The Best Way to Find Off-Market Properties in 2026 | Investor Buy Box Alerts

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In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Michelle Kesil interviews Russell Quealy, the creator of Off Axis Deals, a platform designed to connect investors and wholesalers with off-market real estate deals. Russell shares his journey of developing the platform, the challenges he faced, and the features that set it apart from other real estate platforms. He discusses the importance of community engagement and his plans for future expansion, emphasizing the platform’s accessibility for all types of investors.

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Russell Quealy (00:00)
so some of the features that we have, like I said, it was the, ⁓ the buy box. think that is a big one, just so investors can go in there. They can put exactly how many beds, how many baths, price location, just like you would for any, you know, normal safe search. ⁓ once a wholesaler go ahead, goes ahead and posts it, something that actually meets their buy box, they’ll be able to get a push notification on their phone saying that, Hey, something that meets your buy box is listed and that they can go and instantly,

Send a message to that wholesaler, you know, get some information and be the first one to the deal.

Michelle Kesil (02:01)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil, and today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Russell Quealy, who created a platform called Off Axis Deals, which allows investors to see off market deals. So, excited to have you here today, Russell.

Russell Quealy (02:23)
Thank you for having me.

Michelle Kesil (02:25)
Sure, so let’s dive in. For those not familiar with you and your work, can you share what your main focus is?

Russell Quealy (02:33)
So my

main focus is developing a platform where investors and wholesalers can come to. They are able to browse off market deals. It’s a centralized location for anyone looking to get something that’s basically off market. It helps with getting rid of some of the Facebook groups, trying to make things more streamlined. And it definitely helps a lot of out of state investors who are living in different states and like investing in somewhere like Arizona, for instance.

Michelle Kesil (02:57)
Awesome, so is this available nationwide?

Russell Quealy (02:59)
Yes, it is available nationwide and we are in the process of expanding to other countries as well, but that is, that is in the pipeline.

Michelle Kesil (03:07)
Yeah, and how did you come up with this concept?

Russell Quealy (03:09)
⁓ so I was browsing for some off market properties myself and this stems about five years back. I was looking for properties, couldn’t really see a whole lot. You know, Facebook was very unorganized. I’m not able to search for what I exactly wanted, what I needed, just my essential buy box. there were other, you know, email blasts, text blasts, so on, and they just, they seem chaotic to me.

I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get a house, that was off market. So I was like, see, I see a shortfall here. Let me go ahead, develop this platform. like I said, the, website’s currently live and we have apps to send push notifications for investor buy boxes so they can get, you know, notified when a deal comes up right away.

Michelle Kesil (03:53)
Awesome, so is this just for investors?

Russell Quealy (03:56)
Um, so it’s

right now, it’s an investor tool that they can use. They can find properties, uh, quickly, easily scroll it. I wanted something that would be similar to like a Zillow or a Redfin to where they can, you know, see a map. They can see the property, see exactly where it is and be able to make sure it matches their bribe box. But it’s also for wholesalers that are entering the game. They want more publicity. They want more people looking at the houses.

they’ll be able to just kind of go through, post their deals and just wait for those messages to start flowing in.

Michelle Kesil (04:27)
Awesome, and so how has this been utilized so far? Are people already using it and giving you feedback?

Russell Quealy (04:35)
So I’ve had a few people I’ve reached out to probably about a hundred to 200 individuals across Facebook groups. That’s the best way I can do it right now. We all know that it’s getting cold DMs from people on Facebook don’t always warrant a response, but I have had some pretty constructive conversations with a few individuals. Everyone that I’ve talked to, mainly in the Tucson and Phoenix area. That’s where I’m based out of.

⁓ everyone seems to really, really like it. I have been going through and posting people’s deals on there myself, just to get them more publicity, get some, some eyes flowing on the site. ⁓ but I do have about five to 10 regular users that are going on there looking for deals, and a few people that are posting right now.

Michelle Kesil (06:09)
What differentiates this from other type of platforms?

Russell Quealy (06:13)
So I think the big thing is the fact that we’re rolling out our application, just our mobile app. You can open it up. You can go ahead and scroll. It takes five, 10 minutes. You’re not sifting through, you know, different Facebook posts or WhatsApp groups. You can go there, get the job done. It’s a five minute ordeal and you’re done. If you’re a wholesaler and you’re wanting to post a deal, you hit the button. It’s literally just post deal.

