Introduction to Land Biz

Why the Land Biz ?

Real estate agents don’t like to sell land, they want to sell house where the numbers are much bigger. For example a $20,000 land sale a realtor would make $2,000.

Compare that to 3% to 6%  of a $200k house sale would be $6k to $12k.

Now that leaves land owners who paid too much to begin with. They pick a price out of thin air. They paid $10k 15 years agon so they price is at $40k now and the reality is these same lots are selling for $5k now.

These owners don’t understand contracts, recording deeds getting strangers to pay them directly, real estate markets. When they can’t turn it into cash it becomes a hassle and pain in the butt.

Video # 2 Method 1 for finding deals

Working with Tax List

Delinquent tax list case study

Module Summary

Method # 3 for finding deals

You mail post cards to people who are current in taxes that live out of the area preferably and the post card has a fixed price such as $75 to $200. Depending on the area and the property sometimes my post card says $300 to $700. This works like wild fire when you do it right.

Here is why this works. When people are not benefiting from something its not that valuable to them. These people are just paying taxes year in and year out. See, you get the best deals by targeting people who are more than likely motivated, but nobody knows that they are. You do now.

So here is the criteria.
1. They must have owned the property for at least 10 years.
2. They must live out of the area, meaning a different city, or out of state.
3. It must be vacant land.
4. Must not be a big vacation spot, like, Vegas, Florida or Hawaii.

There is no competition using this method. Most people don’t have the skills or knowledge to close a deal like this. The post card pre-screens the sellers, so only the motivated people will call you.

Sometimes the dumb ones will call you too.

I use this method all of the time. For example in May 2013, I selected an area to work and I used this method and from May 2013 to September 2013 I bought and sold more than 80 properties in this one area just in that time frame alone..

Here is how to put the list together

Here is the faster way to put your lists together

Video 1 using propstream

Exporting a list propstream

Propstream is $97 a month and you can get a free 7 day trial by clicking the link below.

Let me share a case study with you. My student David paid $500 for a property and sold it for $26,000 using this method.

David J, made $35,000 on his first deal and $26,000 on his 2nd deal.

Listen to both audios from David

Click Here to view public record

David J from Texas

Here is the post card to use

Module Summary

Module Summary

Introduction to Land Biz

Okay so I’m going to cover the most common mistakes that you’re going to have to correct when it comes to a recording deeds and transferring ownership and I’m going to show you the easiest ways to make those Corrections okay so the first one that you’re going to deal with is

Incorrect legal Description

You’re going to get a letter from the county that says that we cannot transfer ownership to you because the other person doesn’t own it what that means is usually that the legal description is incorrect maybe you have an incorrect Lot number or an incorrect block number or an incorrect letter.

It could be any number of these things some counties were going to detail and tell you that the legal description is incorrect some will just say that that person doesn’t own it so they can’t make the transfer so the first thing you need to do is call the contact person they listed on the letter and ask him what the problem is before I actually make that call I like to double check the legal description and check it on the previous Deed that was actually transferred don’t just check it on the County website check the previous deed and go character by character look at your legal description and it looked at the legal description of the property where it was transferred previously that’s where you start.

Okay so once we have identified that the legal description is incorrect there are three ways to solve this problem the first way is to re-record the original deed with a cover page and on the cover page it’s going to explain what the problem is and you’re going to see a sample Below in as you will look at this you will see that the cover page has the parcel number the person who’s recording the deed going to have the grantees information on there and then it’s going to say this deed is being re-recorded to correct the legal description the legal description is and then you put the correct legal description .

Another way for me to make this correction is to do a corrective deed when you do a corrective deed you’re doing a brand-new deed and it says it’s corrective deed it states on the deed what is being corrected and references the previous deed that had to mistake. It states what the mistake is and then it also states what the correction is. The problem is doing a corrective deed means that You are doing a brand-new Deed that has to be notarized by the seller so if this was a problem on a deed that you purchased you would have to get your seller to sign this some of them with the one even understand what a corrective deed is okay so it’s always easier to just re-record the original.

Another way the correction can be made is by using a certified copy you can purchase a certified copy of the deed then attach a cover page and you would make the same correction the same way you would on a Deed that you are just re-recording the original.

