Wholesaling Real Estate With $0 Marketing (Relationship Strategy That Works)

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Show Summary

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Michelle Kesil sits down with Michael Breedlove, a real estate investor and founder of Good Shepherd Homebuyers, to discuss his journey into wholesaling and real estate investing. Michael shares how he transitioned from ministry into real estate, starting with house hacking and fix-and-flips before finding his stride in wholesaling. He explains how relationship-based, organic marketing helped him build momentum without significant upfront capital, and how networking, consistency, and service have driven his business growth. The conversation highlights the realities of scaling a solo operation, managing time as a family man, and building sustainable systems while staying values-driven.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Good Shepherd Home Buyers, LLC’s Website
    • Good Shepherd Home Buyers, LLC on Facebook
    • Good Shepherd Home Buyers, LLC on Instagram

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Michael Breedlove (00:00)
  it took longer to sell and all these kind of things. So at the end of the day, he made about $3,000 on his investment and I made $0. And then about a month later, I did my first wholesale deal and in a matter of like two weeks, I made over $10,000 and it was like, okay, I can continue to try and bust up cast iron tubs and myself and do a bunch of demo and do all this grunt work and try and maybe make the fix and flip thing work where I can kind of really go all in on the wholesaling side.

  Michelle Kesil (02:00)
  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 chat with, Michael Breedlove, who is a real estate investor focusing on wholesaling. So, excited to have you here today, Michael.

  Michael Breedlove (02:16)
  Great, yeah, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

  Michelle Kesil (02:18)
  Absolutely. think our listeners are going to take something away from how you’re approaching creating this business and yeah, using relationships to really strengthen the business that you’re creating. So let’s dive in. First off, for those not yet familiar with you and your work, can you share what your main focus is?

  Michael Breedlove (02:38)
  for sure. So I started my wholesaling business and really kind of fix and flip slash wholesaling but really focusing primarily on the wholesaling side right now. It’s called Good Shepherd Homebuyers and I started that in the towards the middle of 2024 and I am just outside of the New Orleans area in Louisiana and so we definitely have an interesting market here. A lot of nuances to our market things like

  insurance which has just been crazy with all the hurricanes and things and we run into a lot of houses with foundation issues and things like that so ⁓ a lot of off-market potential a lot of very active buyers ⁓ but you also have to be very careful when you’re you know looking at deals and running numbers and all those things so but overall it’s a great business and

  thankful to be able to help sellers and solve problems and connect with buyers and help them as well in their ventures and also kind of see it as an opportunity to be on both sides of the marketplace for sure.

  Michelle Kesil (03:45)
  Yeah, definitely. And where did you get started on your real estate journey? Like, how did you decide to become an investor?

  Michael Breedlove (04:43)
  Yeah, for sure. Great question. ⁓ I don’t come from a family that invests or whatever. was probably I was one of the first in my family to even own a home to begin with. And my wife and I got married and just were like everybody else like, OK, I guess we should buy a house. And what does this look like? And how do we do this? And we bought our first house, not as investors, but just as people that wanted to buy a little starter home and start a family. And then, ⁓ you know, I’ve also been a pastor for a long time and served in youth ministry and things.

  and there’s just not a whole lot of money in that in income. And so I’ve always tried to find some supplemental income here and there and discovered bigger pockets years ago and just started listening to podcasts and listening to audio books and just trying to learn and absorb as much information as I could about investing. And so in about 2017, we bought our first investment property. It was a house hack, a fourplex that we owner occupied and we moved into one unit, renovated it and we were able to live

  there and low money down since we were owner occupying and it was a great investment still own it to this day and it’s been a great ⁓ cash flow and great business venture for us there. So ⁓ my wife and I continue to just kind of have kids and now we have five so we’ve obviously outgrown the apartment style living and had to get a primary and found it, renovated it and refinanced, pulled out some money, bought another property. So we’ve kind of done little by little almost like one every other year.

  or so for a little bit. And then, you know, as I was just really kind of doing some more self-evaluation and really setting goals for myself a few years ago, about two, two, three years ago, I really started to really look at my life and examine the path that I’m on and is it leading me where I’m trying to go. And so I decided to take a step back from youth ministry first season so I can better focus on real estate and focus on providing for the family more. Like I said, having five kids and my wife being a

  home mom and being the sole provider is ⁓ a big responsibility. took that dive and kind of was the initial plan was to do some fix and flip and did my first fix and flip and took a year to do that from start to finish. Anything and everything that could have went wrong went wrong. And had a private money partner who put all the money up and I did all the work and kind of found subcontractors and things to do work and went way over budget.

  it took longer to sell and all these kind of things. So at the end of the day, he made about $3,000 on his investment and I made $0. And then about a month later, I did my first wholesale deal and in a matter of like two weeks, I made over $10,000 and it was like, okay, I can continue to try and bust up cast iron tubs and myself and do a bunch of demo and do all this grunt work and try and maybe make the fix and flip thing work where I can kind of really go all in on the wholesaling side.

