How to Buy Houses in States You Have Never Visited ft. John Misarti

**This week I'm joined by John Misarti, an investor who genuinely wears a lot of hats. Over the last decade he built "I Will Buy Your House For Cash" from a couple of New Jersey counties into a cash-buying operation that now fields off-market deals from California to Florida, launched an investor-focused syndication business targeting 20 to 100 unit apartments in the Southeast, and started his own podcast along the way. He is exactly the kind of scrappy, systems-minded operator I love talking to.** **We dig into two things I was really curious about. First, how he made the leap from investing in one local market to executing deals at arm's length across the country, and the team-building lessons that made it work. Then we get into the tech, especially voice agents, where John went from total skeptic to a full convert after his AI agent "Jessica" locked up a contract 2,500 miles away on an after-hours call. If you have ever wondered how a lean operation can punch way above its weight, this one is for you.** **Episode Timeline & Highlights** **\[0:00] – Jordan introduces John Misarti, an investor who wears a lot of hats** **\[2:11] – John's three buckets: cash home buying, syndication, and a podcast** **\[2:36] – How "I Will Buy Your House For Cash" acquires off-market deals across the Northeast** **\[5:36] – From hating corporate finance to a first flip and going all in in 2018** **\[7:37] – Why wholesaling is cheap to start but brutally competitive** **\[8:23] – Using an authoritative SEO push to pull leads across state lines** **\[9:37] – The real challenge: executing deals at arm's length from another state** **\[10:53] – Building boots-on-the-ground teams through local Facebook groups** **\[13:27] – Lessons from deals that went wrong, starting with cheaper is not better** **\[15:04] – How technology became the great leveler for a one-man operation** **\[16:20] – The old manual stack: List Source, skip tracing, Excel, dialers, and Podio** **\[17:44] – Meet Jessica, John's AI voice agent who books deals while he sleeps** **\[21:11] – Going from skeptical to sold on voice agents in five minutes** **\[26:39] – The California deal Jessica locked up 2,500 miles away, after hours** **\[29:18] – Why people do not mind talking to AI if it removes the friction** **\[32:32] – Where AI goes next: investor updates, webinars, and property management** **5 Key Takeaways** 1. **SEO Can Expand Your Market for You — John's authority-focused SEO push started in a couple of New Jersey counties and naturally spilled across state lines as reviews and backlinks grew. He now receives deals from California to Florida without ever setting foot there.** 2. **Hire People Better Than You — Executing deals at arm's length comes down to building a local team you can trust. Find your realtor and GC through local Facebook groups, empower them, and manage from a weekly check-in.** 3. **Cheaper Contractors Are a Red Flag — When a GC is dramatically cheaper, dodges naming you on their insurance, or has no online reviews, treat it as a warning. Make the best decision you can and empower them with bonuses and referrals.** 4. **Always Answer the Phone — Motivated sellers move fast and rarely leave voicemails. An AI voice agent that catches every call, including overflow and after-hours, turns missed calls into contracts, as it did on a deal 2,500 miles away.** 5. **People Don't Mind AI If It Removes Friction — Callers do not care whether they are talking to a person or an agent, as long as they get where they need to go with zero friction. Trained well, and always honest about being AI, agents build trust rather than break it.** **Links & Resources** - **smrtPhone (sponsor) — the only phone system built for real estate investors, connecting your calls, texts, and AI voice agents to a best-in-class REI CRM. Listeners get 5,000 free calling minutes. —** https://www.smrtphone.io - **That Real Estate Tech Guy (all episodes plus discounts on real estate tech platforms) —** https://thatrealestatetechguy.com - **John Misarti's "I Will Buy Your House For Cash" (his off-market home buying business; confirm the exact URL) —** https://iwillbuyyourhouseforcash.com - **Corner Store Millionaires Podcast (John's podcast interviewing business owners) —** https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/corner-store-millionaires-podcast/id6789637428 - **Corner Store Millionaires Podcast (show website) —** https://cornerstoremillionaires.podbean.com **Big thanks to John for coming on and being so open about how he built this thing, market by market and system by system. If you take one thing from this episode, let every call get answered, because that is where the deals are hiding. Head over to thatrealestatetechguy.com for all the episodes and some great discounts on the tech we talk about. More high-signal conversations coming next.**