, then I'm gonna make the offer on the spot. Right? But if they're not in a hurry or if you have a really busy day and you really do need to pencil out the rehab because it's a lot higher or you were at an appointment prior and you just didn't get chance to run comps. Like, you don't even have an ARV to work your math off of.

Dylan Koch: [29:50] Yeah.

Cody Cressey: [29:51] Then I think it's fine. But what I do is I will get back to that seller the same day. You know what I mean? The same day. And I'll always when I leave, I'm always like, hey. Do you have my phone number saved as Cody, the house buyer or whatever? And they'll be like, yeah, I do. I do. I'm like, okay, did you save it? Like, you put my name in there and, you know, make a little joke or something? And they're like, yes, I did. You know, I just just checking. We get a lot of I get a lot of spam calls. I have rentals. I get how it goes. And so that confirms with them that they're gonna answer the phone because you just have that little joking moment, and people are simple. They're gonna just do it because you kind of, like, held their feet to the fire by asking. Like, when I call you, you know, you got my number. Right? Like, you know?

Dylan Koch: [30:30] Totally. Yeah. And if

Cody Cressey: [30:31] they ghost, there's not much you can do about that. You know what I mean? Other than just hound them and keep calling them.

Dylan Koch: [30:36] Show back up the next day.

Mike DeHaan: [30:38] Exactly. Yeah. Well, I mean, the speed delete is definitely like a thing that you're very, very good at being serious about too because, I mean, like, that a lot of deals we've got, we've gotten here since we started up again locally a few months ago. I mean, even right before this, you're like, yeah. We got a smoking hot lead that came in this morning, and you, like, drove out thirty minutes from your house to go

Dylan Koch: [31:02] walk down.

Cody Cressey: [31:02] That's why I'm, like, not shaved, and I have hat on. Like, I was I actually called Mike. I'm like, is this thing gonna be on video? Because I look like shit, you know? And that's because we got a lead, and I I have a busy afternoon. I knew I wasn't gonna get out there later, so I had an hour and a half in my schedule. So I got in the truck, and I went out and got the deal. And that's what I always tell the newbies I mentor is, like, get in the truck, go drive the deal, go make the offer, whatever you gotta do. This was a situation where an old man is being put into medical care, and the the gal out in Minnesota has power of attorney over his house, and she got our mailer, and she just needs to sell it. You know what I mean? So those types of leads are hot. So, you know, there's somebody living in the house. I pounded on the door. Nobody answered. I left a note with my phone number telling them the house is gonna be sold, and give me a call if you wanna work through it, but we're gonna buy it. So, you know, that's the stuff you gotta do.

Mike DeHaan: [31:53] It is. Totally. That's that's the hustle piece right there, which which is so important. But I think, in general, so many of the your strengths revolve around the fact that you treat all of these conversations with sellers as, like, a collaborative effort. You know? And I think that so many times I mean, so you're take you're talking about, like, the the comping and and rental thing earlier. We like, the call that we interviewed this that we listed this morning in our sales training for scale, they had a whole, like, peacocking with the seller because he told him what the comps were. Right? And it wasn't like a, hey. You know, this is what I'm seeing. It was like, well, the house down she only sold for 400. So, yeah, I can't offer more than that. Yeah. It wasn't a productive conversation. And, you know, even going or talking about, like, how you have them save your number and different things, I guess, like, yeah, I wanna make sure that we can keep in touch. You know? It's not like, hey. Can you save my number in your phone? Make sure that make sure that you know who to call back.

Cody Cressey: [32:47] No. It's all about tone and delivery. Absolutely. Yep. No. And there's there's two types of sellers, you know, like to speak to that. There are investor sellers, and there are your regular homeowner sellers with a big time fixer upper. Right? So the type of person that you are with the regular versus the second person is the mom and pop house flipper. It's just me and my sister. We grew up in Spokane. We've been doing this. We're able to scrape the living together. If they ask, then, yeah, we've done you know, we ran around 60 flips or something even though we've done 500. You know what I mean? So you you go at it with this humble, I'm a local. I'm just like you trying to make a living mindset. With the investor, that's where you can start to peak off, and you can do your thing because they people like that. That's just, like, how they they wanna put you in box and measure you. You know? Can you perform? Can you even buy this thing? I got, like, a 100 of these things. I live in Minnesota now. You know? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You know? I own, like, 50 doors myself. Like, we we but we're looking for houses all the time. I would love the opportunity to make you an offer, blah blah blah. You don't talk to sellers like that. They're just like they feel like you're above them immediately.

