Has anyone here bought from Frontier Properties USA?

Question

I've been listening to Mark Podolsky, the Land Geek, lately and I'm curious to know if anyone has bought from his company, Frontier Properties USA. Is it legit? Some of those properties are super cheap, and I wonder if there is any ROI down the road since most of his land for sale is in the middle of no where. If you have purchased from him, what was the experience like and were you able to get some form of ROI on your raw land? Thanks!

Account Closed · Answer

It is important to understand 10 square feet in downtown can be worth more than 10,000 acres in the desert.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

Account Closed short answer is you DONT generally.. you only make money selling it to someone else who is less knowledgeable than you are.. or is a neighbor etc. In one county in CA my dad developed and owned over 5,000 separate parcels starting in the early 60s I was raised with this I know the industry inside out.. We still have about 100 in our name that are basically worthless odds and ends so I get letter about every month from someone who has taken one of these course wanting to buy my familys left overs."It was nice speaking with you the other day. I did some research on the other lots your family currently owns in Lake County, but at this time I just want to make a cash offer on the lot I originally called about. I pay for all standard closing costs, so this is a net offer to your family. I can usually close within 30 days. To accept my offer, simply let me know in a reply email and I will send you out a purchase agreement. Lake County, APN:031-112-560-000 = $700.00Either way, I would appreciate hearing back from you. "This was an e mail I got just yesterday.. offering 700 dollars.. well I looked the lot up and somehow it got through the cracks its worth about 30k.. it has paved water sewer elec lake view etc.. I kindly rejected the offer.But this is how the game is played difference is there are millions of these parcels in the WEst from CA to TX and up through Montana... Florida has millions of them.So If for some reason I did not know what I was doing and accepted this generous offer of 700 dollars this person would just have listed it and resold it for 20 or 30k.. that's were the money is made... Buy low sell high.. that being said much fo the property that you can buy low can only be sold to unsuspecting folks .. who as stated are not as in tune to values as you are.. and they want to buy on contract.. So its the old 100 down 100 a month.. so this guy could take the property put it on one of the websites that sells land... offer it for 1k down ( gets his money back) and then has a note for the balance.. If you know what you doing that's were the money is made.. It is not made GENERALLY buy just buying and holding If your buying from the bigger players your the sucker..

Jay M. · Answer

I am a former student of Mark Podolsky and his Land Geek land investing system.I have since branched out to form my own free private Facebook group called "Land Motivation" which is made up of many of Mark's former and current students as well as others who are actively flipping and wholesaling land using his and other similar systems.To answer the original question of this post, I have not bought land from Mark or his Frontier Properties website but he is definitely legit and all of his students (including myself) are following his land flipping formula or some variation of it. We buy from motivated sellers at low price points and re-sell to the public at below market value or wholesale to other flippers. The market values we (and Mark) use when pricing our properties for sale is based on actual market info of other similar properties that are either currently listed for sale or have actually sold. Mark has sold thousands of properties and his prices are low because he is buying from motivated sellers at rock bottom prices and passing the savings on to his customers (as are the rest of us). This may sound like a sales pitch but this is actually what we are doing day in and day out.To answer your question regarding what ROI you can hope to receive from any land you buy from Mark... You should be doing your own market research to see how similar properties to the one you are consideering buying are actually selling for on the market. Note that the prices shown on property listing sites are often inflated depending on whether they are put there by flippers or real estate agents.Although I have since left Mark's program and have no affiliation with him, to be honest, if you are considering buying a property from Mark and want to get an idea of how much it may be worth on the retail market or any other details about it I would ask Mark himself and then compare what he tells you with the results of your own research. Also, (although it is one of my favorite movies just because of the phenomenal acting and all-star cast), no we do not employ the same shady sales tactics used by Pachino, Harris, Lemmon and Arkin in Glengarry Glen Ross. If we did, we wouldn't be in business very long and Mark has been doing this since 2001.Yes, Mark is legit but do your own property valuation research before you buy. Also contact the county to find out as much as possible about the property as you can (zoning, flood plain, road access, building restrictions, HOA/POA, etc). Mark (and most of his students) also advertises on his site that he offers a money back guarantee. If you're not happy with any land you buy from him give it back within 90 days. I'm not sure if there is a 're-stocking fee' or anything though but Mark can advise you about that. http://www.frontierpropertiesusa.com/our-guarantee/ (moderator feel free to remove this link if it is considered spam).Again, I have no affiliation with Mark other than being a former student but I just want to set the record straight and give him props when I think they are deserved.If you want to interact with many of his current and former students, drop by my free "Land Motivation" Facebook group if anyone is interested Hope this helps. Cheers! Jay Mundy