  I’ve really kind of taken that to heart and kind of dove into that. so in 2024, I did two wholesale in deals. And then in last year, 2025, I did 12. So average one a month, which was my goal. yeah, so that was kind of the start of the journey and a lot of ups and downs in there, but that’s where we’re at.

  Michelle Kesil (08:02)
  Yeah, that’s amazing that you were able to just start and get out there and make things happen without that real estate background, essentially.

  Michael Breedlove (08:14)
  Yeah, for sure.

  Michelle Kesil (08:15)
  What do you feel are some of the main keys that have allowed your business to be able to grow and to run smoothly?

  Michael Breedlove (08:22)
  Sure.

  Well, you know, from the start of when I started doing this business, I didn’t have a lot of capital, didn’t have a bunch of savings, literally just kind of dove in and was like, I have to make this work like almost burn the bridges. There’s no turning back. Like you gotta gotta make it work and you have a family to provide for. So ⁓ I got a little bit of coaching and in that coaching ⁓ was just really kind of told like, look, you don’t have to spend a ton of marketing dollars. Just begin to put yourself out there. Use social media. Use

  your personal profile, like just let people know what you’re doing.

  Let people know that you’re looking to buy houses, that you’re looking to help sellers who are in distress situations and just go to every meetup you can go to connect with any investor you can connect with and just build those relationships. so for the first really over a year of the business, you know, from from midway of starting the business in 2024 all the way to August of 2025, I didn’t spend any

  marketing dollars. It was all just bootstraps, driving for dollars, letting people know what I’m doing. things weren’t perfect. You know, I would try I’m still feel like I’m terrible at social media, but I would kind of feel myself driving for dollars or leaving a note on the door, you know, making calls and things and just kind of let people know what I’m doing. And, know, I got a lot of referrals in 2025. My first my first seven of the 12 deals that I did came from zero marketing dollars spent. So just as an encouragement to those who

  or maybe listening who are saying, man, I don’t have a lot of money right now. I can’t have all this software. I don’t have all these tools. And it’s OK. You don’t have to have all those things. You could use Google Sheets. You keep some spreadsheets. And you can kind of track your progress in neighborhoods you drive. And there’s a lot of resources out there to skip trace and get phone numbers. And by the end of the day, just let people know what you’re doing and build those relationships. So I’ve really begun to just.

  focus in on that, just building relationships and letting people know what I’m doing and how I can help them. And I have found that as I’m helping others, then obviously the more I can help others, the more that it comes around and ends up helping myself and my family as well.

  Michelle Kesil (11:08)
  Yeah, that’s awesome that you were able to just put yourself out there and yeah, kind of use this more organic marketing model.

  Michael Breedlove (11:16)
  Yeah, for sure. I it takes a lot of work. Don’t get me wrong. And it’s not as predictable. that is ⁓ something that I’m working on this year is just kind of getting more predictable and diving more into the marketing side of things for sure.

  Michelle Kesil (11:21)
  Sure.

  Yeah, definitely. And are all your leads kind of coming from this sort of outreach method that you’re doing now?

  Michael Breedlove (11:41)
  So ⁓ back in August of 2025, so several months ago, I just started doing some ⁓ mailers, sending out mailers consistently. ⁓

  not a ton. I started with like 1500, I think I’m up to like 2000 mailers a month. So it’s not a massive amount of mailers like a lot of companies are, but just sending out a decent amount of mailers every month just consistently. Since August, I’ve been doing that and then also hired some cold callers as well just to kind of generate some cold call leads. I’ve been trying to, I don’t want to spend too much marketing dollars on a bunch of different channels. I really want to focus in on

  learning the nuances between at least those two channels for right now. The cold calling leads and the mailer leads because they’re different types of leads, right? Somebody’s going to call you from a mailer. I’ve gotten a lot of people who are like, hey, you know, don’t send me any more mailers. And sometimes those are the calls. some of the calls are like, hey, I got your mailer two, three months ago and I wasn’t ready to sell, but now I am. Can we have a discussion? ⁓ you know, trying to stay consistent with that and understand the differences between the two different

  different types of marketing channels there. And before I kind of venture into five or six different marketing channels, know, so just focusing on the mailers, focusing on following up with the leads that come in from the call callers, and then obviously continuing to just let people know what I’m doing and referrals and friends and, you know, I’m driving for dollars and those kinds of things as well. really focusing on those three and allowing that to kind of look back and begin to see how I can scale.

  how I can get, like I mentioned earlier, predictable. I want to be able to be in a predictable situation where I know if I spend this much on marketing, can expect to see this much return on ad spend and this much profit and that kind of thing.

