Who He Is
Camden Cardwell runs My Instant House Offer in Louisville, Kentucky. As a solo investor who transitioned from a sales job to full-time real estate investing, Camden focuses primarily on flipping properties while building a rental portfolio. After a year and a half in the business, he was searching for a marketing channel that could deliver consistent, high-quality leads.
The Problems
Before working with us, Camden faced several frustrating obstacles:
- Inconsistent deal flow: Some months brought 2-3 contracts, others brought zero—making it impossible to plan or scale
- Failed marketing investments: Spent heavily on direct mail with zero ROI
- Low-quality leads from other channels: Cold calling and PPL brought volume but lacked seller motivation
- Small profit margins: Average deal spreads hovered around $15-17K, limiting reinvestment capacity
- Cash flow pressure: As a one-person operation, inconsistency made it difficult to hire help or grow the business
- No clear path forward: “I was kind of in a rock and a hard place… just trying to put all the pieces together”
Camden had wanted to try PPC from the beginning but was advised to wait. After mail failed completely and cash flow became tight, he knew he needed a marketing channel that actually worked.
What We Did
Strategic Campaign Setup:
- Launched with a $4K/month Google Ads budget plus $2K management fee
- Built 13-16 ad groups targeting different seller motivations (foreclosure, probate, inheritance, quick sale, etc.)
- Used portfolio bid strategy, using our $35M+ in aggregate ad spend data to speed up Camden’s campaign learning phase
- Targeted Louisville metro and select southern Indiana counties with precision radius mapping
Ongoing Optimization:
- Ran lead quality analysis after collecting enough data
- Moved budget toward highest-performing ad groups (like “we buy ugly houses” keywords)
- Decreased spend on underperforming segments while scaling winners
- Used holiday budget front-loading strategy to avoid low-search periods
- Achieved $264 cost per lead vs. $320 goal—nearly 20% better than target
Partnership Approach:
- Weekly reporting and monthly strategy calls with dedicated account manager Spencer Miller
- Real-time feedback loop through lead classification database
- Coached Camden on managing PPC leads differently than other channels (speed, urgency, motivation levels)
- Monitored cash flow concerns and offered flexible payment options as business scaled
The Results
Within the first 2 months:
- $33,000 profit from first closed deal (Shepherdsville property)
- Cost per lead: $264 (17.5% below $320 target)
- Lead-to-opportunity rate: 28% (within range of 35% benchmark, impressive for ramp-up phase)
- 4.5X return on ad spend on first deal alone—most clients don’t hit profitability until months 4-5
By month 3:
- Multiple qualified opportunities in pipeline
- Clear visibility into which motivation types drive best ROI
- Improved sales processes (Camden adopted NEPQ sales system based on PPC lead quality)
- Foundation built for consistent 3-deals-per-month goal in year 2
Key Metrics:
- Average cost per click trending downward each month
- 18% conversion rate on landing pages (well within healthy 10-20% range)
- Only 3 of 13+ ad groups producing below-target quality—remaining budget moved elsewhere
- 25% search impression share with room to double spend profitably
In His Words
“Yeah, man, you’ve done a really good job. I’m really satisfied. I know we’ve had a little bit of trouble but I mean, within what it’s been two months, I mean, and having that kind of a deal already. I mean, you can’t ask for much better than that…”
“Every time I get a PPC lead and it’s in a good area, I’m like, yes, because I mean, it’s usually like you just said, they’re usually pretty damn motivated…”
“The good thing is, since it was just such a good fee, like, I mean, that’s obviously money you can just throw right back into it… and just ride it out.” — Camden Cardwell
Why This Matters
Camden’s case study proves three critical points:
- PPC works faster with the right partner: Most investors don’t see contracts until month 4 and deals until month 5-6. Camden closed a $33K deal in month 2 because our portfolio bid strategy compressed the learning phase from 8-12 months down to 30-45 days.
- Motivation beats volume: Unlike cold calling’s high lead volume with low motivation, PPC delivers sellers actively searching for solutions—resulting in higher spreads and faster closes.
- Data-driven optimization scales profitably: With only 25% search impression share captured, Camden has runway to double his ad spend as cash flow allows, while maintaining or improving ROI.