Your First 6 Months As A Land Investor: What to Expect

Ron: Hey everybody. Welcome back to the real estate investing podcast. I’m your host Ron Apke. Today. I’m very excited. Anthony is in the podcast studio to have Anthony, our COO of Apke Land of our deal funding does a ton of deals himself.

Some very, very knowledgeable. Uh, you guys will see him more on this show here in the coming months for sure. But today we are going to talk about what to expect. In your first six months of land, flipping land, investing, whatever you want to say, you’re coming from whatever industry. We have people coming from teachers, people coming from everywhere.

Anthony, like we have people coming from everywhere. What to expect your first six months in land investing. So let’s get right to it. Anthony, like you have a story behind this. Like we can talk about our story. Our story is probably a little different than yours. You actually obviously came from our program.

So if you’re getting started in our program, whatever the situation is like. What, what are like the, what was your story? Let’s just go from your story.

Anthony: Yeah. So, um, as most people know in the community, I started with my dad or we still have our land flipping business. And yeah, it was actually a rough start for us.

Um, our first two mailers weren’t successful, but our third mailer netted us three deals on the ones that you guys funded and that gave us 50, 000 worth of profit to scale, but there is so many things in between. Um, I have a little bit of a background in real estate. I was a funding analyst before coming over to you guys.

And before that, I was a licensed loan officer in a handful of states. So I knew a little bit in regards to real estate, but there’s so many details in regards to land. Like once you get a deal back, it’s like, well, how the heck do I actually, you know, view this? I feel like my pricing is good, but this land, the shape.

Um, the exact location, there’s so many things that go into play. So I think the biggest thing for us was the learning curve and the mindset that goes into it. And, um, yeah, so since then we got our first proof of concept, getting those deals under our belt, and then we kind of lacked with consistency. So, um, we stopped sending out mail, things were getting a little bit dry.

Then we started to scale back up and more deals were coming in. So for me, it was such a mindset thing and consistency. Um, so that’s a little bit about, you know, our journey. And since then, um, as like you stated, we’ve gotten more deals, so we’ve just been scaling since then. Um, but yeah, it’s, it’s been a heck of a journey.

So I think there’s a lot of good nuggets that people will get out of this, especially with consultation calls that we do. There’s so many questions with people just starting off.

Ron: Yeah. And that’s what I wanted to get into. Like one of your roles within our company is having those conversations with new members, people who come into our program.

So having those initial conversations, everyone who joins our program gets a free consultation with Anthony or a very successful land investor. And that’s basically goal setting calls. And you get to see, I can’t even imagine the amount of people you’ve seen and the excitement level. Um, but what do you see in those?

Like, what’s a consistent thing that you are seeing in those and you have seen, you’ve seen it. Full circle to like the people who have made it also.

Anthony: Yeah. It’s, it’s really interesting because you think you have an idea of someone like, Oh, they’re probably not going to do well, or they’re going to do well.

And they do the exact opposite. Um, so in terms of, yeah, just what I see, I see a lot of either excitement or fear. Um, people have that excitement, like, Hey, I’ve been watching all the YouTube videos. I just started diving into the course. Let’s get this moving. And there’s people that are a lot of analysis or paralysis by analysis.

I’m like, Hey, I don’t know how to select a County. I’m going through the course. I’m struggling a lot of just like uncertainty. Right. So I see it’s like two opposite sides of the spectrum of what I mainly see. So, um, I relate a lot to the, um, paralysis by analysis, because there’s just so much information.

You’re just getting started. And like we talk about, there’s people that join the course from like all over the place, people that are out of the country, people that are teachers, people that are software engineers. Like this is a totally new realm for them. So in terms of what I see on the consultation calls is, yeah, people just want to know a little bit more and just feel more comfortable to take that step because it’s a big leap.

A lot of people are thinking like, this is what’s going to get me out of my nine to five. I have big hopes and aspirations. It’s like, okay, well, let’s. Dial that in, let’s find out what these expectations are and let’s get you to a place to where you send out consistent mail and you can just grow from there to hit that goal.

Ron: You like, you like doing those calls?

