The Power Of Partnering In Business

This is episode number 2151. Jill and I are talking about the advantages of partnering versus going solo in your land business. Here’s a spoiler alert. For me, when I joined forces with the right partner, Jill, we probably made twenty times more money almost immediately. It was something that I didn’t know that I even needed, but I needed somebody on the phone whose heart was in it to create real estate deals where there weren’t. We’ll talk about that in a minute.

I want to give you credit. You have had other partners before me. You will never have any partners after me.

That’s correct. That is a perfect way to say it.

I want to give you credit because you were not afraid of that. I know so many people are like, “I don’t want to do that. I’m going to do it on my own. I want to call the shots. I want to be the boss. I don’t want to share any of the profit.” They are missing out. You can’t be 100%. I can’t think of anything. We’ll talk about it.

Land Academy’s Collaborative Environment

All week, Jill and I will be talking about running your land business better. Each day on the show, we answer a question from our Land Academy member Discord forum and take a deep dive into land-related topics at your request.

This is from Hawaii, Zane and Tara. Zane and Tara wrote, “We’re seeking funding for an infill lot in Portland, Oregon’s premier neighborhood. The lot is 8,645 square feet. All utilities are on the street and it’s ready to be built upon. We’re under contract for $135,000 and agreed to pay all the closing costs. The neighboring house sold in November 2023 for $1.79 million. All homes within a few miles are at least $1 million. Lots in the area have sold between $217,000 and this is January 2025, that are not even as desirable as our lot to $400,000.

I’ve received market evaluations from my preferred realtor in the area. He’s incredible. He sold my unsellable lot without a hitch. He’s confident that we’re going to get well above $250,000 and is going to provide even more insight tomorrow. He thinks we could even list it near $400,000. We’re open to funding formats, even interest rates, partial funding, or full funding. I have tons of information. Please text or call me.” How cool is that?

Do you know what I got out of this? They’re doing this from Hawaii, which is cool. This is how you get an investor. They were clear. I have no more questions about this real estate deal at all after reading this. They have a sense of confidence. They already have a boots-on-the-ground person who has already done a real estate deal with them. They’ve negotiated an amazing deal. In fact, they’re in at $135,000. They believe it’s worth $250,000. The guy that they’re involved with, who’s done a transaction with them, the real estate agent, believes it’s worth $400,000.

I’ve had that. Let them go. Let them run with it.

That’s why I included this.

It’s good.

Why The Right Partner Can Transform Your Land Business

This is a partner that I want, and that’s the topic of this episode. The topic is the advantages of partnering versus going solo in your land business. I can tell you my story in 60 seconds or less. I bought an 80-acre property in Arizona from my coffee table in Cincinnati, Ohio, while working in the healthcare system. I was the Vice President of Deaconess Healthcare System at the time. The property was 80 acres. I spent about $8,000 on it. I immediately redressed it on the internet, cleaned it up, put new pictures on there, told a different story, and sold it for $16,000 about 30 days later. It was cash in, cash out in 30 days. That was it for me.

When I joined forces with the right partner, we probably made twenty times more money almost immediately. Share on X

The honeymoon period lasted 30 days for me. I looked at myself and said, “This is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I have to do one single thing.” I’m talking to you, too, not just me. “I have to find land to feed this beastie machine at the right price.” It turns out $8,000 was way too much, but I still made a bunch of money.

I moved to Arizona shortly after that and had a very successful career. There were millions of dollars I collected and kept after tax until 2009 when the economy took over. We’re about to see that type of thing happen here in 2025. Luckily for me, at the same time, I met Jill. Jill and I had a social relationship for a year or two.

One day, she said, “What’s that big box over there with all the paper in it?” I said, “Those are tax bills from all the properties that I own that we can’t sell because the economy’s in the tank.” She said, “Give me a top ten list of the people who have been buying properties from you.” I dug it up and she got on the phone and sold 80% of the property. These are properties that I was out of the business, pursuing other stuff.

You gave up on them. You were like, “These are throwaways.”

You tell me. Am I better off with a partner or not? I might not have been better off with a partner in that coffee table situation. I look back and I’m sure I would have been, but I did okay. Jill and I are way better together. This is a double-edged sword because if you get a bad partner, they’re going to drag you down from just you doing it alone. There are a lot of books written by single men who have done well.

Are we talking in life or in business?

In business.

I’m making sure.

You can interchange business and marriage in this entire episode. You might be better off on your own or you might be better off with your partner. That’s for you to decide. When you’re starting out, you don’t have a bunch of dough, which is understandable. I used to feel bad about that. I was like, “I wish I had more money.” Forget that. When you’re starting out, you are going to need help. You’re going to need help from people like us in Land Academy. If anything else, that’s going to shorten your education timeframe so that it doesn’t take you five years to learn how to do this. It takes you five months. That’s number one.

Number two, you’re going to need a bunch of money one way or the other once you find these great real estate deals. Your job is to find great real estate deals. It’s not to collect money, raise money, or all that. My job is to provide an environment for you to raise money if you find a good real estate deal. That’s it. Your job is to find the deal. Our job is to do everything else.

In Land Academy, we’re your partners already. I never thought about it like that. You can come to me, us, or our community and be like, “I need help with X.” I got 499 partners right here waiting for you to help you.

You don’t have to have a partner for life, a business partner that you’re in forever, for better or for worse. That’s silly. Find a great real estate deal. Get yourself a money partner. Sell the property. Split the profit. Do it again a few more times. You then have a bunch of dough that you don’t need a partner anymore. Use that leverage.

You’re somebody else’s partner. You’re the bank for them.

You’d be crazy. I would’ve shaved ten years off of making the money that I did if I had utilized an equity partner if it was available to me. Back then, the internet was not like it is now. You’d have to call your uncle. That was about it. Join us in the next episode, where Jill and I talk about the hidden costs of land investing and how to avoid them. You’re not alone in your real estate ambition. We are information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.