Flipping land - Residential vs Rural?

Question

I apologize if this questions been answered, searched but can't seem to find this specific question.

I recently discovered the idea of REI through flipping land on a podcast hosting Mark Podolsky and later Seth Williams.

Everything I've read or heard seems to revolve around targeting raw undeveloped land in the sticks. What about residential? Out of curiosity I got a trial subscription to Agentpro247 and checked my hometown on the eastern side of Florida. Thousands of vacant lots are on the back tax list and assessed between $5,000-$15,000. During the bubble I remembered investors scooping up 1/4 acre residential lots for as much as $40-50,000.

So, if these lots are on the back tax list and motivated to sell, is this a smart property type to go after? I'm 100% new in this, but just knowing the area, the snow birds/New York migrations down south, it seems like a no brainer to attempt to pick up these lots in the $1,000-2,000 range and resell for $6-8,000. Please tell me if I'm totally wrong here. Thanks!

(Ps in my intro thread someone told me I could hit the @ and name to tag someone and I know Mr Podolsky and Williams are around here, but the tagging didn't work)

Seth Williams · Answer

Hi @Scot Savarese - thanks for the shout out!

Without knowing anything else about the market these properties are in (i.e. - the level of inventory, sales/listing comps, potential uses, etc.), it sounds like your plan could feasibly work.

If this are has a TON of similar properties on the market, you'd want to be fully aware of how much other inventory is out there (because this will essentially be our competition on the selling end). If there's a lot - this would make it all the more important to be sure you're getting your properties at a very, VERY low price (which shouldn't be difficult, because the properties on the market won't exactly be a hot commodity).

When you make sure you're building in this extra margin, it will allow you to price your property cheaper than the others on the market when it comes time to sell, which will give you some extra protection in making sure you don't overpay and can make more profit from the deal.

Scot Savarese · Answer

Thank you for the response @Seth Williams! That's something I didn't even think to look at was the existing inventory. I'm going to dive deeper into that today. I will definitely use the buy low strategy to make sure I can squeeze out a good margin as well.

I'll have to check the other areas I was thinking of doing my mailer campaign in to see inventory as well.