Mike DeHaan: [33:53] Yeah. Yeah. Totally. One more sales question before we get kind of into the the end of show stuff here. When it comes to long term follow-up, it's another question that we get a lot. So you've been rejected. You can't reach terms. Someone goes into your pipeline. You're gonna call them again in three months, let's say. How do you restart those conversations, especially when it ended with, like, your offering below they're willing to pay. It's not, circumstantial, like, they can't move out yet or things like that.

Cody Cressey: [34:19] Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. They go a little for something like this. You know? Like, they answer the phone. Hello? Hey, Mike. This is Cody. What's going on, man? Oh, who are you? Like, you know, they don't even know who you are. Oh, yeah. Back here at Homebuyers. Don't know if you remember. I went out and saw your house. Like, oh, yeah. What's up, man? Like, what what can I do for you? You know? And then I always just say, I was just calling to to check up on you. You know? I know I got a lot going on this week, and I couldn't remember if you ended up selling that thing or not. I don't know. I just try to call people that I've talked to a couple months ago once in a while and just sort of see what's shaking. I do it super nonchalant like that, and that's how I train sales guys on all calls in the beginning anyways. It's just to be very nonchalant, very much a person, you know. And people are so laid back when you talk like that. They're just like, oh, yeah. Yeah. I remember. Yeah. Yeah. Your your offer was way too low or I ended up going with a realtor or I sold it to your competitor or, you know, I haven't sold it. I'm still thinking, and then the conversation's back up and running and you resurrected that lead, you know.

Cody Cressey: [35:17] But the worst thing that we can have in our CRM, as we all know, is a bunch of babies sitting there. You know what I mean? So you're quickly getting to the point to whether you can push that thing off as a no or a sold or whatever, or you can move it back into the pipeline as an actively. You know what I mean? But the worst thing you can do is, yeah, hi. This is Cody with Backyard Home Buyers. I just wanted to follow-up and say those the f word. And it's like, just barf, dude. Like, I'm I'm immediately barfing, and I don't wanna talk to you anymore. And a lot

Dylan Koch: [35:48] of times in those specific situations that if it's been five, six months, reject your comps because they might sell at the same price, and that Totally. Comp might be

Cody Cressey: [35:58] We had that with Gardner, Mike. We're closing that today, you know, a $20,000 wholesale fee. That thing's been sitting in the CRM for eight eighteen months. That thing's been sitting in the CRM. You know? And he wanted the same number that we talked to him about seven months prior, but your old partners that you had were were morons, and they didn't see the potential. It was a deal all along. Yes.

Mike DeHaan: [36:19] I know. Yeah. Yeah. I think our record for that, we had one. I remember it actually came in our first batch of mail that Dan and I ever did. And it was this guy. He had, like, a sort of house hack triplex here. He's I own $300,000 for it. It's 2020. I'm like, that is ridiculous for this thing in this neighborhood. You know, and then sure enough, we followed up with him regularly. Two years later, we're in 2022, call him up and, know, hey, we did we did what you said not to do. Because that's that's how much we suck. And it's calling to follow-up. Yes, calling to follow-up. You know, you still would you are willing to consider offering a place? He said, Yeah, absolutely. It's like, I'll take $300,000 for it. We look at like, this thing is worth $500 now. Absolutely. Let's do it. Right? I think we had it we ended up assigning it to somebody. I think we made, like, a $50,000 fee.

Cody Cressey: [37:05] Wow.