But by far the easiest way is always going to be to re-record the original so I’m going to give you a couple of samples for you to look at so you can understand what that looks like

Re-record the original
Corrective Deed
Purchase a Certified Copy and record it with a cover page.

There are 2 important things to remember, if the county did not make the transfer to you because of an incorrect legal description or because the Grantor’s name is misspelled, and you already sold this property, then you will have to make the correction for the deed where you sold the property.

Each County may want the deed that is going to be re-recorded in may have different formatting requirements, so check with the County before you re-record one. Most common reasons for re-recording the original are.

Incorrect legal description.
Incorrect spelling of Seller’s name.
Incorrect spelling of Buyers name.
Incorrect Mailing address for Buyer.
To Correct the sequence, which means the deed from you to your buyer, recorded before the deed from your Seller to you.

Click here to see a re-recorded deed

Click here to see a deed recorded to correct sequence

Click here to see a Power of Attorney I recorded for a Seller, before we did the deal.

Click here to see a Corrective Deed.

Click here to see a certified copy recorded

Remember if this ever happens the county will send a letter to your Seller, you and your buyer. You take care of the problem, but communicate with the everyone and let them know. What I do is take care of the problem right away and then let them know and give them the re-recorded document.

Introduction to Land Biz

                              Using Title Companies.

There will be times when you should use Title Companies but when you do you must know more than they do and you should always be the experts.

I have seen so many times, where title companies put the incorrect legal description on the deed and I caught the mistake. I have another instance where I was selling the property and the title officer wanted me to do a new deed from my seller, saying that he legal description was incorrect. I explained that the county made the transfer there was no issue, and I could easily re-record my deed to address any legal description so called error. We went back and forth and finally they agreed.

Then we closed the transaction and that title company did not even pay the back taxes owed of $900 and instead paid me an extra $900.   I didn’t tell them either..

I could go on and on with the things I have seen them do .

One time I had a property I purchased for $300 and was selling it for $26,000 to a Real Estate broker and the title company rep called me and asked me for the previous sellers phone number and address and I asked her why she needed it.

She said she had a few questions. I said send the docs or questions to me and I will forward them to her.  Well this title person wrote a letter that says, Ken bought this lot from you for $300 and he is now selling it for $26,000 does he still owe you money or something, because this does not seem right to me, please call me.

So I took my business elsewhere immediately .

My rules for using title companies.

1. Anytime I am paying more than $10k I use a Title company,.

2. When I have a property that is not selling fast and I don’t have any buyers willing to pay me directly, which means it is a slow mover.

3. When I have a great deal and the seller insists that its the only way they will do the deal.

4. I always am the one to open escrow unless there is a realtor representing the seller or the buyer and in that case they do it.

5. Control the process as much as possible and stay on top of things.

6. Always communicate with your buyer or seller throughout the process.

7. Make sure you take your time and go through each line on the hud1 to make sure the numbers are correct and who pays what and who receive what.

To open escrow take the signed contract and get the correct email from the title company and send them an email with the signed purchase agreement and the subject line should be the property address and the words New Escrow

What I don’t like about title companies is that so many times they are deal killers and they will have a requirement that is dumb and not part of a law but their own policy and also it is unrealistic and uncalled for .

Also there is some dishonesty on their part that most people don’t know because they dont understand law or actually read a title policy.

Watch my video below.

Introduction to Land Biz

Selling your properties, this is where it gets exciting.

Upselling

List Building

50 state escrow company

Here is a escrow company that will do a straight escrow for $30. I used this company for buyers in Singapore and some in the US also. How it works is the buyer and the seller both open a free acct with safefunds. The buyer sends the money to safefunds and the seller sends the deed. Safefund will then send the money to the seller and the deed to the buyer. Which one gets sent first is however you deliver the instructions to safefunds. This is a really good company. Sometimes you will have a buyers that is leary about sending money and safefunds has a phone number and they answer their phone and can answer any questions a buyer may have. Safe Funds

Protecting yourself when accepting payments by credit card & paypal

Introduction to Land Biz

Selling your properties, this is where it gets exciting.

Step # 1 Make a property page to sell the property.

