This is episode number 2183. Jill and I are talking about what the next five years of land investing will look like. It looks good. I’ll tell you that.

Every time I think of these, it’s my nature to go to other things. I’m like, “What are the next five years of us going to look like? What are we going to look like in five years?”

I don’t care about that. Both of us, I don’t care what we look like. As long as we’re healthy, I don’t care.

I don’t either.

Each day of the show, Jill and I answer a question from our Land Academy member Discord forum and take a deep dive into land-related topics at your request.

Alternative Funding Through Equity Partnerships

Flo wrote, “How do I find a financial backer to buy land or houses without signing my life away or doing a lot of paperwork?”

This is a very intelligent question.

Most people think that’s the only way, like you have to go get a formal loan.

If you’ve ever gotten a mortgage, and believe me, it’s easier now than it was in the past, they look at you through a microscope as well as your financial life. They want to know all kinds of stuff. They look at the deal through a microscope. If you are worthy enough of them lending you money, then you sign about two inches worth of paperwork. Nobody wants that. The vast majority of the time, if not everywhere, it is a personal guarantee. It used to be that the house stood on its own. If you stop paying the mortgage for whatever reason, you walk away and throw them the keys. They take the house and go on and make some money because of the equity that you put down.

Jill and I do not believe that’s how business should go. It does not go that way for very wealthy people. Wealthy people, way more wealthy than us, have access to loans that are massive commercial loans that have no personal guarantees involved. The interest rates are amazing. Banking is very skewed toward if you’re wealthy. If you’re wealthy, you don’t need a loan. Flo, the deal is we created this group in Land Academy of lenders that do what we call equity lending. It’s not debt lending. They become your partner.

Like us.

We partner financially in as many deals as we do personally.

Start here.

We will be your partner. We will be your lender if you find a property that you buy for $40,000 and sell for $100,000, let’s say. We believe that, too. You believe it. We like the deal. You like the deal. You’ve got a few deals under your belt, even if you don’t.

The deal stands on its own.

We’ll pay for 100% of the deal, and then, depending on your level of experience, sometimes, we’ll take the deal over and close it for you. On the buy and the sell side, if you have a little more experience, we’re going to ask you to do that. You brought the deal to us, so it’s your deal, not ours. There’s no more paperwork in that, except for one document that puts this arrangement out. We both sign it, and you get paid out of the sell-side escrow.

It’s very easy.

We take the risk with you. Depending on your experience in the deal, we split the profit margin with you. There’s no paperwork. We are your financial backer. We do a lot of deals like that. That’s why we created the Land Academy.

We do mean this, too, with ourselves. We won’t let a good deal go to waste. Even if you’re not a member, you can submit it to us, too, because it shouldn’t go to waste.

Technology & AI For The Future Of Land Investing

Our topic is What the Next Five Years of Land Investing Will Look Like. We are in the AI age. We are beyond the information age. The level of technology that is being rolled out and implemented into all industries, and I don’t know if there are any exceptions, is hockey-sticking. I learned about computers in middle school, and that was the first one. They were card readers. It was the first time in the middle of the ‘70s. The information age has taken us very quickly compared to human history and advanced us very quickly. Most of you remember a time when there wasn’t even a smartphone.

The Irreplaceable Human Element In Deal-Making

Ten years from now or five years from now, the amount of technology that will be available will blow your mind. If someone said, “Five years from now, you’re going to have these 5 things or 8 things that will help you do a land deal more effectively,” you would say, “No way. That’s not possible.” The next five years of land investing for the people who embrace these concepts and keep a very open mind about using new tools are going to win. What will never get replaced, in my opinion, is what Jill does, connecting with the person and the seller, meeting them where they are coming, and putting the deal together.

The next five years in land investing belong to those who embrace new tools—but nothing will ever replace the power of human connection in closing a deal. Share on X

I’m making that relationship. Thank you.

These deals don’t get to close themselves.

One of the things I was going to say is that Land Academy has been 10 years, and some of you have been with us the whole 10 years. Think about when you even joined Land Academy. Look at the changes that we’ve made. We had Google Earth and Google Earth Pro. We had a hard time still finding properties in the very, very early beginning.

Especially before Land Academy, when we were doing this on our own, and you before me, Google Earth didn’t exist. The GPS coordinates, if we’re lucky, we have a center point. For a long time, we didn’t even have that. It’s so cool to look back and say, “Wow.” You don’t even realize how much we have now versus several years ago. It’s almost like it goes even faster.

Even when I’m looking at the data that I have in my fingertips, that’s land data. A few years ago, it was all house data. Now, we’re getting more land comps. I can find good land-focused brokers. That wasn’t a thing. I’m dreaming and salivating about the next five years and thinking of how much easier this is going to be. What happens as a result of that is I can get velocity. I can get more deals done in the same amount of time and make even better profits. That’s what happens. I don’t have to spend all day trying to find one property.

There are some real consistencies about the transactions that get completed versus the ones that don’t. Some of them have to do with real estate. Some of them have to do with the seller. We know tons about the real estate long before we even send the mailer out. We do not know anything or very little, if anything, about the seller. That’ll change.

A more comprehensive, better set of data is going to tell us, hopefully in real-time, what’s going on in that person’s life. That’s a great indicator of whether or not they are going to sell their property. Is it necessary to get a deal done like that? No. I’ll send out 20,000 letters instead of 8,000, and I’ll capture that person anyway. That’s it. There will be more effective ways to find sellers, but that’ll create more competition. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. It’s good for the person who has access to that data first, but that’s what all this is. It’s all about riding that wave on the surfboard and knowing when to jump out before it crashes.

The next five years of land investing will pretty much look like what I described. I can tell you this. We’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know where the tops of those waves are. This is working for us. That’s why we have the show. I want it to work for you, too, so we can fund your deals. Join us again for more interesting episodes. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We are Jack and Jill, information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.