Land Flipping Courses

[Max Bradshaw]

Interested in learning about landflips. Does anyone know of solid courses or information I can use to get started? 

[Linda Hastings]

See these threads

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

[Sara Puls]

Hey, Max. What did you end up doing? I heard about Land Geek on a podcast and I'm watching his free videos on the website and I understand the general process but I'm wondering if you found a course that is helpful and provides some of the details. I'm willing to pay for the information, templates, etc, but agree there's a lot out there and hard to determine the quality of any of them. 

[Daniel Apke]

Hey Max, I'd love to discuss options with you. I came from a traditional real estate background and got involved in land flipping years ago. Like anything, there are pros and cons with land flipping. I highlighted some below to help you make your decision. Overall land flipping has been amazing to me, but it's a lot of work. If you're willing to work, the profit and results are definitely there. 

Pros: 

- Low upfront cost

- Very high profitability (we average 23k per deal of profit) and the ROI is AMAZING

- Sustainability - so many land owners out there don't want their land

Cons

- Can take 4-6 months or so to see results

- Marketing is expensive, we send mail to acquire properties. Mail is expensive (60 cents per mail).

 I created a platform to help others learn from scratch. We have tons of free education for you to learn more about land flipping and land investing. Feel free to reach out, I'd love to help. Best of luck on your journey.  

[Eliott Elias]

An experienced realtor and guide you through land flipping. Someone whos'e done it multiple times for their clients, happy to connect you with someone in Austin. 

[Adrian Lemus]

Land Flipping is what I Love to do with my own money with New Construction SFR Homes.

[Jon A.]

I don't deal in raw land and never even heard of land flipping until this thread. For someone who does this, as opposed to folks selling information, what's the value add that created equity to flip the parcel? Subdivide? Bring in utilities?

[Bruce Lynn]

Look at LPG...Jack Bosch.....I've never taken their course, but seem like good people and from what I remember not the typical guru trying to take $25,000-$50,000 from you to teach you how to do it.   They seem to have some successful students.

I expect just like any other real estate niche, it is not as easy as some people have made it seem.  It is work and there is money involved.   You're going to be call or mailing land owners....just saw a guy mailing out 34,000 mailers...probably 60cents or more a letter....so just that one mailing is a $15,000 up front investment....plus you need to have systems set up to respond to that amount of mail and response, and the money either to buy those deals that come thru or if you're going to try to wholesale them, then the money to find your end buyers.   Remember too you have to catch your sellers on the right day, right time, right point in your life. So you're not going to get 34,000 phone calls back....you may have to mail them 8-10 times before some of them call your or you may have to call them every month for 2-3 years...before they want to talk.  So think about that investment in time and money.

I'm sure though there is plenty of opportunity...if that's your passion and you want to work that niche.

[Jermaine Moore]

Quote from @Daniel Apke:

Hey Max, I'd love to discuss options with you. I came from a traditional real estate background and got involved in land flipping years ago. Like anything, there are pros and cons with land flipping. I highlighted some below to help you make your decision. Overall land flipping has been amazing to me, but it's a lot of work. If you're willing to work, the profit and results are definitely there. 

Pros: 

- Low upfront cost

- Very high profitability (we average 23k per deal of profit) and the ROI is AMAZING

- Sustainability - so many land owners out there don't want their land

Cons

- Can take 4-6 months or so to see results

- Marketing is expensive, we send mail to acquire properties. Mail is expensive (60 cents per mail).

 I created a platform to help others learn from scratch. We have tons of free education for you to learn more about land flipping and land investing. Feel free to reach out, I'd love to help. Best of luck on your journey.  

Hi Daniel, 
I would be interested in working with you. I've been looking at all of the different programs out there and its challenging just to determine fact fron fiction. I would love to work with someone in the industry that would be willing to provide an educational experience in exchange for sweat equity. I would be willing to joint venture on marketing efforts and everything in between just to work with someone.  