  Michelle Kesil (13:36)
  Yeah, absolutely. That is exciting place to be. And so what are some obstacles or challenges that you’ve encountered while you’re getting started with investing that now looking back in hindsight, you can see more of the lesson.

  Michael Breedlove (14:33)
  Yeah, for sure. a couple of things, guess obstacles and challenges being one, I’m still a solo penurer for the most part doing everything myself from, ⁓ you know, apart from outsourcing some of the marketing, but still doing a lot of the amount and driving for dollars and follow up and you know, those kinds of things, getting on the phones, walking, making appointments. ⁓ I’ve learned to, at first I was just trying to go on any appointment I could just go on the appointment, go on the appointment. And now I want to begin to

  be more ⁓ time conscious and say, okay, if this is not really potentially a good opportunity or there’s not enough motivation or the lead just doesn’t make sense, then don’t waste time going on those appointments. But really, because I’m a solo penurer, I’m doing it all. Time management is something that I really have to continue to work on having five kids. And even this morning, my son was having some asthma issues and things and coughs. And so it was like, okay, we got to do some breathing treatments.

  and help him, but I also got to get to work and do different things and prepare for this ⁓ podcast and stuff. And so there’s always something going on. There’s always something you got to juggle.

  even things like once you get a contract, having to do the dispo and all those kind of things and follow up with transaction coordination and title companies. So I’ve learned a lot in terms of being able to make sure I’m following ⁓ a good system and trying to set up my systems of operations and stuff and what does it look like for me and all that. So I’m still trying to work on that as well. And then ⁓ I guess another

  of thing that I’m kind of being more conscious of as I’m doing deals and things is just making sure my contracts are airtight and there may be verbiage that I’ve added through the couple years that I’ve been doing this and verbiage I’ve taken out and things I need to change and even this morning was having a conversation with a partner that we did a deal and ended up that we were going to JV together and the end buyer backed out last minute and he had had some

  a ⁓

  for that and so ⁓

  So yeah, just learning experiences as I’m doing deals as every transaction is unique, every situation with sellers is unique. And so as we’re doing deals and things, I’m constantly learning, you know, nuances of even title companies and the way they work, their processes are all different. All the title companies can be a little slightly different. So learning which ones are, you know, investor friendly and which ones understand just the nuances of wholesaling and the delicacies there and things like that as well.

  So ⁓ all of that is part of the business and I feel like some of it can certainly be challenging but at the end of the day it’s totally worth just learning and growing and taking those steps and yeah making some mistakes along the way but figuring it out and making improvements so you don’t make the same mistakes twice.

  Michelle Kesil (18:02)
  Yeah, absolutely. It’s important to just continue learning along the way.

  What are you most focused on solving or scaling to next for your business?

  Michael Breedlove (18:14)
  Yeah, that’s a great question. think for me, what I’m looking to do in terms of solving and scaling is just figuring out the dynamic of time management even better and really time block certain times of the day that I feel like are going to be best for me to do follow up times of the day or times of the week to do driving for dollars and, and really looking at I’d like to get to my goal this year to be averaging two deals a month. And so what’s it going to take for me looking at all the numbers, how many phone calls will I need?

  to make, how many offers will I need to make every week, how many appointments do I need to go on, how many deals do need to have under contract in order to reach that goal of doing 24 this year and averaging to a month. So ⁓ just really beginning to dive into those things and understand that it’s really an input-output kind of thing. If I can input this much work and input this many dials, input this many leads, then I can see the output of this

  any deals come from that and really just see the numerical process for it and just kind of say, okay, well, let me make sure that every appointment I’m going on, I’m at least doing everything I can to make an offer. If it makes sense, just make the offer. Even if it doesn’t make sense, make the offer and allow the sellers then to kind of dictate, hey, is this gonna make sense? Is it not? And if it doesn’t, that’s okay, right? It’s not gonna be for everybody. And I also try and focus on giving everybody

  seller just here’s what your options are. Let me help you guide you through those options so that you can make the best decision for you and your family. ⁓