You go through, fill out the information, post your pictures and you’re done. And then that’s available nationwide. You’re not going through posting on multiple groups or sending out email blasts or trying to make sure that you, you you included everyone because some of these newer wholesalers that are starting out, they maybe have one, two, maybe 10 investors that they’re actually in contact with, but this is going to give them nationwide access to every investor in the country.

Michelle Kesil (07:04)
Awesome. What have been some of like the biggest challenges in this creation?

Russell Quealy (07:11)
Writing everything from scratch. I have been writing everything, all the code for the website, for the applications. I’ve been doing all of that all on my own. It’s not necessarily my background. So it’s definitely been a learning experience for me. I’d say that’s probably been the hardest thing. And then right after that is I’m kind of an introvert.

So I do like, ⁓ yeah, I don’t, don’t enjoy reaching out to people just through the cold messages, through emails, through whatever it may be. It’s just, it’s not my thing.

Michelle Kesil (07:45)
Yeah, that makes sense. And are you an investor yourself as well?

Russell Quealy (07:50)
so I have invested in a few properties. have one fixed and flip when I live back in Texas, that went horribly wrong. ⁓ it was a bad contractor. ended up breaking even on the house. but other than that, it’s just been some house hacking.

Michelle Kesil (08:01)
Awesome. And so is that like the motivation behind creating this is like wanting to get more into investing?

Russell Quealy (08:10)
So yes, I’m always looking, always wanting to get into some sort of deal. I know right now the market is kind of crazy. Interest rates are still kind of on the higher side. They are coming down, but this was a way for me to stay relevant in the game. I didn’t want to just break away and just forget all about it. And then in five years, you know, come back in and everything is different. I wanted to stay somewhat relevant. I wanted to make sure that I know what’s going on and essentially doing research on my.

This is, this is a lot of research for me, just to know how everything’s flowing, what, what to expect whenever that time comes and I’m able to get back into investing and start doing, more flips or even just, you know, buy and holds just burrs. So.

Michelle Kesil (09:25)
Amazing. And so how are you looking to scale your platform?

Russell Quealy (09:30)
So I think right now is going to be adoption. ⁓ that’s definitely going to be the big thing. ⁓ we have, well, I have the ability to go ahead, run ads. once all of my apps are out, I’ll be running obviously, you know, meta ads. That’s the best way to do it. Everyone’s on meta, either Facebook or Instagram, trying to get that out there. I’m also going to be going through some of the Tucson because I’m centrally located in Tucson.

Going to some of the meetups there, talking to some of the people, and then making my way up to Phoenix. Phoenix is a little bit more difficult, it’s about two hours away, but trying to get my platform out that way. I’d like in the next, I’d say two years to have about a thousand users and continue to scale that way.

Michelle Kesil (10:14)
Yeah, amazing. What are some of the features of this platform?

Russell Quealy (10:19)
so some of the features that we have, like I said, it was the, ⁓ the buy box. think that is a big one, just so investors can go in there. They can put exactly how many beds, how many baths, price location, just like you would for any, you know, normal safe search. ⁓ once a wholesaler go ahead, goes ahead and posts it, something that actually meets their buy box, they’ll be able to get a push notification on their phone saying that, Hey, something that meets your buy box is listed and that they can go and instantly,

Send a message to that wholesaler, you know, get some information and be the first one to the deal.

in my opinion, I think that’s better than sifting through various emails. If these investors are sitting there, you know, on five or 10 different email lists or text blasts, they’re going to have to constantly be looking at their phone. At least for this, it’s like, Hey, here’s something that you, you might be interested in. Let’s go ahead and make this deal happen and get out of there.

Michelle Kesil (11:08)
Yeah, awesome. And does this work for real estate agents too?

Russell Quealy (11:12)
Yes. it works for real estate agents. It works for, ⁓ some of the firms. Like I know new Western’s a big one. ⁓ and Arizona is a couple of flip flow, I think is what it’s called. They’re able to use this platform as well. Get as many deals as they want, you know, in front of as many people as they want. some of them I know have been using WhatsApp groups. ⁓ I’m not really into WhatsApp. I don’t really know exactly what it is. I think it’s just a messaging form. but yeah, some of the people use like discord groups, but to me that’s just.

more things that you need to go sift through, you know, you still got 10, 15, 20, maybe even a hundred people in these groups. So if you have a normal, you know, day to day WT job, uh, you’re not able to always be on your phone. So you might not get those notice or you might not be able to sift through those groups and see what is, you know, something that might pique your interest.

Michelle Kesil (12:00)
Yeah, definitely. What are you most excited about for this launch?