[Sean York]

Not sure if this is the most recent post on land flipping,  but I came across another ed platform -  The Land Method and Land Riches Blueprint.  Their course is more affordable than Bosch & Seth's (though I do not discount the value both bring - and the respect they have in the industry). The Land Riches Blueprint teaches an SMS approach to marketing for property along with the tried and true mailer.  Anyone heard of these guys and/or familiar with the SMS approach?  

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Max Bradshaw:

Interested in learning about landflips. Does anyone know of solid courses or information I can use to get started? 

 course, NEVER, just do to a local RE meeting, you will learn more in an hour then 6 months reading NOT reality books. I have done it all in RE never reading one RE book. Its not rocket science, it's just numbers, 

Good luck  

[Steven Young]

Quote from @Daniel Apke:

Hey Max, I'd love to discuss options with you. I came from a traditional real estate background and got involved in land flipping years ago. Like anything, there are pros and cons with land flipping. I highlighted some below to help you make your decision. Overall land flipping has been amazing to me, but it's a lot of work. If you're willing to work, the profit and results are definitely there. 

Pros: 

- Low upfront cost

- Very high profitability (we average 23k per deal of profit) and the ROI is AMAZING

- Sustainability - so many land owners out there don't want their land

Cons

- Can take 4-6 months or so to see results

- Marketing is expensive, we send mail to acquire properties. Mail is expensive (60 cents per mail).

 I created a platform to help others learn from scratch. We have tons of free education for you to learn more about land flipping and land investing. Feel free to reach out, I'd love to help. Best of luck on your journey.  

 Hell ya brother!!! I'll start now! 

[William Ferr]

Quote from @Sean York:

Not sure if this is the most recent post on land flipping,  but I came across another ed platform -  The Land Method and Land Riches Blueprint.  Their course is more affordable than Bosch & Seth's (though I do not discount the value both bring - and the respect they have in the industry). The Land Riches Blueprint teaches an SMS approach to marketing for property along with the tried and true mailer.  Anyone heard of these guys and/or familiar with the SMS approach?  

Sorry if this is a repost.  I tried to comment & I don't think it took.
I have many land ed courses & this is the best I have seen.  They do talk about an SMS approach but also include mail & other resources.
Jonathon has been teaching land for a long time.  He worked for another program.  I was at their event & I think he taught all the other coaches there.  I was thinking to sign up to work with him but then found out he left.  A few years later I saw that he was teaching again so I picked up his course.  It was much more comprehensive & the documents are much better.  For the price, I do not think I have seen a better option.  

[William Ferr]

Quote from @Sara Puls:

Hey, Max. What did you end up doing? I heard about Land Geek on a podcast and I'm watching his free videos on the website and I understand the general process but I'm wondering if you found a course that is helpful and provides some of the details. I'm willing to pay for the information, templates, etc, but agree there's a lot out there and hard to determine the quality of any of them. 

I have purchased many of the land courses and the land riches blueprint is the best I have seen.  Not sure if that helps or not but wanted to mention it since someone else asked about it here.

[Alan F.]

Quote from @William Ferr:

Quote from @Sara Puls:

Hey, Max. What did you end up doing? I heard about Land Geek on a podcast and I'm watching his free videos on the website and I understand the general process but I'm wondering if you found a course that is helpful and provides some of the details. I'm willing to pay for the information, templates, etc, but agree there's a lot out there and hard to determine the quality of any of them. 

I have purchased many of the land courses and the land riches blueprint is the best I have seen.  Not sure if that helps or not but wanted to mention it since someone else asked about it here.

 So what's the value add aspect, where do you pick up margins? Utilities, site upgrades, engineering?

[William Ferr]

Quote from @Alan F.:

Quote from @William Ferr:

Quote from @Sara Puls:

Hey, Max. What did you end up doing? I heard about Land Geek on a podcast and I'm watching his free videos on the website and I understand the general process but I'm wondering if you found a course that is helpful and provides some of the details. I'm willing to pay for the information, templates, etc, but agree there's a lot out there and hard to determine the quality of any of them. 