Mike DeHaan: [37:06] But

Cody Cressey: [37:06] I mean, it doesn't matter that you said the wrong stuff. Like yeah. But the key there is that you've followed up, And fortune is in the follow-up. And we have to remember that we can't use these back end terms on the front end of our business. Right? I say that all the time. We just said follow-up. We say KPIs. We say all this all this real estate mumbo jumbo. We don't speak like that to sellers. We put on a regular person hat. You know what I mean? You need to talk to them like you talk to your wife or like you talk to your best friend. You know what I mean? Do you talk to your wife like this? Like, hey. I was just trying to follow-up on dinner to see like, desire to talk to your wife? And you you laugh, but it's so simple when you call a prospect and you say, hey. What's going on? Like, how was the week? Like, you you think I could get out there later this week, or what are you thinking? You know what I mean? That's how you talk to a friend. And so they're immediately disarmed. They're immediately collaborative. You're almost confused and looking for some help, and they they come to your aid on the phone. You know what I mean? Like, when you play up, a prospect plays down, and when you play down, they play up. Like, I always use the analogy, like, you stand in line at the DMV, and you look out the window, and you're like, man, this weather sucks. Yeah.

Cody Cressey: [38:10] Well, at least it's nice out. Like, that stranger just played up when you played down. But you could say something like, man, it's so nice. Yeah. Well, we're standing in line at the DMV, though. You played up, they

Dylan Koch: [38:21] played down. Oh, that's super good.

Mike DeHaan: [38:22] Yeah. I'm gonna start using that. Yeah. The the new wife analogy is great. Because so we had a sales guy on our team. It was a little while ago. We did a car review. And he said, on the call to seller, I wanted to if I could just slap him to the screen, I would have. He was like, yeah. How you doing, mister? Just wanted to to check-in with you. I'm hoping to lock up this this deal before the weekend. Oh my god. What the fuck, dude? Like, I was like, why would you say that?

Cody Cressey: [38:49] Let's go for the hard clothes, baby.

Mike DeHaan: [38:51] I know. Right? These no term lockups. Like, you talk to your wife that way. Hello, honey. I'm trying to lock up the sex for tonight. Would you would you like to

Cody Cressey: [38:58] So attractive. Women love to be spoken like that. Yeah. That's terrible. And it's a tale as old as time that ABC always be closing. Like, that's just how people are trained.

Dylan Koch: [39:08] Yeah. Well, sometimes the newbies, like, they'll get the supermoded laydowns that happened once in a blue moon, And that'll work. I know. And that'll that will reinforce the wrong thing. Right?

Mike DeHaan: [39:18] Awesome. Well, tons of good stuff, Cody. You had some great knowledge on this. We're gonna dive into our end of show questions here. And I you know our first one. So I don't know if you have one in the

Cody Cressey: [39:29] I don't know the end of show questions actually.

Mike DeHaan: [39:31] Know, the first one we've talked about it. This is always the crowd favorite. But what is your craziest real estate investing story? And I know you have some great ones. We have had some great war stories together. So you can pick pick whichever one comes.

Cody Cressey: [39:44] Yeah. I don't know, man. I mean, even when you say together, I just think of like that Cortland house, the story that you told me, and then I ended up buying that.

Mike DeHaan: [39:52] That was a great

Cody Cressey: [39:52] deal with those people.

Mike DeHaan: [39:54] Yeah, that was that was a good one. Or like the De Smet 7 unit that we flipped together. That one had seven stories in itself. Yeah. Each one like, the whole unit that we did there was, like, like, a Netflix anthology series that, like, has

Cody Cressey: [40:07] Totally.

Mike DeHaan: [40:08] Different stories for, like, each person. You know, they're, like, aren't really related, but kind of are.

Cody Cressey: [40:12] So many creatures out there. It was crazy. Yeah. We bought this seven unit together with Mike and Dan, Ali and I, and we bought it completely full of non paying tenants during COVID.

Mike DeHaan: [40:26] Yeah. It's in Washington state where you couldn't evict anybody.