List your property on high traffic site zillow to get sales and leads. Include your property page in the listings.

Zillow

How to write ads for zillow

Writing ads for zillow is a little different than writing a property page. It’s more of a condensed version and the photos don’t appear in the ad they are above the ad. Writing the ad for zillow is exactly like writing for craigslist, click the craigslist ad below.

Do a direct mail campaign to adjacent property owners and also neighbors.

Using Post Cards

Covered in next class.

You want to send the post cards to the adjacent property owners, the neighbors and recent buyers.

Attention: ( ) I need to Sell a 1.5 Acre Lot Near a Property You own in{ Magic Hill , Fl } In Crescent Lake Hills . My Name is {Ken D. } The lot is located on Tammy rd . I am selling the lot for $3,000 . I wrote this note to see if you may be interested. You can view a map and property info at Your website here if you have one Give me a call at 555-555-5555 Thanks Ken

Use online classified sites, like , craigslist.org and newspapers.

Newspaper advertising

You can run ads in the newspaper, but don’t try to sell the property in the ad. Just get them to request more info. Make sure you negotiate the ad to get a discount. Run the ad on a Sunday, Wednesday or for the full week only if it is cheaper.

Click here to view a craigslist ad

Keypoints to remember when advertising through classifieds.

1. You are not trying to sell the property from the ad, because there is not enough space and time. People on the internet have a short attention span. You have a few seconds to get their attention and convince them contact you.

The main purpose of your ad is to generate the lead, and then you get them more info and sell the property. You list the main feature, and the price and location and one photo and a map. Once you find a person that wants to buy the property, One obstacle will appear when selling, on online classifieds, but I have successfully overcome it many times and so have my students.

That hurdle is payment. You can get people who will fedex you money or pay you by paypal. Its still doable and you can get them to pay you this way, but you have to know how.

People are leary, and have a fear that they will get scammed. The root is fear. When you take away the fear, they will usually move forward. The way to take away the fear is with credibility, common sense, persuasion and fear of loss.

First thing you do is explain, how you expect payment, cashiers check, bank wire, money order, personal check. Their fear is that you scam them. Explain to them that the simple is way is for them to pay you directly by one of the above, because its cheaper and its also faster.

If you use a title company, they will charge you $1,000 to $2,000 and will take 30 to 45 days to get you paid, assuming their are no issues. Who is going to pay this ? Explain this to them. If they did agree to pay for the title company are you willing to wait 30 days to get paid. Do you want to use a title company if someone else is willing to fedex the money.

If a person did pay you for the property and you did not record the deed or send them the deed, that is fraud and you can go to prison. The opposite is not true, if a person sent a deed to a person and that person did not send the money after receiving the deed is not a crime and is a civil matter.

Back to example one, if you received the money and did not send the deed, they can call their local police, and the postal inspector and the attorney general where you live.

Here is how you close transactions.

People will ask you how to go about closing the transaction. You will get this by email and by phone. Your job is to educate and simplify and create trust and also cater to what they ultimately want which is the property. First thing you explain is the agreement.

First we do a simple one page agreement. The agreement says which property you are buying, what the price is, and that you are buying a property with clear title free of liens. I sign the agreement and send it to you by email and you can sign it and email it back or fax it to me. I accept cashiers checks, money orders, debit and credit cards, bank wires. Which one of those works for you ? Ok great, I will send the agreement over, and as soon as I get that back I can send the details to make payment . (Always put an expiration date on your agreement, so they will have some urgency. You don’t want them thinking that they have two weeks to think about it.) I will send the agreement over next. Thx Ken

This is step number 1. Always assume the sale, I don’t anticipate objections until they come up. 1. Explain the agreement 2. Explain what happens once you receive payment, and that you will record the deed in one business day and send them the recorded deed. 3. Once the deed is recorded you will be the new owner of the property.

Here is a sample email to send out to prospects on the internet who have not purchased from you yet.

Hi Bill,

I buy properties all of the time and may something now or in the future that meets your needs. Can you take a quick moment and send me an email and let me know which areas, prices and types of properties you would like to buy ?