I have purchased many of the land courses and the land riches blueprint is the best I have seen.  Not sure if that helps or not but wanted to mention it since someone else asked about it here.

 So what's the value add aspect, where do you pick up margins? Utilities, site upgrades, engineering?

He covers general acquisition of land of all values using different marketing strategies.  He also gets into some more deeper things, like entitlements & subdividing.  The information is solid and the documents are the best I have seen in a course.

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Max Bradshaw:

Interested in learning about landflips. Does anyone know of solid courses or information I can use to get started? 

 Here is my opinion, through all the books away. Just connect with those doing deals as 99% of what you read will not be reality, just get to your local RE meeting, you will learn more in a night than months reading

Good luck 

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Alan F.:

Quote from @William Ferr:

Quote from @Sara Puls:

Hey, Max. What did you end up doing? I heard about Land Geek on a podcast and I'm watching his free videos on the website and I understand the general process but I'm wondering if you found a course that is helpful and provides some of the details. I'm willing to pay for the information, templates, etc, but agree there's a lot out there and hard to determine the quality of any of them. 

I have purchased many of the land courses and the land riches blueprint is the best I have seen.  Not sure if that helps or not but wanted to mention it since someone else asked about it here.

 So what's the value add aspect, where do you pick up margins? Utilities, site upgrades, engineeringBy 

From talking with and walking with someone doing vs reading.

All the best  

[Edgar U.]

I do land full time for the past 5 years. There are all solid courses out there, it's all the same though.

1. Pick a county/state to mail in.

2. Mail the county with a blind offer (usually 30-40% off value or less)

3. Sell it for a discount or close to retail (Cash). Owner finance (Notes).

4. Rinse and repeat.

Once you have flipped a couple of deals, you'll want to stick with what works best. A couple of caveats though. You'll likely strike out with your first mailers due to pricing, systems, follow up, etc. Adjust according, and resend mailer.

Join FB groups, discord channels. RETipster (free) and Apke Bros (free). Enough resources in there to get you started without paying for a program. However, if you want to go fast def pay for the course and take MASSIVE ACTION. This is the method that I took and paid about 2k in courses. Make sure to connect with heavy hitters and you'll soon accelerate your learning curve ten fold.

*Not affiliated with any courses mentioned and not written by AI.

[Josh Tagge]

Hello everyone, 

I'm a new BP user and I recently finished Dirt Riches by Mark Podolsky. I am a Real Estate Agent and investor in PA and this concept has me intrigued. I have read through most of the materials on Mark's Land Geek website but I have not made the jump to pay for the course. 

I thought I would ask the BP community, what are the best sites you've found to locate properties of distressed owners to begin contacting? Reading Dirt Riches it is stated to find the areas where sales are increasing, and while this information is available on Zillow, Realtor, etc. what are the tried and true resources some of you have used? Thanks for any input! 

[Scott Morris]

Quote from @Josh Tagge:

Hello everyone, 

I'm a new BP user and I recently finished Dirt Riches by Mark Podolsky. I am a Real Estate Agent and investor in PA and this concept has me intrigued. I have read through most of the materials on Mark's Land Geek website but I have not made the jump to pay for the course. 

I thought I would ask the BP community, what are the best sites you've found to locate properties of distressed owners to begin contacting? Reading Dirt Riches it is stated to find the areas where sales are increasing, and while this information is available on Zillow, Realtor, etc. what are the tried and true resources some of you have used? Thanks for any input! 

 You could use Redfin.com and Zillow.com and create a simple spreadsheet computing sold in last 90 days vs listed to see where properties are moving and what types of properties are selling the fastest.  I'd check out Seth Williams of RETipster who was a BP Podcast guest way back in the day.  His website is full of great information.  Also, there are many land-related podcasts that cover the basics.

[Josh Tagge]

@Scott Morris, thank you for providing that information. I will give that a try to see what I can come up with. Also, I will look into Seth Williams as well. As I mentioned this idea of land flipping has got my attention, I just need to get a grasp of the basics. 

