Rishi Teli
Rishi Teli has been a guest on Collecting Keys, the real estate investing podcast hosted by Mike DeHaan, Dan Austin and Dylan Koch.
The Real Estate Competitive Edge: Strategies to Win Over Sellers w/ Rishi Teli
SCALE member Rishi Teli walks host Dan Austin through his first wholesale deal in Austin, Texas: an unrenovated 1980s single-family home he found via SMS (backed by direct mail) in the first ten days of marketing. He explains how a 35-minute rapport-building phone call and an in-person offer presentation beat three competing offers that were only emailed, and how an unrecorded will nearly derailed closing ten days before Christmas. The assignment fee was $33,000.
Key takeaways
- Running two marketing channels at once (SMS plus mail) reinforces credibility — sellers who get a letter and a text are more likely to treat the call as legitimate.
- Don't lead with price. Rishi's first call never mentioned an offer; he pointed the seller to the company website, built trust for 35 minutes, and booked an appointment for the next day.
- Delaying the offer 24-48 hours after the walkthrough, then reviewing photos to build the repair budget, avoids the mistake Dan and Mike made early on — offering $105K on a house that later sold to another investor for about $155K.
- Showing up in person to explain the numbers line by line won the deal; three other investors had submitted offers by email only and never visited the house.