Thanks
Ken

Once you have their criteria save it to a excel spreadsheet. Always pre sell

How you pre sell, is by sending your prospects and your customer list email letting them know what’s coming up for sale soon, but you don’t give them every single detail about the property. You put the property info up on a website and send them an email like below. HI Mike, I have a 1.5 acre in Dolan Springs, AZ that will be ready for sale next week. Have a look and see if you like it. http://sellyourlandin4days.com/1point5Dolan.htm Thanks Ken

Here is an actual email I sent out to a buyer to make a quick $3,200

Here are the simple 1 page agreements, I use. Most repeat buyers don’t want to use them, because we have a relationship.

agreement straight sale
contractsample2
Agreement on Terms sample in word

Introduction to Land Biz

Selling is one of the most important skills you can ever learn.

One of the most important modules I will teach. You could do everything correct up to this point but if you suck at selling, it could prevent you from making money..

1. Realtor’s no nothing about selling, so don’t think you can rely on them to make you money. It’s your money and it is your responsibility..

1. When it comes to selling your properties you have 3 choices.

Seller to an investor ( who is a newbie)

This a person who has been watching youtube videos or recently took a course and they are very eager to buy some land.

Sell to a consumer

Consumer can be the next door neighbor or a neighbor a few blocks over or just someone who just wants to buy in the area.

Sell to a buyer investor who is already buying similar properties. Some of these will be Builders who want to build on it. Could be an investor who wants to buy from you and then sell on terms.

These are active buyers who we can go through public records and see what they have been buying and usually at what prices also.

Understand that to be good at selling you need to be good at marketing , persuasion, listening, controlling a conversation.

Before you ever buy a lot, you must know exactly what they are selling for. You must buy at a great price in order to make it easy to sell.

Selling

How to find active buyers

Selling for a higher price

Video 2 continued

Selling offline

Selling to other investors

Videos below on how to list on facebook, zillow and craigslist

Preparing to close

Introduction to Land Biz

Here were three actual deals using leverage or low hanging fruit

This first deal I found using ebay and got it for $6,000 and sold for $16,000.

Then I sold him on coaching for another $10,000. so this whole deal was a $26,000 profit for me.

1. Went to ebay found property for sale in areas I like with back marketing
. 2. Contacted seller to see if he was flexible and he had more lots .
. 3. Got property info and made the offer.
. 4.Paid for the lots and made a quick $10k
. (But if I did not have the money I would have used an option agreement ).
.

Here are our emails below and after the deal he ended up becoming my coaching student and still is til this day .

His testimonial for me and my training

This next deal was an option deal using a title company and this was me closing the sale with the buyer. The sales price was $57,000. I had $10 in the deal.

Below is a deal I did in 2023 on a 5 acre in Omaha, NE 5 Acre Commercial Land in Omaha, NE in the middle of houses apartments and Businesses.

This property is zoned commercial and ready for development with a walking trail. Property is 30 minutes from the Airport. Property does have a slope to it as you can see from the photos. Some engineering work would need to be done before it would be buildable.

Property is located at 156th & Taylor St. across the street from Foundation One Bank, Pure Hair Studio Hamilton heights Child Development Center

Zoomed in more

I made $10,000, the Owner made $32,000 and you can view the Hud1 settlement statement. I did a double closing on this so this is the hud1 where I sold.

Click Here for Hud Statement

I had the first buyer was paying $75,000 and I was going to make $40,000 but the lady from the title company called the buyer and lied to him and said that the property he was buying got $75,000 was only worth $110.

You know I don’t like title companies.

I have done this same strategy with single family houses and also a luxury home that was worth $700,000.

Introduction to Land Biz

Using Leverage to do lots of deals

Using Option Agreements

If you are using options agreements and you are closing without title companies you may want to have the buyer pay you directly and then you pay the seller and record the deed from your buyer directly to your buyer or if you prefer then record the deed from your buyer to you and then another deed from you to your buyer.

If you are closing a transaction using a title company, then you give the title company a copy of the the option agreement. (You should already know which title company that closes transactions with assignments.). and an assignment agreement that is signed by your buyer.

Once you locate a buyer you will have the buyer sign a Pro Seller contract (which is the contract I have here on the site) and also an assignment.