Thanks again!

Josh 

[Jay Johnson]

Quote from @Max Bradshaw:

Interested in learning about landflips. Does anyone know of solid courses or information I can use to get started? 

 I just did, exactly, what @Edgar U. said to do. He is spot on. I was all in at a little under $14k. It was 3.24 ac.  Buy price, included a soil evaluation, drone pics and getting an improvement permit for my end buyer. She wanted one before buying because she is ready to build, so I got the same soil scientist that did my soil evaluation to do that for her within the next week. Sold for $47K. Left closing with a little under $42k. Bought Dec 19 2023. Sold Feb 1 2024. I only sent around 1800 blind offers to get that deal. Some courses say on average, you'll get a deal for every 1800-2300 pieces of mail sent. Doesn't always happen that way, but it did for me. Some people mail 1500-2500 a month. Some do 3000-5000 a month. Some 10,000-20,000 or more a month. If you send only a little mail at a time, it may take a while to get a deal. If that's what you have to do to get started, then do that. You can still get a deal. I just did it that way, but up your mail after that first successful deal and mail consistently every 2 weeks or every month. County selection and pricing is very important. Get, at least, decent with that and you should get some deals. I bought a course, but you can do it without buying one. In case you're wondering, I bought the Apke Brothers course Land Investing Online. I did this all virtually except I went to closing.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Jon A.:

I don't deal in raw land and never even heard of land flipping until this thread. For someone who does this, as opposed to folks selling information, what's the value add that created equity to flip the parcel? Subdivide? Bring in utilities?

land game can have value add like you suggest.. However 90% of the folks doing it are buying low and selling high.. And a majority of the parcels being bought are in rural subdivisions that never fully built out they were retirement projects.. think of the movie Glen Gary Glen Ross.  So the value prop is to simply shot gun as many marketing peices as you can afford and then offer 10 to 30 cents on the dollar and wait for takers.. then once you close resell right away.

then there are infill lots through out the US in areas that are actually seeing new builds on infill .. infill lots in areas that have zero new construction are basically worthless.. think major rust belt cities were resale values are 100 to 125 a foot or less.. IE cheaper than it cost to build new.

I grew up in the bizz and I really like it..less competition than trying to find the same SFRs that 700 wholesalers are going after.. down side is this is all cash always.. And thats where i help land flippers through out  the US as their cash partner and someone who understands the bizz. there are very few if any lenders like me or that will lend on raw land..

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Alan F.:

Quote from @William Ferr:

Quote from @Sara Puls:

Hey, Max. What did you end up doing? I heard about Land Geek on a podcast and I'm watching his free videos on the website and I understand the general process but I'm wondering if you found a course that is helpful and provides some of the details. I'm willing to pay for the information, templates, etc, but agree there's a lot out there and hard to determine the quality of any of them. 

I have purchased many of the land courses and the land riches blueprint is the best I have seen.  Not sure if that helps or not but wanted to mention it since someone else asked about it here.

 So what's the value add aspect, where do you pick up margins? Utilities, site upgrades, engineering?

Alan, I have flipped a few plats.. And there is some good money in it. However at least in our market you have to have POF or Strong letter from your bank to get the seller to allow you to go into contract subject to entitlements.. then you need usually 50 to 100k in EM to tie it up.. then you need another 50 to 100k or more for entitlements.. then you go into contract with one of the national or regional builders and then you pray they will close on time. I did a 100 lot project and we made a little over 10k net per lot but i did buy the land for 200k cash and spent 100k on entitlements it took 24 months.. I tied up a small project 16 lots ( high end lots) that If memory serves we were in contract for 550k spent 60k on entitlements and sold for 1.2 on a double close.

It can be done but it has to be in markets like we have here in Portland that has a SEVERE shortage of buildable lots and highly liquid builders or big companies to sell them to.. And of course there are many markets through out the US that the same metrics apply.. but there are others were flipping plat is not going to work well as the builders will just do their own.

