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Why Consistency Beats Marketing for Real Estate Investors in 2026

By January 16, 2026Real Estate Pros Show


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Show Summary

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Micah Johnson interviews Tony Youngs, a seasoned real estate investor specializing in off-market properties. Tony shares his unique strategies for finding deals, including door knocking and building relationships within the real estate community. He discusses the importance of consistency, discipline, and learning from past mistakes in the industry. The conversation also highlights the human element of real estate investing and the significance of effective follow-up strategies for distressed properties. Tony emphasizes the need for investors to adapt to changing market conditions and to set clear goals for their business.

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    Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

    Tony Youngs (00:00)
    Because I’m consistent, I just keep doing it. And a lot of people say, well, I’m not going to do any work unless I know I’m guaranteed it’s going to work. So I may knock on 10 doors to get one deal, but then the next day I may knock on 30 doors to get one deal. But I stay consistent.

    Micah Johnson (00:02)
    Mmm.

    Tony Youngs (00:25)
    and I always have discipline. That is the key ingredient

    Micah Johnson (02:02)
    Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I am joined by Tony, who’s been making serious moves in the real estate industry for quite some time now, especially in the off-market space. Tony, I’m glad to have you. Welcome in.

    Tony Youngs (02:17)
    Well, it’s my pleasure. Thank you, Micah.

    Micah Johnson (02:20)
    Absolutely, absolutely. I think our listeners are really gonna take something away from how you approach how you go find deals, pretty much in any market that you’ve found yourself in and the way to get those deep returns. So let’s dive in on that. So for people who may not know you yet, what is that main focus and what markets you currently operating in?

    Tony Youngs (02:40)
    Well, I live

    in Marietta, Georgia. So that’s my main market. go there. I go out every weekend looking for deals. And I like the hidden market, which is houses that are off market. So I go through neighborhoods looking for houses with no pride of ownership. And I contact the owners. ⁓ But I also go all over the United States to

    help other investors find deals. So I’ve door knocked in just about every all 50 states.

    Micah Johnson (03:19)
    And door knocking is pretty specific to your method, correct?

    Tony Youngs (03:22)
    Yes, and it’s not for everybody, I, you know, it’s all according to how you, what words you say when you knock on doors. So that is my main method.

    Micah Johnson (03:36)
    a little secret sauce, what have you found is one of the better opening lines when you’re gonna do that?

    Tony Youngs (03:41)
    Well, always say, you know, I’m looking to buy a home in this neighborhood. And I was just curious to see if you might be interested in selling in the future. And I’m always looking them right in the eye because eye contact builds trust. ⁓ you know, if they…

    Micah Johnson (03:54)
    Ooh, a lot.

    Tony Youngs (04:05)
    If they say, no, I’m not interested, I always ask them, do you know anybody else in the neighborhood that might be willing? And if they say no, I’ll say, do you know, is there any vacant houses in the neighborhood you know about? And usually they’ll give me some leads, you know, not all the time, but you know, those are the main things I say.

    Micah Johnson (04:24)
    Somewhere, yeah.

    I love that. And it takes the pressure off pretty quick. And it’s not really an intrusive question even out of the gate where I’m just interested in buying houses in the area. And I was wondering if you were selling, love that. Cause that’s really what you’ve been doing a great job with throughout your career. What has been the key to making that work consistently for you?

    Tony Youngs (04:31)
    Yeah.

    Because I’m consistent, I just keep doing it. And a lot of people say, well, I’m not going to do any work unless I know I’m guaranteed it’s going to work. So I may knock on 10 doors to get one deal, but then the next day I may knock on 30 doors to get one deal. But I stay consistent.

    Micah Johnson (04:50)
    Mmm.

    Tony Youngs (05:13)
    and I always have discipline. That is the key ingredient

    is when I plot a course of say foreclosure properties and I’m planning to go on a Sunday afternoon.

    if it’s raining or whatever, I know that I have to do it. And sometimes I don’t feel like it. It’s like going to the gym. Sometimes you don’t feel like it. But if you go ahead and make yourself go to one property, then the excitement comes and you start saying, wow, I’m finding some good opportunities here. I’m going to go to the next property. And you end up staying.

    for three or four hours and discipline is the key.

    Micah Johnson (06:50)
    and action seems to really breed action there. I used to sell insurance back in the mid 2000s and that was driving to door or driving to companies and cold calling and like strip malls and things like that. And I remember that feeling of that first one is like, all right, here we go. But once you get out and get going, it kicks in, you start feeling it. And then whenever you get one, there’s nothing like that. That’s one of the best feelings there is. You’re just like, what?

    Tony Youngs (06:53)
    Yes.

    Micah Johnson (07:19)
    Let’s go to the next one. Here we go.

