This is episode number 2223. Jill and I talk about why land investment is the most efficient way to quit your job. It’s the most efficient way that I know of, anyway. I would challenge anyone to say, “There’s a more effective and efficient way to get rid of that job you hate.”

I’m trying to think of all the different ways that we have tried other businesses that we thought could be equal to or more profitable than this. We’re not.

Low Startup Capital & Accessibility

Here’s a spoiler alert, and then we’ll get into it. When you do any type of startup financially, you have a certain amount of not just money but also capital, meaning resources to draw on to start up stuff. People who are crazy start companies like Uber or a hospital, buy a nursing home, start a convenience store, or buy a McDonald’s franchise or ten McDonald’s franchises up front. It is usually because they’re not working right. They spend all kinds of capital, money, time, and energy up front to reap the rewards later. This is not front-loaded. With $2,000 or $3,000, you are in business, and you’re off to the races. We’ll talk all about that in a second.

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 by popular request. I was going to do something a little bit different with the question. This is an example. I’ve never seen more deal funding opportunities in Discord than right now.

This is cool.

Deal funding is packed full of opportunities, so I decided to give an example here. I’ll read it, Jill, if it’s all right.

Yes.

There are probably 30 of them in there just like this.

It is fine. You know me. I am not going to fight. No, I don’t want to coast. I’m going to fight for it. You go right ahead.

I want you, reader, to think about whether or not you would fund this deal. Victor says, “Good afternoon. I’m seeking a funding partner to fully fund a 5.5-acre lakefront property in the XYZ area in Idaho. The purchase price is $140,000. Here’s the APN. Location: Waterfront parcel with direct access via XYZ road. It features direct frontage to the lake. It has a small cleared area for a potential build site. We don’t know yet if it is potentially sloped, but it is confirmed buildable by a contractor. It is surrounded by natural beauty, recreational appeal. Its estimated resale value is at $275,000.”

“This is a buy for $142,000 and a sell for $275,000. That’s about $125,000 gross margin. This is an excellent opportunity for a quick turnaround resale or longer-term appreciation, especially as waterfront parcels in this area are limited and highly desirable. Let me know if you’re interested.” He goes on and talks about there being pictures available, drone footage, and everything. These are the kinds of deals that go on in Land Academy every single day. These are the kinds of deals Jill and I fund regularly. We write the whole check for the $145,000 or whatever it is. The person who brings the deal to us goes and sells it, and we settle up. Am I oversimplifying? Yes, but this is what’s possible. We always start with what’s possible.

Always start with what's possible. Share on X

Thank you. I appreciate that. These are real deals.

This episode’s topic is why land investment is the most efficient way to quit your job. If you’re going to end up owning a company where you can kick your feet back up at the end, enjoy the profit with other people, work there, and things are happening, I do not know. I had a lot of options when I started many years ago. I made a partner in it. A large accounting firm said no way. I had all kinds of opportunities back then. I was a partner who owned a ton of long-term care facilities, nursing homes, and stuff. I hated it. It was awful.

In all of those things, you have to go to work every day and work hard 8 to 12 hours a day. It doesn’t stop even as an owner because there are different types of companies. This company is set up, and I didn’t set it up this way. It’s just the nature of real estate to do a bunch of work upfront, not spend a lot of money, spend a lot of time, energy, and work upfront, and then do deals for the rest of your life with a couple of key employees.

This is the most efficient way to quit your job. You need to get involved in a group that you identify with, depending on who you are, your age, or where you’re located, that makes sense to you. Land Academy makes a lot of sense to a lot of people. Jill and I are the original people who devised this concept of sending this mail out. I’ve been doing this since the early ’90s. Jill and I joined forces. She brought a whole new dynamic to it.

Focus On Identifying & Securing Deals

She brought personality to a pretty boring company and an average financial company. We were off to the races then. $2,000 or $3,000, or nothing, if that’s what you choose, is your entire startup cost. You have people dying to fund your deals, so you don’t have to worry about that. You need to do one simple thing and be great at it for the rest of your life. That is to locate and secure attractive real estate deals.

You need to do one simple thing and be great at it for the rest of your life: locate and secure truly attractive real estate deals. Do that one thing well, and everything else will fall into place. Share on X

Everything else will fall into place. The funding will, the money, all of it. You need to become good at that. That’s what a real estate agent is when you think about it. They’re identifying properties to list for sale. For some reason, real estate agents don’t buy them. I don’t know why. Identifying properties to list and then representing a seller and collecting a commission never made sense to me. If it’s a good deal, buy it.

Isn’t that funny? Many of them are afraid of land in particular. I’ll never forget. It was years ago. There’s this one sweet guy. I kept telling him, “Why aren’t you buying these?” “It’s not my thing, Jill.” He was a residential guy. Pretty much once a quarter, these amazing things would come across his plate. He was like, “I don’t even want to list it. I’m not going to do it. It’s a land deal. Here you go.” He’s pretty much putting me with the seller and excluding himself. I was like, “These are great. Thank you very much.” That’s not how my normal forte is and how I would do it, but we just got to know each other. He would send me stuff. It was nice.

The “Own The Whole Thing” Mentality

Jill and I recently watched, or maybe it was just you explaining it to me, Taylor Sheridan, the producer of Yellowstone, Landman, and all kinds of other movies and popular TV shows. He’s got his fingers in everything. He started as an actor and a very underappreciated actor probably because he sucked, but he said, “Why would I end up just being an actor in all this when I could own the whole thing?” He owns everything. I hope you have that mentality. Why represent somebody in a real estate deal when you can own the whole thing, control it, and make the money?

That’s where the money is. You don’t want a percentage of the profit. You want all the profit.

The stock market is gambling. I don’t care how you slice it. It’s not a good example of how to quit your job. I encourage you to sit down and run through this thought process. Should I start a convenience store? Should I buy a franchise? Run through all that and all the stuff that it takes upfront. Compare it to this.

Even with a roadmap, it’s a lot upfront.

Join us in the next episode for more land talk. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We are Jack and Jill, information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.