What Is A Land Neighbor Letter & Why It Works

This is episode number 2186. Jill and I are talking about the power of the land neighbor letter. If you don’t know what a neighbor letter is, it’s a letter that not all the time, but very often, we’ll send to after we buy a piece of property. We send all the neighbors, all the people who own properties in that immediate area, a little notice that says, “We just bought this property. I know you own land in the same area. Let us know. We’re happy to sell it for X. We’re not going to put it on the market until we hear from you.” It works. We’ll talk about that in great detail here in a second. 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 by popular request.

The Importance Of Systematic Marketing & Reach

Okay, Jocelyn wrote, “Do you have a favorite way to sell property that you purchased? Does listing it work or Facebook Marketplace? What is the best way?” I’m going to go back to a long time ago, what we came up with when we were launching Land Academy and we really haven’t wavered. Make a system and stick to it. You probably were going to have nothing short of let’s just say 5 to 10 places that you post your property.

It’s much easier that way, too, instead of like, “I think this one’s good for Instagram, or this one’s good for Facebook, or this one’s good for the MLS.” There are some nuances for sure, like what group they go in kind of thing. If it’s land, don’t put it in a house group, or maybe you do, nothing wrong with that, but it’s much better if you create a system. The whole underlying goal here is reaching as many people as possible. That’s the point, too. You’re not going to sell anything if it’s not in front of the right people. “I have a car for sale. It’s in my driveway with a sign on it.” That’s great. You live in a cul-de-sac.

That means 5 to 10 people, unless they have house guests, are going to see that you have a car for sale. That’s a perfect example. Your car for sale in your driveway, or you put your car for sale on the corner with a big sign on it at the end of the grocery store, where 20,000 cars drive by a day. A, and then B, you also have it on Autotrader and Facebook Marketplace and fill in the blank. You see where I’m going there. Think about the reach you’re going to get versus in your driveway.

Did you ever get all dressed up and put makeup on and do your hair?

This is going to be good.

Walk over and sit on the couch, make some popcorn and watch a movie.

No. Could you imagine why I said yes?

I did not expect that reaction.

What do you think I was going to say?

This ties into what we’re talking about somehow. I’m just not exactly sure.

I’m going to get all dressed up, do my hair, put lipstick on, pop some popcorn, and plop my little ass on the couch in hopes that some random person rings my doorbell tonight?

“You look good. Are you going somewhere?” “No, I’m just waiting for you.”

“I’m here to check the water meter, but damn. Do you want to grab dinner instead?” No.

You’ve got to market yourself.

Not like that.

This is a real effective way to do it. We’ll jump right in here. This episode’s topic, the power of land neighbor letters.

I kind of want to continue this conversation because I bet people do that, but do you know what they do? They sit there and take selfies of themself. There’s an ulterior thing and post those. That’s not the kind of reach I’m going for.

No. What is the kind of reach, not you, but what’s the desired effect? You do all that stuff instead of the couch popcorn thing, you go out with your friends. I don’t know what. Is it compliments?

I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, but I have a friend that I looked at a photo that she put online and she clearly got herself all dolled up for that photo. Just to put a cute little picture of her in social media. I’m like, “I’m not even sure what the point is.” I don’t even know what the point is of that, other than, “I look great,” which she does. I said, “You do but is this supposed to attract people or just everybody goes, “You look great.”

Neighbor letters work. About half the time, we get a response—and that’s huge. You’re not paying a 6–10% commission like with an agent. Share on X

That’s my question. What’s the real desired effect? Is it compliments from random people? I’ve always wondered this about women. What is the point? A feeling? “I feel good about myself.”

I don’t want to say too much.

There’s no man version of this.

There’s confidence and then there’s lack of confidence. I think that maybe it’s fishing for compliments because you need them.

I don’t know. I’m asking.

I’m guessing.

It sounded like a question mark there.

Just put it in the comments section because I’m a little confused by that too. I feel like I’m the opposite because there’s days I look at our episodes and I’m like, “Is that what you look like, Jill? Woman, put some mascara on.” I think I look okay.

On a scale of 1 to 10, what do you think? Just like show appropriate?

I think I’m show appropriate.

Not Cinderella ball.

No, i’ll never do that. Could you imagine? No, that’s not who I am. I can’t do that. I feel put together now.

Why Neighbor Letters Are So Effective

I don’t know where this is going. Here’s the power of land neighbor letters. A lot of years ago, I read a statistic, it’s still relevant now, I checked, that 50% of the property that gets sold is sold to people that live within or own property within one mile of that actual real estate or they have a relationship with somebody. House is for sale, three blocks down. Uncle Jones lives there and his niece buys the property because he calls her and says it’s for sale.

She already loves the area and already. She’s been there so many times like, “I wish I could live here too.”

The same is true with land. They’ve already bought or already, for whatever reason, invested in the area. All they just need is a little shove to realize that your property’s not for sale and it’s off market. Who doesn’t love off-market real estate deals? Who doesn’t love getting a letter saying, “This is really cheap and it’s only for you. No one else knows about it. I’m not going to let the world know about it until I hear from you.”

Neighborhood letters work. They work about half the time that we send them out. Those numbers are really strong. As far as cost goes, you list your property with a real estate agent, you’re going to be paying 6% to 10% of the sale price of the property. You do a mailer letter and close the deal yourself, it’s hundreds of dollars instead of tens of thousands.

If you have a good real estate agent working with you, they’ll do neighbor letters. The point here is do it before they do, because if you sell it yourself, ding ding, you won. That’s all I have.

The topic was a lot shorter in this episode than the banter about being in a relationship.

Yeah. Let’s save that.

Save what? The banter?

Yes.

Join us next time where Jill and I discuss why most people price their land of mailers incorrectly. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We are Jack and Jill. Information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.