I have also bought and developed lots and sold to builders.. And when i first came to Oregon that is how land got developed prior to about 2000.. Banks were very conservative and nationals had not come in to the market yet.. So you had a lot developer who then had a cadre of builders that would buy and build the homes. the local banks would not go out very far on spec loans in those days maybe 3 or 4 at a time.. So a big builder in those days built 20 a year.. And this is pretty wild but we are going into contract on a one of my new builds at www.ivyridgeestatescanby.com with a client that bought in the Very first subdivision I built in Beaverton Oregon and just sold lots to builders... I think they are the orginal buyer of the house and those houses back then were selling for about 350 to 450k  My wife is going to list it for 1.1.. and they are buying an 850k from me.  So it comes full circle. Double dipping made profit selling the lot 25 years ago making money listing and selling the home and making money buying my new home :) Love Real Estate.

Now of course all the major US nationals are in the market and they are all vertically integrated they will have their pet Land developer who will find and entitle the dirt then flip the plat . but its hard to bust into that situation and as stated you need some pretty serious financial backing.
And some of those guys got hammered in the GFC when the nationals walked form 100 to 300k EM and these guys could not close and lost everything.. I picked up a 14 lot project from a guy who had a contract with Centex ( they defaulted) and looking at my buy HUD this seller had to bring in 600k to sell to me. So on and so forth LOL
e

[Alan F.]

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Alan F.:

Quote from @William Ferr:

Quote from @Sara Puls:

Hey, Max. What did you end up doing? I heard about Land Geek on a podcast and I'm watching his free videos on the website and I understand the general process but I'm wondering if you found a course that is helpful and provides some of the details. I'm willing to pay for the information, templates, etc, but agree there's a lot out there and hard to determine the quality of any of them. 

I have purchased many of the land courses and the land riches blueprint is the best I have seen.  Not sure if that helps or not but wanted to mention it since someone else asked about it here.

 So what's the value add aspect, where do you pick up margins? Utilities, site upgrades, engineering?

Alan,  I have flipped a few plats..  And there is some good money in it.  However at least in our market you have to have POF or Strong letter from your bank to get the seller to allow you to go into contract subject to entitlements.. then you need usually 50 to 100k in EM to tie it up.. then you need another 50 to 100k or more for entitlements.. then you go into contract with one of the national or regional builders and then you pray they will close on time.  I did a 100 lot project and we made a little over 10k net per lot but i did buy the land for 200k cash and spent 100k on entitlements it took 24 months.. I tied up a small project 16 lots ( high end lots) that If memory serves we were in contract for 550k spent 60k on entitlements and sold for 1.2 on a double close.

It can be done but it has to be in markets like we have here in Portland that has a SEVERE shortage of buildable lots and highly liquid builders or big companies to sell them to.. And of course there are many markets through out the US that the same metrics apply.. but there are others were flipping plat is not going to work well as the builders will just do their own.

I have also bought and developed lots and sold to builders.. And when i first came to Oregon that is how land got developed prior to about 2000.. Banks were very conservative and nationals had not come in to the market yet.. So you had a lot developer who then had a cadre of builders that would buy and build the homes. the local banks would not go out very far on spec loans in those days maybe 3 or 4 at a time.. So a big builder in those days built 20 a year..

Now of course all the major US nationals are in the market and they are all vertically integrated they will have their pet Land developer who will find and entitle the dirt then flip the plat . but its hard to bust into that situation and as stated you need some pretty serious financial backing.
And some of those guys got hammered in the GFC when the nationals walked form 100 to 300k EM and these guys could not close and lost everything.. I picked up a 14 lot project from a guy who had a contract with Centex ( they defaulted) and looking at my buy HUD this seller had to bring in 600k to sell to me.   So on and so forth LOL
e

 Thanks Jay I've researched over 20 in fills from Sacramento to the Bay Area, that I would build myself with my cash. All are in areas where developers are building homes and retail. The cost of land and buildout exceeds buying existing. Property taxes are the final nail in the coffin. Tough arena for a mom n pop.