Anthony: I like those calls a lot because I see how I was to first starting off. I was like, that’s so relatable. Like someone, um, the other day, actually last week, like, Hey, I have like 30 counties selected. How do I narrow this down? I was like, okay, well let me share my screen throughout a couple of counties and we’ll review it.

Um, so it, it’s very rewarding for me because there’s some people that I’ve seen that are now doing big deals. I was like, wow, they started like four or five months ago and they’re going after big deals already. They’re comfortable and they’re just getting after it and you’re seeing them in the community and it’s really cool to see people grow because I know what it’s like first starting off and being so terrified and you don’t know if this is going to work or not.

And then you get that proof of concept and you keep going after it because you have that itch now. So I, I think that’s very rewarding.

Ron: Yeah. That’s, that’s really interesting and cool to hear. And I, we do, I do a lot of consultations for people before they become members and kind of whether they do, it’s, it’s a free consultation.

We do land investing online. com slash consultation if anyone is interested. Um, but, um, I do a lot of those before and that people that end up purchasing, like I love seeing the growth. Like the basic level of their questions initially to like, okay, now it’s 30 days later. And like, they’re bringing me a deal that’s 50, 000 a profit or something like that.

And it’s, it happens fast if you take action, but that is the thing, like so many people. You probably see a lot of people in there, unfortunately, who probably just don’t do anything. And what I always say to people are like, there’s three levels of people in this business. You have the people who buy the course and they don’t do anything.

Unfortunately, that is, uh, unfortunately it’s, it’s, it’s people buy something on a high, they buy something when they’re. Um, excited, they watch some YouTube videos and then like when it’s time to take action, they freeze. Like you said, paralysis analysis. Then you have the people who dip their toe into this business and we get about a deal for every 2000 mailers and they send 500 mailers out and they’re like, wow, this doesn’t work.

I’m done. And then you have the people that go all in. And those are the people that make it nine times out of 10. Those are people that become successful. Uh, is there a consistently like those, you know, the people who are doing that based on your consultations? I feel like it’s like the even keel people, honestly, like if you’re too excited at first.

You might have that fault. You’re going to have that fall. It’s about getting up from that fall. Is there any, I don’t know, consistency from the people that like really stay with it?

Anthony: You know, I don’t know if there’s an exact consistency because we don’t see what someone goes on on a, on a day to day.

Like we’re not there in person when someone gets a deal under contract, right. Or when they, their mailer doesn’t hit correctly or their, their leads are just slamming them with hate calls. Right. So you’re not really seeing how people react. I do think being, um, even keeled is really important, like the idea of stillness.

Um, I do think that’s really important because if you are someone that is riding a high and you’re really emotional, you just be ready to ride that low because it could get really low. Um, well, if you do things wrong, it definitely can. So I think it’s all about just understanding yourself. But I do, I do agree with you in the idea of the more calm you are in situations.

Cause things can come up something entirely like, wow, this was a slimed up deal, but it needs to go through probate now, or there’s like boundary issues, right? Like, how are you going to handle that? So I think the more calm you are and you can keep your emotions in check, the more you can keep moving.

Cause things will come up. You’re running a business. It’s not going to be perfect all the time, but, uh, yeah, handling those things correctly is huge.

Ron: And just not letting your highs be too high and your lows being too low, I think is kind of the name of that. And it’s something I like, cause I, I used to get very emotional with business high and lows.

And it’s something that I’ve worked on tremendously. Like we can have a hundred thousand, 200, 000 deal come in and it’s just another day. Yeah. You can lose a hundred thousand, 200, 000 deal. And it’s just another day. Cause the next one will come fight for it. Fight for the deal. I’m not saying don’t fight for it.

Try to make it work whatever the situation is, but it is going to happen over the life of a business. You are going to have times when you lose money. You’re going to have times when you make a ton of money. Um, I think those times when you lose money and making a lot of money, being as close together as possible.

In terms of emotionally, it is where you are healthy and it’s going to help you really grow. Um, but let’s get into, so we said the first six months, we kind of talked about your story. What are the roadblocks you see here of whatever situation? I think the first one for zero to three months, let’s start.

What are roadblocks you see? I think the first one that I see is like you said, you had two failed mailers. 50, 000 profit County. Um, what, what other roadblocks do you see from those zero to three months?

