Regrets Of Land Investors Who Quit Too Soon

This is episode number 2209. Jill and I are talking about the biggest regrets for land investors who quit too soon. Because we didn’t choose this topic, we both said that this is something fun to talk about.

Regrets aren’t fun.

The regret part is awful, but we’re not going to talk about the mechanics of a mailer. I don’t think that’s going to disappoint anyone.

It is not necessarily a happy topic, but it is more fun for us because it’s not.

Maybe to the reader as well.

I have three big ones. This is something that, for years, fell on me. When we first launched Land Academy many years ago, I was talking to a lot of people. There were people who would start and stop, and start and stop. It would be me. It was I doing the selling, telling people, coaching, and helping. We didn’t call it that. I was just the one who answered the phone. We didn’t have a staff and things like what we have now to help with that. What’s interesting is that of all these regrets, there are people who, if they are strong enough, can come back. I’ve had people who have left the Land Academy, then come back three times, and it’s okay.

They’re like, “This is it. This time, I’m doing it.” Every time, it’s always the same thing. It’s like, “It’s not you. It’s not the education. This is what’s going on in my life.” We’re going to share some of the regrets. I have a lot that I can share because I talk to these people. When they’re calling back on, “This is what happened.” I say, “I know. Come on back. We’ll help you.”

They don’t let me talk. They don’t let me do that. Each day on the show, we answer a question from our Land Academy member Discord forum. We take a deep dive into land-related topics at your request.

Market Land Value Data In Data Tree

This is directly to Jack in Discord. Chip wrote, “Do you or anyone know where the market land value data comes from in DataTree? How close is it to the actual value?”

Here’s where it comes from. Each of these data providers, like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, DataTree, and ATTOM Data, has an algorithm that they don’t disclose what’s in it to value real estate. The vast majority of the effort, the money, the resources, and the capital that goes into developing that algorithm is for houses. In all points of real estate data, land is just the stepchild. They have some metric that they use to create some value. Sometimes, we do it very loudly in the Land Academy. Sometimes, we do it for our own business.

We just take an average of all of those algorithms when we can get them. If you take out the averages of anything, 5 or 10 pieces of data, you’re going to get something a little bit more accurate than just one source. Is it accurate? I don’t think so. What’s accurate is how we do it. We take a look at properties that are as like-kind as possible that are for sale and have recently sold. Take an average of those. That’s the real value. That could be part of this data.

I look at that, too, as what the assessors value the property for, which is always behind and so out of whack. My favorite thing is always when you get those postcards in the mail and they’re changing your house, I hope that you giggle. I hope that you go, “If they think it’s worth that, yippee-ki-yay.” If they market it high, you’re on the phone with them, going, “Hold on a moment. This is not right.” Often, it’s lower, and you want it that way, so your taxes are not so high.

It’s worth saying this. I was trying not to confuse anyone. Assessed data has nothing to do with market value. Every municipality or taxing authority has a different methodology on how they value your real estate, so they can send you property taxes once or twice a year. This should have nothing to do with that. Land value should be other factors. What I love about this question, Chip, and why I put it in here, is that you’re questioning it. I would never go on this piece of data alone and then send an offer out based on that. That would be easy.

That was my example. That’s why we’re agreeing. It may not sound like it. We’re going at it the long way, but we are agreeing.

We’re going at this the long way, Jill, because it’s not a soundbite topic.

We both are saying this is one more piece of data, and there’s no one shining answer. “That’s it. Trust that one. It’s always right.” That doesn’t happen. You know what’s interesting about this? I’m thinking of houses, land, and cars. If there was one magic place that you could go for land, like what Chip is asking here, it’s making me think of KBB. I always go to KBB.com, Kelley Blue Book, for cars. What is Kelley Blue Book giving you in there? It always gives you a range, like a private party sale range, a dealer sale range, or a trade-in value sale range.

If your car is perfect, then you get more money.

Zillow, if you’re tuning in right now, can you give me a range? I think that would be much better. It’s way more accurate, and that would be good. What if it’s $10,000 to $50,000 in the range? If it’s a million-dollar house, it should be maybe $50,000 to $100,000 range of what they think the value is. That makes way more sense to me.

The real estate market is inefficient, and that’s why there are tons of opportunities for us to make money. The stock market and how you buy and sell stock are very efficient. It’s a reflection of, hopefully, the real-time demand for what a stock price is worth, based on all kinds of crazy stuff. It could be sunny that day. It could be a Tuesday, not a Friday. It could be that the company filed for bankruptcy. It could be stuff in the news.