Russell Quealy (12:05)
so

it’s, it’s a bit, it’s a bit nerve wrecking. You never think it’s done. You always sit there and you want to make tweaks. You want to fine tune it. You want to make sure that everything is perfect, but in all reality, you just have to do it.

So I think just getting the launch done, but I am hoping that it does pick up and people do start using it. I think that answered your question.

Michelle Kesil (12:23)
Sure. Are there any sort of things that you’re planning to add to the platform?

Russell Quealy (12:29)
Yes. there is a lot of things that I want to add to the platform. want to add, kind of like a community thing where people can ask questions. They can go, you know, talk to people that have done it before on both the investor and wholesaler side. so having that done,

There are the few other things that I wanted to get into. don’t know if I want to, you know, divulge everything’s just yet, but right now how I have it, it’s a working platform. It’s a working marketplace that people can go do everything they need to do. I do plan on adding community features into it where you can have forums. and eventually try and add some people, that are able to, you know,

advertise themselves to whether it might be a hard money lender, ⁓ or different agents and stuff like that. But there, there are multiple paths that I plan on taking over the next, I’m going to say about year, year to five years. So it’s a wide band that it’ll continually be developed. Even if it’s not being used, I am going to continue to develop it so that, you in five years, if it starts taking off, all of those features are implemented.

Michelle Kesil (14:13)
Yeah, that’s awesome. And so are you looking to kind of like expand it to all types of investors or is there any type of investor that this wouldn’t necessarily work for?

Russell Quealy (14:26)
This will literally work for every investor. Right now as it sits, can work for investors that are specifically just looking for land or specifically looking for commercial properties or strip malls, anything like that, all the way from townhouses, condos, single family rentals, multi-families. It can do anything. Anything that any investor is looking for, it has the ability to do it at this moment in time.

Michelle Kesil (14:48)
And so how are like those off-market deals getting published?

Russell Quealy (14:54)
So for a wholesaler to come onto the platform, it’s literally just one click, takes about maybe 30 seconds. They put in location, they do everything they need to do, put all the information. It’s pretty basic. Bed, bath, square foot. We’re not putting like property, parcel ID’s or anything like that right now. Maybe in the future that might be added in just so the investors can have a little bit more of their due diligence, make sure that the property is gonna align exactly what they want.

But that process is a minute, less than a minute, and it’ll be posted nationwide.

Michelle Kesil (15:23)
Yeah, that’s awesome. And are you like the one in the development, like doing all the technical work?

Russell Quealy (15:29)
It is 100 % me. I am, I’m the only one in this. It’s a, where, where’s, well, I’m a member manager, a single person LLC right now. Um, so I’m doing everything. I’m writing all of the code, uh, for the website, the Apple and Android apps, going through, doing everything, trying to do my own marketing, trying to get as many people as I can to use the platform. It is, it is 100 % me.

Michelle Kesil (15:56)
Wow, that’s awesome. Taking on a lot of roles.

Russell Quealy (15:58)
Yeah,

it is. It is very, I’m to say stressful. It’s fine, but it’s stressful. There have been a few times where I’ve like, I’ve said, I’m done with this. I’m not doing it anymore. And then someone will reach out to me and be like, Hey man, how’s it going? I’m like, ⁓ all right, I gotta keep going.

Michelle Kesil (16:04)
sure.

Yeah, it happens that way. It’s tough to be an innovator, but it’ll be rewarding in the end.

Russell Quealy (16:15)
Yeah.

I’m hoping, I’m really hoping. I think it’ll be very satisfying when it does take off, when it does gain traction and when people, more people are going to be using the whole platform itself.

Michelle Kesil (16:30)
Definitely. Well, before we begin to wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, learn more. Where can people find you and connect with you?

Russell Quealy (16:39)
so you’re more than welcome to head over to the website. It’s just offaxisdeals.com. or you can send us an email at support at offaxisdeals.com. we’ll be able to have it. Well, I will get in touch with you, talk to you, answer any questions that you may have. and for this, put, a promo code code of fuel20 on to get 20 % off a yearly membership. If you’re, so interested in doing so.

Michelle Kesil (17:00)
Amazing, thank you so much for offering that for the listeners and really appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being a guest on the show. You’re welcome. And for those listeners that are tuning in, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Russell who are building real businesses and we will see you all on our next episode.

Russell Quealy (17:03)
Mm-hmm.

Of course, thank you so much.

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The Best Way to Find Off-Market Properties in 2026 | Investor Buy Box Alerts

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