Anthony: So the biggest thing is just staying consistent with showing up to calls. Um, as people know in the community for members, we have the Monday calls where we review deals, we’ll bring people on the stage.

They could speak about the deal. The Wednesday webinar is great as well as their Friday Q and a’s. And as, as you know, when I first started, I mean, still to this day, I’m in every call and I would ask a thousand questions. So in regards to the roadblocks, it’s just staying educated, seeing what other deals members are bringing to the community, things that are being brought up.

Cause you need to realize. This is probably going to happen to me. And so I think the biggest thing, or at least from my experience is just being able to, you know, work leads as we’re coming in, being able to, um, actually negotiate over the phone. What’s an actual price point. How am I going to, you know, build relationships with funders.

So just thinking about all the next steps, and if you want to scale and let this be something to take you out of your nine to five and create your own business. Getting all of that set up in building goals, it’s systems and processes in place for you to be able to do that. So I think that can be overwhelming for someone just starting out, uh, cause like we’re saying people from all different backgrounds, right?

Not really used to, you know, starting their own, you know, side hustle or something they want to take on as their full time job. Right. So in terms of roadblocks, it’s, it’s just the fundamentals, you know, what are the main things that we teach in the course? Right. Um, everything from A to Z, but what are the main things that you need to focus on?

You need to focus on acquiring good land, like a quality land and being able to undercut the market and sell it quick. And so everything else, like, yeah, you can build relationships with realtors, all that. But learn the fundamentals first, learn what you need to do, find out good selling tactics. So I, I know that was a mouthful, but it’s just about fine tuning all of the fundamentals.

And then at that point, start to scale, start to niche, be an expert and grow from there. But it’s just so overwhelming at first.

Ron: Yeah, and the first thing you said was education. And in our business, like within our business, when we hire employees, like those first 30, 60 days, it’s learning, it’s learning our core values as a learning, just absorbing as much as possible.

And that’s the same thing when you come into a course, a program, and you’re trying to take on something brand new, something you’ve never done before. Like you said, showing up, like showing up on a daily basis, maybe you don’t work three hours over the weekend, but you get 30 minutes done and you just do something like, um, my brother Daniel always says, just moving the ball forward on a day to day basis, like doing something to move forward that day.

You might’ve slept horribly. Like there are situations, there’s always an excuse to why you can’t make something happen one day. But then you’re just like throwing that to the next day. And then there’s going to be an excuse the next day. Like I didn’t, I don’t feel well this day. I didn’t sleep well. And there’s always something, but like you said, to start the education, I think it goes so much beyond zero to three months.

Um, but let’s get now Anthony three to six months. I think for me. Zero to three months is like you said, it was a mouthful. Like it’s a whirlwind of stuff. You’re having a ton of stuff thrown at you. It’s brand new material. Three to six months. I think it’s like you’re refining some skills. You’re becoming a little more efficient.

I don’t care about efficiency that much zero to three months, but once you get three to six, like. Let’s start to throw away crap land a little faster. Let’s start to maybe work on our systems a little bit to be more efficient. Uh, what are your thoughts on that? Yeah,

Anthony: Yeah , I agree with that completely. And I think the three to six month mark, you’re like, Hey, I have a few deals under my belt.

Now it’s time to build relationships with investors, diversify. Uh, my investors and also the people that you’ve, uh, that have funded deals for you, you know, be comfortable having, um, to negotiate, you know, if you want better rates, you know, maybe have that conversation And then build relationships with like, Hey, maybe I want to outsource my, uh, dispositions, right?

So maybe I want to build relationships with agents Maybe I want to hone in on a specific state or a specific region since I have good success I have good momentum or at that point like, Hey, I want to branch out into other areas other regions Those are things to really, to start to think about. ’cause at this point you have a good amount of data.

Mm-hmm. , if you’re following what we teach in the course, you’re saying out a good amount of mail. So at that point you have a lot of data you could look at, analyze what you’re doing, like are you having the right, um, conversations over the phone. So at that point, I think it’s time for you to really start analyzing, really start getting strategic, narrowed down on a focus, and then grow from there.

I, I think that’s really important.