You do not have them sign them at the same time. 1. You have them sign the contract and give you the earnest money made out to the title company.

2. You open escrow with the Option with the seller, and your buy side contract, they will do a prelim title search. Once its clear, you then have the buyer sign your assignment.

The thing about assignments is that the buyer will know how much you are making on the deal. For most buyers this is not an issue but sooner or later you will run into a buyer where this is an issue.
The buyers sees you have the property under contract but you are selling to him for $20k.

Here are my rules and details for handling this type of situation if it is a house. The process is the same with land, accept smaller numbers and sometimes small earnest money..

1. Always get a non refundable earnest money deposit of at least $1,000 to $2,500. This way if the buyer tries to back out after you keep his earnest money deposit.

2. If it comes up you explain this to the buyers. Your contract also states that it is non refundable and they can not record the contract, or any type of notice or memorandum regarding the transaction.

So what we are doing is making sure that in the event that the buyer throws a hissy fit that he does not try to retaliate by trying to cloud the title.

3. I never negotiate how much im going to make on the deal. I negotiate the price I buy at and the price I sell at. If a buyer attempts to get you to lower the price after finding out what you are going to make, that may be a buyer you avoid in the future.

If he liked the price when he signed the contract thats all that matters, the fact that he is trying to renegotiate is pure greed.

Do you think he is willing to sign a deed restriction that limits him to only making a certain amount on the property when he sells ?

Of course not, so he should try to tell you how much you can make on a property either.

You can do an assignment with the buyer or with the seller

Thats right you can either assign your contract with the seller to the buyer or you can do it the other way around where you assign your contract with the buyer to the seller.

I have done both and when you do one verses the other depends on the circumstances. I had a seller who did not care what I made on the property so, I assigned my contract with the buyer to the seller, and my buyer didnt know anything different until he was at the closing table. He didnt care, because his price didnt change and the property didnt change.

The documents used and a brief description of each one.

This is how I send the documents to the sellers. Hi Mille, This is Ken Dinkins Here are the agreements for 3 Willis County Lots.. There are 3 of forms but I did attach pd versions just in case you have trouble opening the attachments . 1.Option agreement- This gives me the legal right to advertise the property and attempt to find a buyer.( No notary required) when signing. 2. Notice of option agreement – is a notice that can be recorded to protect my interest during the option period. (notary required )when signing. 3.Quitlclaim deed is to transfer ownership to me if I deliver the $1,500 for lot . (notary required ) when signing I only need the originals back for the option agreement and the notice of option agreement. For the quitclaim deed you keep the original but send me a photo copy and write across the front of it ” This is a Copy ” You can send the 2 originals and the copy to me at My address and city here I recommend sending it by express mail or priority mail just to speed the process up. You will need to sign the quitclaim deed and the notice of option i front of a notary public and the option agreement does not need to be signed in front of a notary public. If you have any questions or need help knowing where to sign, just call me at 702-555-5555 Thanks Ken

You can get familiar with the forms below

Option Memorandum of Agreement

If you are going to close these transactions using a title company or attorney, find them first.

Before you ever start marketing you must find the right title company or real estate attorney to close the transactions.

To flip wholesale deals or option deals, you will need to find an investor friendly title company. All title
companies do not cater to investors, but some do. In some states real estate transactions
are closed by attorneys. In either case regardless of which one your state uses title companies or attorneys you need to find those that are user friendly.

What I mean by investor friendly is ones that do double closings and assignments.
Just to be clear, double closings are also called, back to back closings, and simultaneous closings.

The easiest way to an investor friendly title company or attorney is to find an active real estate wholesaler who they use to close their transactions. You can find active wholesalers by looking on craigslist and also by going to google and typing in your city and wholesale houses.

You can also locate your local real estate investing club and contact the person that runs the group and ask then if they can recommend a good investor friendly title company or attorney
that does both double closing and assignments.

This is a much better way than going through the yellow pages and calling each company.
To locate your local real estate investment club, go to google and type in your city and then the word reia, you can also type your city and then the words real estate investment club or
real estate investment group.

You can also close option deals without a title company as mentioned above.

This is the easiest way to find an investor friendly title company.