I’m Steven Jack Butala.

I’m Jill DeWit, and this is The Land Academy Show.

This is episode number 2198. Jill and I are talking about the profile of a perfect land and house flip in 2025.

Buyer Profile In A Downturn Market

It’s interesting. I’m sure the people who are listening right now are like, “What? It’s okay. What are you guys doing? I see all this stuff for sale.” Yep, it’s okay. Please remember that in times like these, there are other investors. You know what? I’m going to go on record saying this. Times like these are when the investors come out. They are people like us.

You stole my thunder.

I’m sorry.

No, it’s good. It’s good that we’re thinking the same thing. That’s who you sell to. Those are your buyers.

This is it. They know what’s coming. They see it shifting down. You’ve got an amazing property, but you already cut to the chase. You bought it so low. I don’t go jumping into the topic, but you know, so low. They’re like, “I can’t lose on this one,” which is as it should be. That’s why you bought it like that. They have the dough. Other investors like us are putting all their dough together and watching for amazing deals. We’ll get more into that here in a few minutes.

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.

Brent wrote, “Hello. Positioning/negotiating question for a newbie. I have an interested seller who has two side-by-side parcels that are interested in selling. One is 1.49 acres. The other is 2.21 acres. She’s asking for a higher price on the belief that there’s more value in the combined acreage, and selling individually.”

I put this in here to bait you. She was to blow her top.

That’s cute. That’s very sweet. When I buy a dozen eggs, it’s more expensive than 6 or 1. It’s always that price.

I swear I put it in your eyes, and put this price.

That’s right. Brent, send me her number.

Agricultural property has been—and still is—more valuable when it's larger, especially when it's adjacent. Share on X

I have two cars. I’m going to put them together so I’m all at once for you, and I’m going to charge you more.

Exactly. All of the A’s are looking good, so I hope to get this deal. Any guidance on how to approach this conversation will be appreciated, without calling her a dingbat.

I can tell a whole what she is and what her life has been like. She grew up on a farm. She’s in her 80s or 90s.

Hold on a moment. She doesn’t know. That’s the bottom line. She’s like, “Wait a minute, at 1.5 acres and a little over 2 acres. Now, we’re pushing 4 acres. This is great for one person.” Yeah, but this is easy too, Brent. Do you drink? What do you drink? I drink Miller Lite. When was the last time you paid more for a 12-pack than you did for a 6-pack or 1 beer sitting at the bar? It’s the same with land.

Here is where this comes from. Agricultural property has been and still is, when it’s adjacent like this, more valuable when it’s bigger. That’s where this is coming from. She’s just coming from a different world. Older people from 1930, ‘40, or ‘50, it was very frequent to buy somebody else’s ranch or their farm and consolidate it into their own and make it one APN because the taxes would be cheaper. On a thin-margin agricultural business, especially back then, every dollar helps.

That’s what’s going on here. She thinks that she has already done the work because it’s adjacent. I’m telling you, she has a farming background and she’s in her 80s. We all know that this is not the case. We also know that having two APNs next to each other is better than having one APN altogether. We should be, because we know that, rewarded for what may happen in the future by selling it to two different people. It should be cheaper, not more.

That’s a thing, too. When I go to celebrate, because Lord knows we’ve done this many times, I’ll post them separately, and then I post them, and then in the description, I write, “By the way, I’m cutting a deal. If you want to pick up the two at the same time, you’re going to pay less.” That’s the way you buy it. That’s the way you sell it. How you explain that to her, that’s a whole other thing. That’s a tough one.

One of them is going to be better than the other. That’s how realistic it is. You need to be rewarded for buying both of them and getting the upside on whichever piece of property is better.

Which has better access? Which has the better view?

You buy two properties like this for $10,000. You sell the first crappier one for $10,000. Now, the second one is all profit. This happens to us all the time, and it’s thousands of times that we’ve orchestrated this way. Your costs are all covered, and you’re done. Now you’ve got the great and the one that everybody loves. You’ve covered your costs. It’s over. Now, you sell it for retail. You sell it for $22,000, which may be even over market because you’re going to wait for two years and your costs are all covered.

Good point.

This is a good deal for you.

Good deal. Good job.

Anatomy Of The Perfect Flip

Today’s topic is the profile of a perfect land and house flip in 2025.