All kinds of things affect that. In the housing market, the equivalent of that is this. Whatever is happening in the seller’s personal life that’s driving their will to sell directly and dramatically affects the house value, as well as the shape that the house or the land is in. There are a bunch of old tires on it that are going to devalue the land, theoretically. The market inefficiency in real estate is why we all make so much money.

The market inefficiency in real estate is the reason we’re able to make so much money. Share on X

We can go to the topic now. Thank you. I need to get that out. You went too fast. I wasn’t done.

That went somewhere. It’s interesting, though. We’re talking about the biggest regrets from land investors who quit too soon, Jill.

Reasons For Quitting Too Soon

I’ve got three. I’m going to do one at a time. One is, “I wish I had forced myself to do this.” People are calling back, and they realize they made a mistake. They left Land Academy, they gave up, and they’re coming back, going, “I know there’s something there. I’m watching your community. I’m watching everybody get rich around me. This is what’s going on.” One of the reasons I’ve got is, “I wish I forced myself,” which is code for, “I wasn’t motivated.”

They were not motivated for some reason. Maybe sometimes, you do have to force yourself. I’ve got to be honest. That happens. You may not be, “I am excited every single day. I’m so glad I’m a land investor. I got my hat on. I got my pencils sharpened. I am ready to go. I’ve got my notepad,” sitting there excited, watching the phone, and waiting for it to ring. It’s not always that way.

Sometimes, you have to go, “I have three deals. I wish I had 30, but I have three I’ve got to review today. I need to get them done and see if I’m going to take some action and schedule it.” You do have to force yourself. That’s one of people’s regrets. They know that would have made the difference. If they had forced themselves, stuck to a schedule, and pushed through on those days that weren’t so fun, they would be in a very different financial position.

The second thing that I hear is, “I’m sad that I didn’t make this a priority.” It’s code for, “I let life get in the way.” That is one of the biggies that I hear a lot. “My kids were little. They were in school. I had to do this.” Everybody makes up excuses. “I have to do this. I have to do that. I have to time my mail around my family reunion.” Do you want to get rich? Let’s think about how the next family reunion could look if you put your head down here. They didn’t make a priority. They know that. They’ve come back and said, “I let life get in the way a little bit. I let it lead me around, and I wish I hadn’t. This time, Jill, I’m not going to do that.” The third that I have is a big, important one. “I let non-supporters of my mission get in my head.” Isn’t that interesting?

We could do a whole mindset live event on this topic.

That’s important, which is basically, “I let other people who didn’t believe in it talk me out of it.” I’m not the only one. Other people do all kinds of things. In everything that you go into, there are always people who support you and people who don’t support you. Say you want to be a doctor. There’s going to be people who say, “That’s a noble profession. You should do that,” but there’s going to be people who say, “I don’t see you as a doctor. Every time there’s blood, you run as a kid,” or “I don’t think you’re smart enough to do this. I don’t know if I want you as my doctor.” That would be the same thing.

It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to do. It’s important to surround yourself with people who support you. That’s one of the things, when they come back and go, “I let that happen, and here’s what I did.” I’ll talk to them and go, “Where are you now? Do you have the support? Is your ex-person your partner?” Maybe it was just their partner. “Are they on board now?” Can you imagine if Jack tried to do this by himself many years ago with Land Academy, and even before that, buying and selling land? Could you imagine if I were on the same page and told him all the time, “This was dumb. Why don’t you just get a real job?” I’ve never said that. People do that.

In the years that we’ve been together, we’ve never said sentences like that.

I’ve always believed in you and always supported you.

It’s a two-way street.

What’s funny is that for many of you who have been with us these years of Land Academy, you remember we had a couple of other businesses that we toyed around with on the side. Everything that Jack has ever come up with, I said, “Let’s do it.” We look at the math and see what time the commitment is going to be. Whatever his idea is, if the math works, I’m in. He won’t bring it to me if the math doesn’t work, so there you go. That should be the same for this.

