Land Locked Vacant Land Fixed and Flipped

[Ryan MacDonald]

Investment Info:

Other fix & flip investment in Conroe.

Purchase price: $20,000
Cash invested: $32,000
Sale price: $155,000

Contributors:
Logan Fullmer

This was a land locked 6.5 acres in Texas. It was originally part of an old partition deed from back in the 40's but it was the last parcel of land that was chopped up furthest away from the road. A neighbor had acquired the 6 acre parcel next door and the 10 acre parcel across the street and built a fence at the end of the dead end road that was about 500 ft from our property line.

We found a poorly indexed right-of-way easement that cut through the middle of their property that gave us access to the dead end road. We noticed the neighbors that we would be tearing down their fence and building a 500 ft road to our property line in order to give us access. The conversation didn't not go over well. Needless to say, we were well within our legal rights to do so and ended up building a 500 ft road that cost us $32K and several months due to rain postponing the work schedule. We ended up getting a no option contract on the property and sold it in January for $155K.

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

It was a land locked parcel and we were confident about our purchase price and being protected should we hit a road block.

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

A wholesaler brought us this deal as we have been doing a good job letting others know that we buy property with dirty titles and land locked properties in Texas.

How did you finance this deal?

We used our own cash to finance the deal.

How did you add value to the deal?

We purchased for 1/3 of CAD value but felt that the value would be significantly higher if/when we get access to it and a road.

What was the outcome?

We were able to get access through the neighbors land and build a road. When then sold it on MLS to an investor who was going to develop the deal.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Challenges as always are managing construction crews and timelines. We were delayed several months because of extensive amounts of rain prevented the crew from being able to perform work on the land. Also, after the road was built, there was a heavy rain that came and we had to rebuild a large portion of the road that was washed out during the rain.

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

Yes I worked with a local agent to help us sell the land. His name is Jason Franks and he is in the Montgomery County Area with Top Gun Realtors.