Cody Cressey: [40:29] Yeah. We're like, we're gonna kill this deal. This is so easy. Cash for keys, every single one of them. So, you know, to speak to that, I mean, we made some good money on that. So that blind ambition works, but let me you know, this thing was hard. One of the gals we had I mean, every single person had a story, like you said, but one of the gals, Ali and I, had to go to her house every day for about three different days in a row until she was ready to move. Cause every day she said she was ready. We hired a moving truck. We sent it out there. I think we paid guys to, like, get all of her stuff out. And then she got in my truck with her four loco and, like, her attached CD player headphones and like, you know what I mean? She gets in the back and she's just, you know, it's like, I drive a four one f one fifty. There's so much space. And she's like, it's so great. What are you writing in? Like a limousine? This is like the best backseat on the market, you know? And so we drive her to the hotel where she's gonna stay, and she goes inside, and she comes out just, like, screaming and yelling. She's like, they don't wanna do it. They don't want this and that. You know? This lady could not have a conversation with anyone. So we have to go inside, talk to the manager, put the cash down because we didn't want our cards on anything. You know, we paid for, like, the whole week.

Cody Cressey: [41:40] And then we took her to the storage unit, and we got her in there, and she got a bunch of crap out, you know. So I mean, it's not that crazy of a story, but it's just it's the level of involvement that I think that so many people would never do. You know what I mean? She was the worst one. So we had, like, you know, three, four hours, whatever it was of pain and discomfort. It got our goal achieved, and we got her out. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Mike DeHaan: [42:04] Well, it's like saying the level of involvements like you and I were talking about yesterday. Like, I don't know. I just feel like most people get into the game these days aren't willing to do that shit. Like, it's it's like a different it was a different ballgame back then, man. Like, that whole property had so much, like, weird stuff. So that's funny. I didn't even know that story that you dealt with that. The one that always sticks with me is when Dan and I went to give the the one meth head guy that was the last one to leave his $5,000 they shook his down for.

Cody Cressey: [42:30] That's right.

Mike DeHaan: [42:31] We gave him the money, and he's like, I'm not leaving this. I could take the refrigerator. And then he, like, whistles over his buddy who's sitting in the parking lot in, a crappy old sedan, they go and they pull the refrigerator out. They strap it on the top of the sedan and just drive off into this Idaho neighborhood.

Dylan Koch: [42:46] Into the sunset. Oh my gosh.

Mike DeHaan: [42:49] Yeah. Just weird stuff.

Cody Cressey: [42:51] I got one more quick one. This is a cash for keys deal. This is probably the craziest cash for keys deal I ever did. It was a house out in a really nice neighborhood called Liberty Lake out here in Spokane. And an investor buddy of mine actually bought it and still lives there to this day because he helped me with the deal. It's a big, like, six bed, four bath house. Anyways, this doctor out of Maui calls me and tells me that he's got this house and needs to sell it. But the only problem is is his ex wife lives there, and she's not going. So we go to the house and we meet with this gal, and sure enough, she believes that she owns the house, which she has absolutely no legal right to. So we know we're gonna have to do some type of cash or keys deal. But this lady's got the fake boobs, the the, you know, the juicy gator, you know, nineteen nineties outfit. Like, she's like Liberty Lake housewives. Like, and if anybody's listening that's from Spokane or North Idaho, she kept pointing to Legacy Ridge and she's like, that's where I belong. I'm gonna be up there in Legacy Ridge. Like, you know what I mean? And so long story short, we went back and forth with this lady. We started a thousand dollars, and the deal was so good that we ended up needing to pay her $20,000

Dylan Koch: [43:54] Oh cash my her keys to get her out of the

Cody Cressey: [43:56] property after we closed. And the whole time, the doctor from Maui is calling me, and she's calling me, and I am a marriage counselor, fully in the middle of it. She's telling me like, what did Mike say this time? And I would tell her, and then Mike would call me and be like, well, what did she say about this? And like, and what was she wearing? And I'm like, what? Like, and he was such a creep because she was pretty good looking. And I could tell he was old, and he was so sad that he had, like, lost her. You know what I mean? And it was just crazy. Like, I was just in the middle of the whole thing, and we ended up getting her out. She got her $20,000. But, yeah, that's pretty crazy one too.

Mike DeHaan: [44:32] Yeah. But what'd you make on it, though?

Cody Cressey: [44:34] We made 60 k, I think. It was a great deal.