    Tony Youngs (07:22)
    Absolutely.

    Micah Johnson (07:25)
    So throughout your, you’ve been doing this for a little more than 30 years. What were some moments where things got real for you doing this? Where a deal either went sideways or a time where you might need to have pivoted pretty fast.

    Tony Youngs (07:39)
    Well, the first thing that comes to mind is one time I bought a house and it had power lines in the backyard, those great big towers. And the house was beautiful. I mean, I fixed up the inside. It had the biggest kitchen. It was a house I would have loved to have lived in. And I did a fantastic job, got a good price, but I put it on the MLS.

    And I’d say 50 buyers came through that house and nobody was interested in buying it. And I said, I don’t understand. What’s the problem? They said, well, those power lines. So I learned never to buy a house with power lines in the backyard because people seem to think that that causes cancer. And so I

    There was all these other people living on the same street with those same power lines. And I would tell buyers, I’d say, well, go talk to them and see what they think. Ask them, do you have cancer? And ⁓ it’s some kind of Aaron Brockovich type thing or something. don’t know. But so I learned to take note of if the house has power lines not to do it. But I finally did sell it because time heals.

    Micah Johnson (08:54)
    Yeah.

    Tony Youngs (09:07)
    all real estate wounds. It took about a year but what changed it is I found this lady and her son that I offered to sell it to them on a lease option and that’s how I got it sold and I still profited.

    Micah Johnson (09:27)
    I think that’s important to do. I mean, once you do call it a mistake or whatever it is, once you get a property that has some issues that people don’t like dealing with, not losing your mind and just selling it at a massive discount to make it over helps out and keeping it profitable. Especially if you’ve got it at a deep enough discount. Cause even though a year had to go by knowing that and learning, Hey, I can lease option this, do this this way and still.

    get a profit out of this deal turns, like you said, a wound for a time, it heals it and allows you to keep moving on. Have there been any other parts about houses that you’ve noticed that if I buy it, if it has this certain thing, it takes longer? any of those little secrets that you found?

    Tony Youngs (10:44)
    thing that comes to mind is a house I bought where the the backyard was six feet high and grass it was like a jungle and I I said well I’ll just get my guys to get a weed eater and chop all that down and then mow the grass but it turns out there were thousands of branches and ⁓ tree branches

    underneath all that grass. And ⁓ it was virtually impossible to get rid of without getting ⁓ a bulldozer to come in and just run over it a thousand times and grind it into the dirt. So I didn’t expect to have to pay for that. And so…

    It was an expensive lesson. So now if I see high grass, I walk through it to see if it’s ground underneath. I mean, it may be hard to comprehend right now, but I mean, that was so thick. It was like three feet thick and just nothing but branches and things.

    Micah Johnson (11:45)
    Yeah.

    No, I’ve seen yards like that as well. it just goes to show you, do your homework on the property. Take those extra moments, because the moment you assume something about one, man, that one, that particular thing seems to come back and get you each time.

    Tony Youngs (12:16)
    Yeah, and on a positive note, you’ll see a lot of houses that may have cracked foundations. So that scares a lot of people away, but we still buy them. And what we do is if you call a property inspector, they charge $800 to come out and inspect these cracks. But if you call a foundation repair company,

    they will come out and give you a free estimate and tell you what’s wrong with it. So if you get three or four of those, they give you these estimates and some are much lower than others, but you realize it’s not that big a deal. And then you can also use that to better your purchase price. So.

    Micah Johnson (13:09)
    Any information you can take back during the inspection period is super helpful, especially with a seller that’s not wanting to come down on price or thinks they have something that’s worth a little bit more than it really is. ⁓ So looking ahead, what are you most focused on or solving this year? What’s your team’s goals for 2026?

    Tony Youngs (13:13)
    Yeah.

    Well, we plan to keep working the hidden market, the off market properties. And like I mentioned before, I go visit all the foreclosures in my area. I use MapQuest to plot a course. And that gives me a reason to be out there. I’ve definitely got something to go instead of just going driving for dollars.

    which everybody says, I’m going to go driving for dollars. Well, that can get quite boring, especially if you don’t know where to go. So I use the foreclosures to choose the neighborhoods I’m going in that month or that week. And then every time I go to a foreclosure, I talk to those people and then I drive the entire neighborhood and I find three or four other distressed houses.

    in those neighborhoods, even if it’s a million dollar neighborhood, I can find a hidden market property in that neighborhood. Even, you know, you know, there’s no discrimination on the the the price range. But I do like to stick to houses at five hundred thousand or less. Those are my favorite type of neighborhoods. But.