Ron: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And, uh, Um, I don’t want to say you make it if you get past three months, but the majority of people fall off in land investing from that zero to three months from zero to one month, even honestly, like they just had a, uh, they just ran out of gas, whatever their situation was.

You make it to three months, four months, and you’ve been doing this consistently. You’re you, you make it more times than not in this business model. Um, But I want to get into numbers a little bit because I think that’s really important. And I think a lot of people are probably watching this. Like, can I make money in the first six months?

And the reality is like, yes, I see people hitting profitability in this business. Around four months. Like, I think that’s a very normal time to be flipping your first deal. Maybe you spent 5, 000 on mail and you get 20, 000 return, and then you can keep on scaling up from there. Um, is that what you’re seeing from a lot of people?

Like that three to five month period turning profitability.

Anthony: Yeah. And it’s funny you bring this up because in consultation calls, people were like, I want to make money as quick as possible. It’s like, Hey, you can definitely do that, you know, through land flipping, but keep in mind. You need to first select a county.

You’re going to have to pull data. You’re going to have to scrub the data. You’re going to have the price. You’re going to send out your mail. You’re going to work leads. Then, you know, when you get a signed purchase agreement, send it to title two to three week process. You know, then at that point, you’re going to have to list it.

And then. You’re going to have to wait for an offer, hopefully a very good one that comes in quick. Then that takes another, what, two to four weeks to close. So you have to take all that into consideration. So I think for three to four months makes complete sense. If you do everything right, then yeah, I, I think that, um, I think that makes sense.

So I think setting in those expectations, especially for people that do calls with me that haven’t gone fully through the course is setting those expectations because once you get that. You have to keep in mind, you’re still sending out mail. You’re building your pipeline. Your acquisitions are growing.

You’re getting a lot more listed for sale. Then at that point you just start to snowball it.

Ron: Absolutely. Yeah, no, that is what it is, guys. There’s a lot of waiting in this game. Yeah. Like, unfortunately, like mail isn’t the fastest way to contact a seller. But it is the most effective. Yeah. We text some. Yeah.

We cold call some. Yeah. We send some emails. Yeah. We do some other stuff, but mail is the fastest or the most effective way to make money in this business model. Other than that, Anthony, like there’s probably a lot of people listening who haven’t started at all. Like they’re probably on the verge of it.

Uh, maybe they’re just doing like, there’s a lot of people who do that. Like. YouTube grind and they’re just watching, watching, which is fine. At some point you do have to take that step and like, okay, this is for me. Um, it’s not BS, whatever the situation, but any advice for those people who are thinking about this, like you, you want to go, my advice is you want to go in with like, uh, uh, an educated mindset.

You don’t want to just jump into it, like educate yourself on YouTube, but any advice for those people.

Anthony: Yeah. It’s funny. Cause I actually heard this on a. Quote, or I heard this quote from a podcast actually about a couple of years ago. And I love it. And something that I try to live by is that ideas without action are just ideas.

So it’s really important to take action. You can watch as many YouTube videos as you want. You can spew out whatever knowledge you want, but it doesn’t mean anything until you have to take action and apply what you learned. And you’re like, Oh, maybe I didn’t learn this that well. So I think just taking action, it’s, it’s so simple to say, but it’s so hard to do.

But I think that’s all you need to do is take action. You’ve, you’ve done what you need to do. You’re educated. Now you need to, you know, fine tune things with, you know, a little bit more education because there’s only so much of, you know, free YouTube provides or YouTube university, right? And then, yeah, just, just jump in and you know, if you’re concerned or anything, like it’s normal, it’s normal to be worried.

Ron: The hurdles, like, that’s what I want.

It’s not straight up. Like this ain’t, this isn’t a roller coaster where you just go straight up. This is a bumpy roller coaster where you’re slowly kind of going up. Um, there’s going to be some low points. There’s going to be some really high points, but at the end of the day, like you are going up, if you’re taking action in this business model, Other than that, guys, if you have not already, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

If you have any other suggestions for videos for podcasts you want us to talk about, please leave it in the comments and we’ll do our best to get to it. Other than that, thank you so much for joining us. Have a good day.

Anthony: Take care guys.