Mike DeHaan: [44:37] Yeah. So exactly. Right? Point being, you were willing to pay the $20,000 to make 60 k on it because why would you not do that? But, again, there's so many people that that they get locked in, like, these weird principles with stuff where they're like, well, that seems like way too much for cash for keys. If you're gonna make $60,000, who gives a shit? Like, that's such massive upside.

Cody Cressey: [44:57] Oh, yeah. If it meant the deal getting done, I would have done I would have done 50. If we were gonna make 10 or you know, whatever the math is, it does it doesn't matter.

Mike DeHaan: [45:05] Yeah, exactly. So awesome. We should just do like a whole segment of just you and me talking stories with stuff. Dylan, you can come

Dylan Koch: [45:13] to if you need to call

Mike DeHaan: [45:14] other people's stories better than them.

Dylan Koch: [45:18] That's true. That's true. But any content for your animated series, there's a good one right there.

Mike DeHaan: [45:22] Yeah, yeah, that is definitely good

Dylan Koch: [45:24] one.

Cody Cressey: [45:24] I'm just terrified these sellers are gonna find these podcasts one day.

Mike DeHaan: [45:27] Oh, that's fine. We we already got their house. We're good.

Dylan Koch: [45:30] Dude, we'll do the I guess the second one. I don't know. I think I know the answer for Cody, but if you could go back to the very beginning, what's one thing you would do differently? One thing I do differently in

Cody Cressey: [45:41] the beginning. Oh, man. I guess I would have focused more on systems and processes in the regards of, like, I mean, really, the only mistake that I felt like I really made in the beginning was moving too fast without a plan, if that makes sense. I know this is gonna be a very vague answer. But I would say to know I would say know where you're going and have a target. You know what I mean? Whether that's I want this many rentals or I want my business to look like this because a fault of being a high action taker and figure out stuff later is sometimes you don't figure that stuff out later, and you're just constantly taking action. And then you might just find yourself spinning one day, which is kinda why I saw it when I sold my my business in 2022. And so I would be intentional with the direction that you're heading. You know what I mean? And just stick to the plan.

Dylan Koch: [46:39] Sure. So have an end in mind, but that end can be dynamic as things go along.

Cody Cressey: [46:43] Right. Yeah. Things are always gonna evolve, but at least you have a goal. You know what I mean? Just like you set out on a race or anything. You know where you're going. And you're gonna stop till you finish.

Mike DeHaan: [46:52] Totally. Sweet. Alright. Where can people find you, follow you, and reach out to you?

Cody Cressey: [46:59] I think I'm like Cody Cressey. Or you just search Cody Cressey. I have a pretty unique last name on on Instagram, Facebook, whatever. I don't really do, like, Twitter or TikTok or anything like This

Mike DeHaan: [47:11] is how good you are at social media. This is how good Cody is at social media, Dylan. When he came down to KeysCon, I was talking about how I was going to the Alex Tremozi conference next week. And he goes, who's that? I had no idea.

Dylan Koch: [47:24] We're under a rock.

Mike DeHaan: [47:26] Yeah, small business owner had no idea. But I mean, that's why you're so successful what you do, though.

Cody Cressey: [47:31] I know. But I've seen the power of what other people have produced just from a referral standpoint and networking standpoint. And so it is one my goals this year rest of this year is to start to post more and start to be more involved. You know what I mean? So I will give that a shot to anybody that gives me a follow-up.

Mike DeHaan: [47:47] Exactly. If you guys want some more direct access to Cody and have helped you out some sales, should join the scale community. Click the keys.com/scale because he's starting to a lot more with us over there. And then you'll get to learn from one of the best in the industry. Cool. Cody do well, thanks so much for on the show, man. Tons of great information. I really, really appreciate it. And I'm sure we'll have you on again sometime in the not too distant future.

Cody Cressey: [48:09] Yeah. Thank you guys too. Super appreciate you, Dylan and Mike. Thanks, Yeah. That was

Dylan Koch: [48:13] great, Cody. That was a good episode.

Mike DeHaan: [48:15] Yeah. Absolutely. Awesome, guys. Well, thanks so much for listening. And we'll talk to you guys next week.

Dylan Koch: [48:20] Peace.