    And so my goal for this year is to really work it hard because I’m seeing a changing market in 2026. I’m seeing more more homes sit on the market. And so that makes hidden market or off market property owners more willing to accept lower offers. And I myself, I only like to buy houses that need work because it

    justifies a lower offer. And then if you have some good rehab experience, like the sole proprietor, you can get the work done cheaper than the going rate. I don’t just hire a general contractor and say, you know, send me a bill when you’re done fixing it up, because they’re going to make all the profit. And so you’ve got to be smart when you’re

    You’re doing your rehab too.

    Micah Johnson (16:38)
    So you’re being as detailed as you can be from the beginning of the process, how you’re picking, where you’re gonna go. You even said, is it Sunday afternoons? Do you have a certain day that you go each time as well?

    Tony Youngs (16:49)
    Well, it doesn’t matter really, because I’ve been every day of the week and I get basically the same results. But I choose Sunday afternoons because it works for my lifestyle. ⁓ But I do want to say that I’ve been out on Saturdays and no one is ever home. There’s more people home on Sundays.

    But most people think nobody’s home during the week, but you’d be surprised. If I knock on 10 doors, five of them are home, whether it’s a Wednesday or a Sunday. But I can tell you that Saturdays, I think people are spending their paychecks at Walmart and no one’s ever home.

    Micah Johnson (17:38)
    Yeah, I wasn’t thinking about

    it that way. I definitely agree with the weak time because a lot of times you’re dealing with someone that’s elderly or doesn’t have a job or like what’s causing the situation for them to possibly need to sell their home at a discount is what has them at home, right? It’s that very thing. So just putting yourself out there and getting in front of them at any point is super helpful.

    Tony Youngs (17:55)
    Yeah.

    Micah Johnson (18:05)
    Let’s switch gears for a second and talk about for those who are listening that are earlier or in their career, they’re trying to level up. What’s made the biggest difference for you when it comes to building relationships in this business and growing your network.

    Tony Youngs (18:19)
    Well, you know, I go to investor club meetings and build relationships. play golf and I really get great relationships with business associates on the golf course. ⁓

    and I’m a member of the National Real Estate Investors Association, which is a nationwide investors association. So I meet all the people I ever need at those events. And I recommend if you have a local investors club, you should go to those meetings because like minded people.

    Micah Johnson (19:00)
    Hmm.

    Tony Youngs (19:00)
    you’re

    going to meet the connections you need. If you need realtors, inspectors, ⁓ rehabbers, you’re going to find them at places like that. ⁓

    Micah Johnson (19:11)
    But it’s all about filling your tool belt. As you get further and further along in your investing career, you start to see all the different tools that you need. if they’re just a phone call away, life’s way less stressful.

    Tony Youngs (19:24)
    Yes, you’re so right.

    Micah Johnson (19:32)
    So you mentioned.

    I wanna double tap back on something. we’ve talked about.

    You build your list, you look for specific things, you target foreclosures. Are there any other people that you’re door knocking that you’re looking for? there any besides that particular one? How do you make sure you have enough or what to you is enough on your list to go out and knock on?

    Tony Youngs (20:07)
    Well, I plot a course of about eight or 10 foreclosures, but I always come home with 30 distressed houses every time. I could go out to the same area and I seem to spot other ones. So I come home with 30 distressed hidden market, off-market properties on my list.

    and I just keep pounding those. So while I’m out there, I knock and then I leave a flyer on the door. And then I come home and follow up with a phone call because it’s so easy to get everybody’s phone number now. And then I also, it’s easy to get their email address so you can text them, you can call them. I gotta tell you.

    A lot of homeowners get a lot of phone calls. ⁓ so that’s not the best way to do it, but you can follow up with a text because when you make phone calls, you’re going to be leaving a message a lot of the time. ⁓ so you follow up with a text and then you send an email also. And then I actually send a letter to those people too. Now,

    I only send 30 letters a week, but the reason I do it is because if they didn’t respond to my door knock and my flyer and my phone call and text, maybe that letter has a chance. It may not. I don’t expect it to, but it just might be the only way they contact me. And then of course,

    Micah Johnson (21:51)
    Hmm.

    Tony Youngs (22:00)
    I send those same letters two or three times. About every two or three weeks, I’ll send letters again. over the years, I’ve just amassed this massive list of nothing but distressed houses. You can’t buy that on the internet. It’s unique to me and you.

    When you build your own list of distressed houses, you can just keep sending to that because you know as well as I do that somebody may not want to sell today, but a month later, they may want to. Their circumstances have changed. They may be going through a divorce. They may get transferred. So I’m just going to keep targeting those distressed houses that need repairs.

