When we got started we were not lucky enough to miss out on our own mistakes. As a matter of fact, the mistakes we initially made is one of the reasons why we made Land Investing Online.
When starting a new venture or a business, mistakes are part of the process of building that business. As humans, Andrew Huberman a neuroscientist at Stanford says that we can learn just a few ways. Learning from our own mistakes, learning from our successes but ALSO and most importantly learning from other peoples mistakes.
In this blog, we hope you can learn from our mistakes and go into your land investing business more educated and ready to handle these issues.
Not Doing Proper Due Diligence
When we first had gotten started, we were adding items to our due diligence list (which we provide for free to our members) as we found them. This means we had to go through bad deals in order to find what to look for and what to avoid.
A particular purchase in the past we learned alot from was when we had purchased a property that was actually a landfill. We did not notice until after we had purchased the property, as you could not see a multi decade old landfill due to overgrowth. Now, we obviously know what to look for.
If you are curious about some due diligence items, be sure to ask in our discord or join the land investing course to get access to the due diligence checklist. Moral of the story, be sure you are properly examining deals that you have a purchase agreement for.
Not Outsourcing Calls
For the first 16 months of our business, Dan handled every single sales call. It is valuable for learning, and for connecting with the customer but it is a large use of time.
That same time that could be found scrubbing deals, gathering more counties, and sending out mail. Although it does take an upfront cost for a service like PatLive, outsourcing your calls will save you alot of time, and time being yelled at.
Overanalyzing Deals
On the topic of saving time and using it more effectively, a very good use of wasting time is overanalyzing deals that do not have a purchase agreement already.
There is no use to spending hours of time for a deal you MAY get or have no indication of getting now. Wait for the purchase agreement to come in, wait for you to talk to the seller, and THEN analyze the property. Dont spend too much time on a deal that doesnt exist yet.
Removing Bad Comps
Analyzing comps is a more difficult task to perform. Over time analyzing comps will become easier and feel more intuitive.
You cannot compare a landlocked deal youre looking at to a waterfront property with road access that sold a month ago.
At the same time, there are many examples of fake deals or fake comps posted on websites which we look for comparable pricing. Be careful analyzing bad comps, and focus on the good ones even if there is only a few of them.
Relying On Realtors
In the rural areas we are doing business, it is not often where you will find a motivated real estate agent to help you with your transactions.
With the lack of agents in rural areas, and the lower pricing of raw land there is not a large motivator to get back to your calls on time or even help you at all. Do not wait on realtors, at the end of this day this business comes entirely to you and your actions. If a realtor does not get back to you, try to find a new one or even do their work yourself.
Dont Drag Your Feet
Just like any business deal or venture, time wounds all deals. Do not wait and procrastinate when it comes to starting your land business. Instead, dive directly in. With consistent work, your deal flow will continue to get better and better. If you wait and pause in between steps, your deal flow will become dryer and sporadic. We have members in the discord and group who have only been with us for 30 days but already have deals coming in, so if they can do it why cant you?
This does not require a full time position in order to get started, as a matter of fact you can get started with just a couple of hours a day. We highlighted this in our new 30 Days To Get Your First Deal Challenge which will be unveiled shortly.
Dont drag your feet, get into our discord group today to network with other real estate investors and get your bearing on the market.
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