The Louisville Case Study
How one investor generated $540,000 in wholesale profits over 24 months — from inheritance leads, in a single market.
Meet Mike Gorius
One market. Quiet discipline. Two years.Mike is a wholesaler in Louisville, Kentucky — a USLeadList subscriber for two and a half years, running a single market. In 2024 and 2025, back to back, he generated roughly $270,000 in net wholesale profit per year on a total marketing budget of about $40,000–$45,000. A sustained 7x return over 24 months, from a single data source.
This report is the honest breakdown of how he does it — the mail stack, the phone system, the deal that shouldn't have closed, and the lessons any investor can apply. No stock photos. No hand-wavy stats. Just the actual playbook, from a live conversation with Mike.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I can't remember if our first call was a year ago, but it's the same thing." — Mike Gorius, on running the same system for 2.5 years
Part One — The System
Four moving parts. Pull one and the numbers fall apart.Mike's system has four moving parts: the mail stack, the phones, the appointment, and disposition. Here's how each piece runs.
The mail stack — three touches, monthly
Mike runs the same three-touch sequence on every inheritance lead delivered in Louisville. Every piece carries a directional 90% ARV offer. Same sequence, every month, for 2.5 years.
Faux check mailer
High visual pattern interrupt. Lands within days of data release.
Blue postcard
One month later. Same offer, different format. Reinforces without repeating.
Green postcard
One month after that. Catches sellers who needed time to think — often the biggest deals.
The phone system — nothing sits
Leads route through lead manager → acquisitions → Mike, with only a 10-second hold at each stage. Speed-to-lead is near 100%, and lead-to-opportunity is typically under 24 hours. Appointment-to-contract conversion runs 1 in 3 to 1 in 4.
The most important discipline: Mike's team knows every USLL file is an inheritance lead. They never bring it up. They let the seller volunteer that information at their own pace. That single practice builds more trust than any script ever will.
A 7-acre property with a private pond. Unusual, hard to wholesale. Mike's team said, "we're not gonna have buyers for this." Instead of walking away, they invented a play:
- Got a limited un-notarized POA from the seller — seven days of MLS exposure only, no off-MLS offers accepted.
- Used the listing to advertise a one-time buyer walkthrough.
- Disposition rep cold-called every active buyer in the ZIP via InvestorBase.
- 22 buyers showed up. Every buyer had 24 hours to submit a bid.
- Ran a live phone auction. Final assignment: $37,000.
The kicker: this was a Touch 3 response. The seller had been sitting on Mike's mail for two months. Cut the sequence short at Touch 1, and this deal doesn't exist.
Part Two — What this means for you
Five lessons, in the order that matters most.- 01
Run one list well for two years.
Mike hasn't jumped data sources. The compounding effect of sustained execution on motivated data is the single most under-appreciated force in this business.
- 02
Three touches, not one.
Touch 1 catches the obvious ones. Touch 2 catches the reminders. Touch 3 catches the sellers who needed time — and those are often the biggest assignments.
- 03
Answer the phone.
Speed-to-lead is the cheapest competitive advantage in real estate marketing, and almost nobody actually does it. Near-100% pickup wins the seller before your competition's voicemail is even returned.
- 04
Don't lead with the death.
Mike's team never brings up the inheritance. They let the seller earn the right to share it. That discipline builds trust no script can match.
- 05
Get creative on disposition.
The 22-buyer walkthrough turned a "no buyer" property into $37K. Sometimes the difference between a $50K wholesaler and a $270K wholesaler isn't the leads — it's whether they'll invent a new way to move the property.
Ready to see if your county is open?
USLeadList caps every market at three subscribers. Some counties are full. Others aren't. Take one minute to check — or book a call and I'll walk you through it personally.
Mike Gorius gave permission to be discussed by name in USLeadList marketing materials. All numbers and tactics are drawn from a live recorded interview conducted May 2026. Mike uses Open Letter Marketing for direct-mail fulfillment; USLeadList also offers in-house mail through Yellow Letter for subscribers who prefer a single vendor.