    And all I need is one, you know, one a week or two or whatever. I mean, it’s when you set goals, this is a great time for your listeners to set goals. They need to decide how much money they want to make and they need to write out how they plan to accomplish that. So every year I write the goal on

    what I want to accomplish and then I break it down into monthly goals and weekly goals and daily goals. So therefore I’m on track and I just keep pounding those same lists because if I got 30 hidden market properties this week and 30 last week and 30 the week before, that list just keeps growing and that’s where I hire other people to

    Micah Johnson (23:48)
    Yeah.

    Tony Youngs (23:52)
    do a mass mailing. But you just got to keep pounding it. It’s not as easy as it used to be. And I hate to be blunt, but you’ve got to be willing to work for it. Look at all these people, Micah. They have tons of money. I mean, the hedge funds, the institutional buyers, they’ve got bottomless pockets and they’re going to keep marketing.

    Micah Johnson (23:55)
    you

    No.

    Tony Youngs (24:22)
    There’s even billboards in every state I go to that say, guaranteed offer, and they advertise, but they have to do five or 10 deals just to break even. And that’s why I like going out in neighborhoods, because I can make a profit on every deal. I mean, I have this other friend who he sends 35 hundred

    thousand postcards every month and he gets eight to ten deals basically. ⁓ But that’s a lot of money he has to you know the first three or four deals break even you know.

    Micah Johnson (25:03)
    It is.

    Exactly, and it’s, you start to run into, especially, one thing I like that you’re saying, and I recommend this if you’re listening, understanding the kind of business owner that you are. Some people don’t mind overhead that much. They will, they’ll run overhead up, they have that more of a mentality where they’re looking for that, where not everybody likes writing $150,000 checks each month just to pay their bills before they make any money. That, if you don’t have the right mindset for it, it’s stressful.

    very stressful, especially if you don’t come from a lot of money and all of a sudden you have money around and you see, my God, how do I pay this? How do I pay that? Even though you’re doing this thing you love to do, it’s sucking the life out of you. And it’s creating all this stress in your body where when you’re doing the way you’re talking about, and one thing I love about driving and seeing a property is you’ve seen it. You’re not just sending mail, which is the most expensive form of marketing until you get to the TV world in real estate.

    It’s the most expensive form. has the longest return on investment if you’re just shooting it out there willy-nilly. But when you’ve seen the house, you know what it looks like, what it needs, and it’s not the only one, that’s when you start to really capitalize because that you had the door knock touch, you had the flyer touch, that makes your phone call more credible. It makes your letter more credible. And once people start to see you, it’s like you were talking about earlier.

    You’re picking a distressed house. These are human beings going through a hard time. That’s one thing you got to understand about real estate investing. That’s typically not a happy sale in a sense, except the relief that you’re providing them during a really difficult situation. That is normally who you’re dealing with. So the more humane you can be about it is the best I’ve learned to do it where it’s don’t forget that. Don’t forget that’s a human over there. And then understanding how humans work. The chances of them just opening the door and saying yes.

    That’s your lowest statistical probability. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It just don’t go in expecting that. And then knowing, I bet you you have the data on when you get your most sales, what touch it actually is where it starts to see, okay, getting people this far into the process is when they really hit. I remember a friend of mine’s company, they called somebody, it was like on their 75th call on day 30 something, where the person finally answered the phone.

    and was finally in a place to want to sell their home. And they made a six figure profit on that deal simply because they just didn’t stop. They didn’t assume anything about the owner that they don’t wanna do this. And you said it a second ago, you never know when that life changing situation happens. I think statistically now it’s everyone experiences some sort of life changing situation every 90 days, whether it’s for good or bad or whatever it is, we all go through things and you just never know.

    when it’s that time.

    Tony Youngs (28:01)
    You are so right.

    Micah Johnson (28:05)
    So before we wrap up here, I really appreciate our talk, Tony. If someone to connect or collaborate with you, what’s the best way to reach out to you and get ahold of you?

    Tony Youngs (28:16)
    Well, I think my website, TonyYoungs.com, remember Young with an S. There is an S on the end of my name. But TonyYoungs.com, is, if there’s a button that says contact Tony has my phone number, my email, that’s the best way. so anyway.

    Micah Johnson (28:41)
    I was on it before

    we recorded. So it’s a good website, has everything you need there. You can learn a little bit more about Tony and how long he’s been doing this. And I really appreciate you, Tony. We’ll make sure that link is under description on this episode so that you can find it easily. again, thank you so much. I appreciate your time, your story, your perspective. I love meeting people who are out in the space, doing the work, getting it done.

    building those real businesses. So if you’ve gotten value from today’s episode, please like the episode, subscribe to our podcast. We’re gonna have more conversations with operators, just like Tony who are out there doing the work and building a real business. Thank you so much for joining us. We’ll see you on the next episode.

    Tony Youngs (29:24)
    And thank you.

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