E8: How to Get a 10X ROI from Direct Mail Without Fancy Branding with Josh Ax

In this episode, I sit down with real estate investor and direct mail strategist Josh Ax to unpack how he built a high-performing business by combining old-school direct mail with a deeply analytical, tech-forward approach. Josh shares how he started in real estate by accident, scaled with seller financing, and turned a $13K down payment into hundreds of thousands in cash flow.   We dive into his exact scoring system for filtering seller lists, the mistakes most investors make with mailers, and how Josh consistently earns a 6–10X return on ad spend—without needing flashy branding or massive marketing budgets. If you're looking to level up your lead gen and actually close deals, this is the blueprint.     Episode Highlights   [0:00] – Introduction [1:44] – How a family emergency and a mentor's advice pulled Josh from ministry into real estate [5:03] – Buying a 35-unit building for $13K down using 99% seller financing [7:54] – Turning a single cash-out refi into $400K in capital for direct mail [9:40] – The first 2,000-piece mailer that produced $100K+ in profit [11:11] – How a single conversation led to building a proprietary delinquent tax list [13:03] – Common mistakes: wrong phone numbers, too broad targeting, poor list hygiene [14:17] – Josh's proprietary point-based scoring system for stacking seller motivation [17:18] – Recommended mailing cadence and how many touches it takes to convert [19:02] – Which mail formats stand out—and why pressure seal checks work so well [22:00] – Why direct mail beats TV, radio, and billboards in lower-priced markets [25:06] – The budget and consistency needed to actually win with mail [26:36] – Josh's most creative mailer and why even his competitors loved it [29:36] – What's next: turnkey rentals, better management, and scaling in one market     5 Key Takeaways   It's not the size of your mailer—it's the quality of your list. Filter your list by stacking motivation tags like pre-foreclosure, vacant, tax delinquent, inherited, and failed listings. Direct mail still wins in 2025—but only if you niche down. The tighter your targeting, the higher your ROI. Consistency beats cleverness. Josh sends to the same list every 3–4 weeks and recommends budgeting to hit them at least six times. Response rate is secondary to revenue. Josh doesn't count calls—he tracks profit and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), consistently hitting 6–10X. Systems win markets. From mail piece design to point-based scoring and CRM tagging, Josh treats marketing like a science, not a shot in the dark.       Links & Resources Josh's company: NEPA Cash Offer Mail tools mentioned: PropStream, Yellow Letter HQ Strategy tip: Add "Save this with your important house papers" to stand out in competitive markets       If this episode gave you real ideas to improve your deal flow, be sure to rate, follow, and leave a review. And share it with an investor friend who needs to hear why direct mail isn't dead—it just needs to be smarter.