OM DENNE EPISODE
Caleb Luketic has spent the last decade obsessed with one question: where do deals actually come from? He runs Favor Home Solutions, an active investing operation out of Nashville, alongside Steel Marketing, the agency he built specifically for investors. Since 2017 he has managed over $20 million in ad spend across Google and Facebook, and in 2025 his team closed 154 contracts using nothing but SEO, PPC, and Facebook ads. No cold calling. No direct mail. No door knocking.
In this conversation with Jason Seward, Caleb breaks down the inbound playbook he runs in his own business every day, from the $800 first assignment fee that hooked him on organic SEO to the branding moves that have won him deals at prices $20,000 below the highest bid. He gets blunt about ad budget minimums, explains why your cost per lead is the wrong number to obsess over, and shares the one star review that turned into his best lead source. If lead flow is the bottleneck in your business, this is the field report.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
- Why real estate investors are actually in the marketing business and what changes once that clicks
- How to build trust and authority so motivated sellers call you before they call anyone else
- What the minimum viable ad budget really is on Facebook and Google, and why going below it wastes your money
- Why your cost per lead is irrelevant and cost per contract is the only number that matters
- How to respond to a bad review in a way that actually wins you future deals
- What to put in your Facebook ads and why AI generated video repels the motivated seller avatar
Timeline Highlights
[0:10] – Jason opens the show and frames it as field reports from people doing deals right now
[1:03] – Caleb's background: $20 million in ad spend since 2017 and 154 contracts closed in 2025
[2:25] – How Caleb and Jim Ingersoll connected roughly a decade ago through the dealmaker community
[4:31] – The mindset shift that started it all: investors are not in real estate, they are in marketing
[5:56] – An $800 first assignment fee, then $15,000 the next year, all from organic SEO
[6:45] – A plain English explanation of what search engine optimization actually is
[8:24] – How AI search changed the game and what AEO, or AI engine optimization, means for investors
[12:03] – How Caleb accidentally built a marketing agency without knowing what an agency was
[16:14] – The one thing to take from the whole episode: branding matters more than the tactics
[17:09] – Why a motivated seller in crisis wants empathy from a human, not a logic bot
[18:56] – The three branding moves: Google Business Profile, real reviews, and testimonial videos
[21:41] – Winning deals at $5,000 to $20,000 below the highest bid because sellers trusted the brand
[25:26] – The mold house bad review, and the response that later won a better deal nine months on
[31:50] – The hard minimums: $3,000 a month on Facebook, $5,000 a month on Google ads
[34:42] – Why cost per lead is a vanity metric and cost per contract is what you should track
[38:33] – The "your house is killing you" AI ad, and why AI video kills the 55 and older avatar
[41:54] – June's numbers: 80 leads and seven contracts at $175 a lead
[45:25] – Why leads are only half the equation and follow up systems close the gap
Resources Mentioned
- Caleb Luketic — the guest's site, covering agency services, newsletter, and one on one coaching — https://calebluketic.com
- The Operators Brief — Caleb's free newsletter on marketing, sales, and systems, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays — https://calebluketic.com
- Steel Marketing — Caleb's SEO, PPC, and paid ads agency for investors and service businesses — https://steelmarketing.org
- Favor Home Solutions — Caleb's Tennessee based cash home buying operation — https://favorhomesolutions.com
- 608B Capital — episode sponsor, a hard money lender for fix and flip, BRRRR, and value add deals, plus a debt fund for accredited investors — https://608bcapital.com
- Elite Dealmakers Discount Program — episode sponsor, nationwide discounts at Lowe's, Sherwin Williams, and more for community members — https://elitedealmakers.com/discount
- Deal Maker Academy — the national community referenced in the closing CTA — https://elitedealmakers.com
- Go High Level — the CRM Caleb uses and recommends for lead follow up — https://www.gohighlevel.com
Connect and Subscribe
If this episode made you rethink the money you are pouring into cost per lead, go do the three branding moves Caleb laid out before you touch another ad campaign. Share this one with the partner or acquisitions person who keeps asking why the leads are not converting, and go find Caleb on his site or through The Operators Brief if you want to go deeper. Subscribe, leave a review, and pass it along to someone who is serious about leveling up.
Dealmaker Catalyst is rooted in the culture built by Jim Ingersoll and the nationwide Dealmaker community.
