Lake Travis Waterfront - Home Run Deal

[Mike Lawrence]

Investment Info:

Other other investment.

Purchase price: $400,000
Cash invested: $40,000
Sale price: $933,000

A pocket listing Lake Travis waterfront lot in Jonestown, TX

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We knew there was equity in the deal and anticipated the value going way up due to the scarcity of quality waterfront lots on Lake Travis.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Through a local agent who had it as a pocket listing. It was early 2021, so the Austin market hadn't exploded yet, but we could see that a wave was coming. We felt the lot was worth at least 100-200K more than asking, so it was well worth the risk. 2021 ended up being the biggest year in Austin real estate history, so the lot value went way up.

How did you finance this deal?

Hard Money loan through Easy Street Capital.

How did you add value to the deal?

Investing in fantastic videography, pictures, website, marketing. My wife and I own a marketing firm, so we are always looking at marketing. It blows our mind how many times we see poor marketing, whether it's bad videos, pictures, writing, websites, etc. And we've noticed it's even worse when it comes to land. Land in Austin is EXPENSIVE, and many times you will see lots 400K-1MM+ and they just throw up a few crappy pics and a short description. We did the opposite and it PAID OFF!!!

What was the outcome?

We closed on the lot for 933K, generating about 470K in profit after all interest, marketing, buyer's agent fee, and all closing costs on both sides of the transaction. 470K profit in 6 months with no rehab!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Sometimes real estate agents can be an amazing source for leads. That was the case in this deal. Because we were actively looking for land and meeting several agents that were selling land, this deal came to be.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Gabe Correll from Easy Street Capital came through with the best hard money loan option for our project. We called several of the top rated lenders in Austin, and narrowed it down to the top 3. The process with Easy Street was as advertised, pretty easy, and it worked out great for us.