Was it jealous? Is it just negative people? Whatever it is, you have to make sure you have the community and the support. The nice thing about Land Academy is when you come into our group and our world, there’s a built-in team right here, so you’ve got some support. You just need to take care of your own little world. As far as people and peers doing the same thing as you, that can help you every single day, we’re right here.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset & Not Quitting

Jill and I were in San Diego recently. We found out, just by pure chance, that a couple that we’ve known for a lot of years were there also at the same time and free for dinner. We all got together. They brought another couple, whom we had never met before. There were six of us. After a couple of drinks, we were all talking together about the businesses that we were in and why. The wife of the couple that we know very well said this to me, “Have you always been an entrepreneur like my husband?”

I said, “I didn’t realize it until recently, but I’ve never been anything but that. Every job I’ve ever had, I’ve tried to get out of it somehow or own everything.” She said, “He’s the same way,” so we all started talking about that. The title of this is The Biggest Regrets from Land Investors Who Quit Too Soon. This guy, whom I’ve known for a long time, and I had a conversation where we were both shaking our heads, saying, “We just never gave ourselves another option.”

I never quit at this. I’ve always been buying and selling land. I’ve toned it down a little bit. I’ve changed some stuff. I’ve had jobs in and out, but around 1999, it became a complete full-time thing. When we started Land Academy, it was when I met Jill. We amped it up and involved Land Academy in everything else. There is no quitting. I never thought about it. I never thought about a family reunion. There were probably two years at one time. For two years, I didn’t make any money at all. I just figured it out. Did my credit suffer? Yes. Did my relationships at the time suffer? Of course. I didn’t care.

What I started to think about when I was talking with him, because we were sitting next to each other, was what was driving us? What’s behind that? Do you want to get rich? Do you want a Ferrari? What drove me is that I never want to be poor again, and I’ve had two very severe times. That goes with being an entrepreneur. You take a risk. You might lose it all. I did, three times, but the third time, I had Jill. We worked it out together. The first two times were horrific because it was just me. Jill and I are kicking around the idea of starting a retirement online group. I’m not going to do that halfway. We’re going to do it at 100 miles an hour. The real issue behind this topic is this. If you’re going to give yourself an out, at some point, something is going to happen in your life, and you’re going to take the out.

If you give yourself an out for when life gets hard, you’ll eventually take it. Share on X

Not me.

I know you’re like that. His wife is like that. The woman who’s asking me these questions knew my answers already. She’s like that, too.

That’s probably why the four of us go along so well, because whatever the partners come up with, we partners jump in with both feet, and we won’t let it fail with you. We’ll be right behind you, doing whatever you need and making it pretty.

I’m not patting myself on the back or bragging. I’m saying this because I want to be genuinely helpful. I would encourage you to sit down with yourself, not your spouse or anybody else. Sit down with yourself and ask yourself if this is who you are. I’m not tooting my own horn, but it’s way rarer than people think. Because of the freaking internet, everybody thinks they’re an entrepreneur. Nobody wants to have a W-2 job. They just want a paycheck. They want to work from home and have a side hustle. That’s not what this is. It’s a pure, full-blown lifestyle.

I haven’t heard that term in a while, by the way. It faded away, which is good.

I just perpetuated it.

I can end it on this. There are a lot of people from whom I get personal notes and emails, stuff on social media, and emails like, “I was in Land Academy six years ago. Something like this happened by the way,” but they still listen to the podcast. They send me little notes like, “That was so funny that day. I still listen to your podcast. Thank you for doing it.” If this is you, don’t be embarrassed. Trust me. You are not the first one to say, “I’ve been gone for six years. I want to come back.” You are not alone. You’re six years older. You’ve got six years more experience. You’ve got six years more suffering, maybe. You’ve got six years, and your kids are getting older. Fill in the blank. We’re right here. We will welcome you back, and I will help you.

The Value Of A Supportive Community & Vetted Business Models

Here’s what’s great about this quickly. I know you’re trying to end it. Jill and I have vetted this business model. That’s never a luxury that I’ve ever had. Come up with an idea. Maybe this will work. Let’s spend $10,000 on a mailer. Let’s see what happens. We were talking about this at dinner. The reason that we have this set of companies is that all the ones before this failed. We don’t talk about those. We only talk about buying and selling land because we’re so successful at it.

Just that one thing, that amount of failure, stops the vast majority of people. This is why people quit too soon. They have one failure, and they don’t have that thing that’s in the back of their brain. The thing for me is, “I’m never going to be poor again.” That’s all there is to it. I’m not going to get what I want by working a W-2 job. Join us in the next episode, where we discuss the one thing that determines whether you succeed in land investing. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We are Jack and Jill, information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.