  I heard somebody say one time a line that I’ve used a lot is just, can’t tell you what to sell your house for. I can only tell you what I could pay for it. And so I just kind of use that as like a, hey, you know, this is, you know, don’t be offended if you feel like it’s too low, but this is just what I can pay for based upon, you know, the condition and based upon the market and all those kinds of factors. So, ⁓ but yeah, it’s just figuring out, nailing down all of my process procedures, really kind of getting my ⁓ SOPs in line.

  and all that so that ⁓ as I do look to potentially bring on you know a hand here there one or two hires just build a small team I can have every every process throughout every step kind of nailed down so that I can then teach somebody else how to do it and what it looks like and ⁓ because there’s no point in bringing somebody on if I’m not able to really communicate and train and effectively have them understand what their role is in the business so yeah.

  Michelle Kesil (20:52)
  Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s an exciting place to be, getting those foundations all set up.

  What is like one of the biggest things that you’ve learned that you weren’t expecting as you’ve started investing?

  Michael Breedlove (21:04)
  Yeah, I think one of the things that I’ve learned that I wasn’t expecting was that investors truly do want to help other investors. And earlier on, again, because I don’t come from a real estate background, I really just kind of had this mindset that like, oh, it’s going to be territorial and oh, these people aren’t going to want to share their contacts or they’re not going to want to hear what my struggles are how they can help me. And I’ve learned that it’s just the opposite. Again, being in a pastor

  pastor role for a long time and community is a big part of church and so but I’ve also realized that community is also a big part of real estate and so what I’ve learned is one to treat everybody fairly treat everybody with respect don’t burn bridges because it is a community and I have heard of others that have done business the wrong way and have seen a lot of the repercussions of that where people have even communicated me hey don’t do business with this person hey you know this person

  is a bad apple and you know their reputation has been ruined and and so but I really learned that once you begin to just kind of put yourself out there people are certainly willing to help and walk alongside of you and partner together because there’s enough deals to go around there’s enough sellers that need help there’s enough opportunity there for everybody to kind of kind of win and so how do we create win-wins for everybody and what does it look like to really partner together and

  and do deals together. So I certainly wasn’t expecting that, but it’s been a great benefit for myself and something that I try to encourage everybody is just, man, connect with as many people as you can, go to the local meetups and just find out what other people are looking for and find ways that you can add value to others. It’s very easy for us to walk up to somebody else and say, hey, can you do this for me? Can you teach me this? Can you show me this? But if you wanna sit down

  with coffee for somebody, you need to buy the coffee. If you’re gonna invite somebody to lunch because you want to pick their brain or you want to ask for help, then you need to pay for lunch and you need to be able to at some point in that conversation ask them like how can I add value to you? What do you need? What are you looking for? ⁓ And it may be something as simple as like hey I need another moving company. Okay great, a friend of mine owns a moving company. Let me set you up with that, right? Like let me hook you up with those kind of contacts and deals and you

  You and then that can turn into other things later on down the road for sure. But always look to add value to others before you try and take value from others. And as you begin to add value, add value, add value, you will become an asset to others and your reputation will become just that. That man, this is somebody that people want to work with. That you are a joy to work with. You’re a pleasure to work with because you do things the right way. You do what you say you’re gonna do. ⁓ And you follow through on the thing.

  that you say you’re going to do and so that can be a big thing in this business for sure.

  Michelle Kesil (24:07)
  Yeah, definitely. Well, before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out or connect, where can people find you and connect with you?

  Michael Breedlove (24:14)
  Yeah, for sure. think the best way is just on social media, Good Shepherd Homebuyers at ⁓ my handle on Instagram and Facebook and everything. You can search Good Shepherd Homebuyers or GS Homebuyers ⁓ and you can kind of find me on there. I’m an open book. I’m happy to kind of connect with people. So feel free to shoot me a DM and reach out. And I’m always looking to build those relationships and talk with people all across the country and all around the world. So happy to connect.

  Michelle Kesil (24:43)
  Perfect. Appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here.

  Michael Breedlove (24:46)
  Yeah, thank you so much. guys have a blessed day. I appreciate the opportunity.

  Michelle Kesil (24:50)
  Yeah, thank you. And for the listeners that are tuning in, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators who are building real businesses, and we’ll see you on the next episode.