If people perceive that what you're selling is a great deal or offers great value, they're going to buy it. Share on X

The profile of a perfect land and house flip right now is this. Fortunately, too, I have Jack. He’s going to go into the right areas where things are moving, things are not drastic, it’s not going backwards, and it’s not overly saturated with everybody that it looks like a mass exodus. It might be attractive for you to go into. I’m sure a lot of buyers are like, “I can get things cheap because everyone is leaving.” I get that, but hold on a moment. Let’s make sure there isn’t a real reason why. You need to make sure that it’s still a good area. It’s a sign of the times right now, and it will come back.

That applies to land or houses because it happens, as we talked about earlier. I’m mirroring what Jack said. There’s some COVID resetting that’s happening. Some things are artificially too high and too crazy, and things are getting back in line now. You have to account for that. The perfect land flip for me is this. We hit that area. I’m probably going to have an above-average return call volume because everybody’s like, “Thank you. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I see even agents that are closing up shop right now because things aren’t selling. They’re not making money. There are fewer real estate agents out there who are even interested in my property. I’m so happy to get your letter. Tell me what to do. Whatever it is, I’ll take it.”

That’s sad, but we talked about that earlier, too. I qualify them. I knew right away on the phone that they’re in a bind. They do need the dough, and so we’re going to work out an amazing deal. This does tie up all this week. How do I know it’s an amazing deal? I did stuff like what we talked about, too, and some of the questions about how pricing things are way lower than what we did a year ago, way lower than what we did six months ago.

I know that you’re staring at an offer that I sent you last fall for $13,000. I’m so sorry. I’ll throw out Tara’s. Tara had one that was $15,000 a year ago, and she got up for $500. What? Yeah, that’s extreme, but maybe my $15,000 last fall is now five. That’s very realistic. They’re like, “You know what? I get it. I need that five. I’ll take it.” That’s what happened. Why did I even act on that five? Because I know what I can do and make it 12 or close to 15 or something like that.

Maybe even 15, because that’s what I would have had to spend for it back then. Not what’s retail at. That’s what I would have spent to do. I might buy it for five, and I think I can sell it for twenty because I know what the breakpoint is. I know what people or these other investors are looking to spend, and they’re happy to get that deal. They don’t have the calls coming in like I do, and I make it. I do it really fast.

If you’re young, this is hard for you to understand. There are a disproportionate number of people who are done in life, financially bored, and looking for an amazing deal on anything. A lot of people in rural areas, specifically, are looking for amazing land deals. They know the market. They’re usually older. Maybe they own a machine shop. They’re retired. I don’t know what their exact profile is. If they have the perception that what you’re selling is of a great deal or great value, they are going to buy it.

The profile of a piece of property or a house that you want to flip creates that perception for somebody who’s loaded or has tons of extra money and tons of extra time on their hands. They’re going to buy from you. You have to create that perception. You can’t just count on the fact that you’re going to list it for below whatever it is on the MLS. That guy is going to find it. You have to create it through neighbor letters and Facebook Marketplace.

We’re entrepreneurs. Everybody who is tuning in to this is either an entrepreneur or wants to be one. We want good deals. We want to buy low and sell high. These flips right now need to be spectacular deals, or else please don’t do them. You get so much mail out there that you’re creating a couple of great deals a month at least. That fits the profile, and then get it in the hands of somebody who can sell it and say, “It should look like this to the seller.”

The neighbor letter that you would create is like, “I know that you own this house in XYZ ZIP code. It looks like you bought it in 1978 for $13,000. I have a property that’s three blocks away from you that needs a bunch of work, but it’s close to $13,000. This looks like you might be interested.” Send out a letter to everybody like that around, doing a mail merge, and you’re going to sell it.

How does this tie to the house flip thing? Think about this one. I hope you have not been paying attention to the news because this is when the investors are coming out. They’re looking for your deal. They’re looking for your land deal, and they’re looking, especially, for your house deal.

These create a real estate transaction for them.

That’s what you need to do. That’s a good neighbor letter. Build a list of buyers who are doing houses in that area. It’s not hard to do. That’s a whole other show, but that’s the perfect house flip. You buy it. As you said earlier, we have one for $135,000, and the break point is 250. I served it up on a plan. Anything below 200 or at 200, they’re going to love it. They’ll make it great because their goal is to go and do what they do best. They’re investors, they already have a crew, they’re going to send the crew there. They’re wrapping up on this one down the street. They’re going to move over to yours, and then they’re going to write it out, maybe. I don’t know, but whatever it is, they’re going to go for that next level. That’s the perfect profile.

Join us next week for a few more interesting episodes. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We are Jack and Jill, information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.