Account Closed · Answer

@Jay M. It sounds like (based off your comments) that Mark's main business model is selling education to his students. This reminds me of Phil Pustejovsky and his Freedom Mentor sudo scam. You also mentioned you never bought any of Mark's land through his company so that leads me to believe this is mostly a "Throw your money away in education that can be found for free program". If you had said you were a satisfied customer and described the success of your purchase and ROI you are getting out of it, then I'd be more inclined to pursue a land purchase further, but for now I'm going to pass and focus on other areas of investing.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

Account Closed If you have Net FLIX a must watch for anyone interested in the land Game is the movie Glen Garry Glen Ross... Al Pacinio and OH can't think of his name he was Felix Unger .... its a classic and it is absolutely how the game was and is played in the land business... think of your self as the buyers. and think of those promoting these deals as the owners of the company.then imagine myself as a 6 to 12 year old sitting through the meetings going out on in home presentations and meeting at the properties closing etc. by the time I was 10 I could sell land as good as any of them... LOL>There is money to made in this business there is no doubt .. but as a principal not a end user generally speaking.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

Account Closed don't know anything about Marks properties however I know a lot about the land business as I grew up in it... unlike were you live in GA.. from basically TExas WEst.. there are huge areas of inland desert that were subdivided years ago prior to subdivision map act regulations. these properties have been on the books for 50 to 100 years they never developed in any appreciable way.. but they are legal lots of record.. many are not buildable but they can be bought and sold.. most are bought at county tax sale then sold on the 100 dollar down 100 a month program on land contracts.. kind of were land contracts got their name.. My dad probably did 5,000 of them if he did one from 1964 to 1988 or so. We would buy at tax sales.. some counties we might buy 200 to 500 parcels at one sale. So there are just millions up millions of these lots.. and If you think Florida think Lehigh acres and those areas.also if you want to know about the land business in a fun way watch the movie Glen Garry Glenn ross.. that was what I was raised in... my dad owned the company LOL.. And I got trained by some fo the best land sales men that ever walked the planet.. that's why I started selling land at 18 and by 27 or so I moved on to bigger type projects.

Mark Podolsky · Answer

Hey Dave,I'm the owner at Frontier Properties. We have been aggressively marketing our properties on other channels and are in the process of giving the site a face lift and updated look. Honestly, we don't sell much directly on the site and use it more for informational purposes and list building. Feel free to contact us directly for information on any specific land investments you may be interested in pursuing and we can discuss your potential ROI and if it will meet your requirements. Thanks again for your interest.Mark

Steve Haight · Answer

Account Closed that is Alex Baldwin, not sure how many times I have seen the movie, still never get tired of watching it! Like the thread here, Jay has spoke for me, seems Jay knows the game well. I personalty have to be in some sort of path of growth. Will have to read more of the thread when I have time. I have been successful taking a piece and doing a land division, like my recent 20 acres that I can split into 19 one acre properties. Or the days back in the 80s in Nevada I could take 10 Acres and for $250 divide into 4 2.5 acres, turn a 30k into a 60k piece with a small investment, those days are long gone. I always say there are 3 markets in the land game. Users, investors, recreation. When I say users, there is and always will be those folks that want to get off the grid and haul water as for most of my career I sold dry lots. It takes a certain kind of fellow to sell that kind of land, very niche. Happy Superbowl,

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

Account Closed I want to be perfectly clear here I am not against paid training I fund many Armando students Lindahl students vertucci students.. Rich dad poor dad. fortune builders etc. but I am a capital partner .. the deals come to me .There is money in the land game but there is no money buying from most of these folks. and its not a real hard thing to understand.. send out a bunch of letters buy low sell on contract or cash for more.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

Account Closed and this movie is not make believe this is exactly how the game was played and even far worse.the other one is Tin Men Danny Divito and Dryphus now that metal siding sales but same principal and techinques.modern day of that is Time share ( commonly referred to in the industry as Crime share) Campground memberships etc etc.