He Bought $10M of Land Using This Strategy
Andrew Short shares how he scaled his real estate business to acquire $10M in properties by transitioning from high-volume small land deals to focus exclusively on land subdivision. He discusses the strategic shift from SMS-based marketing to relationship-driven acquisition, explains a 10-step entitlement process, and outlines how subdivision deals provide better capital recovery and cash flow management than traditional flipping.
Summary
Andrew Short returns to discuss his dramatic business evolution over six months, during which he acquired over $10 million in properties. The primary shift in his strategy involved moving from high-volume, low-profit small land deals to focused land subdivision projects. Initially, his business relied on SMS marketing campaigns to generate leads for quick flips, but he recognized this approach had diminishing returns—requiring hundreds of deals monthly to hit multi-million dollar revenue goals.
The transition to subdivisions proved transformative. While his acquisition volume dropped 60-65%, his disposition velocity remained constant because each property is subdivided into multiple lots. This creates better inventory management: a single 20-parcel acquisition can yield 100+ lots across multiple markets, whereas previously he was holding 60-80 individual properties. More importantly, subdivisions enable faster capital recovery. Instead of waiting for single parcels to sell, he can sell lots sequentially, freeing capital to redeploy into new deals—a critical advantage when managing investor capital.
Andrew emphasizes that his team shrunk from 10-12 people to just three acquisitions specialists plus software support, yet productivity increased significantly. This lean structure resulted from a conscious decision to avoid operational 'cross-contamination'—having the same team handle both quick flips and complex subdivisions creates inefficiencies. The new model focuses on relationship-building with agents and capital partners rather than volume-based SMS campaigns.
He details a specific Memphis deal: a 19-acre property purchased for $500,000 that will yield 39 lots with $160,000 in entitlement costs, totaling $660,000 investment. Two builders have already provided LOIs at $1.5-1.62M, representing a true double-close scenario where he acquires and sells on the same day, creating zero holding costs.
Regarding market selection, Andrew describes starting with international airport hubs and drawing one-hour radius zones around them—a proxy for demand and accessibility. His team uses 'power hour' daily sprints where acquisitions staff manually call property owners in target markets identified through Land Portal, creating high-intent conversations.
The entitlement process involves roughly ten key steps: confirming zoning regulations, verifying utility availability and capacity, establishing comparable sale values, conducting site visits for deals over $500K, obtaining contractor bids for improvements, and networking with surveyors and engineers. He emphasizes that zoning compliance ('by right' subdivisions) is critical—counties cannot deny approved subdivisions if they conform to ordinances.
Contract structuring uses phased, refundable-to-nonrefundable deposits over 6-12 month periods with 60-day initial due diligence windows. This addresses seller concerns about time while aligning incentives. Andrew notes that at 60 days, deals must show promise on zoning, utilities, survey encroachments, and estimated horizontal development costs.
He observes that the land investing market is becoming more efficient, with lower barrier-to-entry strategies now commoditized. However, subdivisions remain a 'blue ocean' requiring significant capital and operator sophistication. The business sustainability question—whether operators can justify the time for six-figure deals versus quick $25K flips—becomes the filtering mechanism. Andrew sees the industry maturing toward higher-aptitude, longer-cycle operators and away from pure volume models.
About this episode
<p><strong> Want to quit your job and build a real land investing business?</strong></p><p>🌳 Learn directly from Andrew Short in our exclusive 10-week <a href="https://landinvestingonline.com/pages/subdivide"><strong>Subdivide Mastermind</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p><strong>👉</strong><a href="https://landportal.com/subscriptions?a_aid=LandInvestingOnline&a_bid=9e9b000b" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Land Portal</strong></a> gives you access to the fastest-growing land software <em>plus</em> <a href="https://landportal.com/subscriptions?a_aid=LandInvestingOnline&a_bid=9e9b000b" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Land Portal University</strong></a>, where we walk you step-by-step through getting your first land deal.</p><p>🎯 Looking for <strong>1-on-1 Land Flipping or Subdividing coaching</strong>? Schedule a <a href="https://landinvestingonline.com/pages/consultation" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>FREE strategy call</strong></a> here.</p><p><br /></p><p>================================</p><p>In this episode, Andrew Short returns to the podcast to share how he acquired over $10 million in land deals by shifting from small flips to high-profit land subdivisions. He breaks down how to find subdivision opportunities, build relationships with agents and surveyors, structure entitlement deals, and scale with fewer deals and bigger profits. </p><p><br /></p><p>If you want to grow your land investing business with larger, more profitable deals, this episode is packed with practical strategies you can apply today!</p><p><br /></p><p>🌐Connect with Andrew short:</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://landpad.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Land Pad website</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/landwithandrew" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@LandwithAndrew</a></p><p><br /></p></li></ul><p>================================</p><p>SOCIAL</p><p><strong>Ron's Instagram </strong>📸:<a href="https://www.instagram.com/ronapke/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> <strong>https://www.instagram.com/ronapke/</strong></a></p><p><strong>Dan's Instagram </strong>📸:<a href="https://www.instagram.com/danielapke/?hl=en" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> <strong>https://www.instagram.com/danielapke/</strong></a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/danielapke/?hl=en" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a></p><p>================================</p><p><strong>TIMESTAMPS:</strong></p><p><strong>00:00</strong> – Intro</p><p><strong>00:39</strong> – Subdivide focus</p><p><strong>02:39</strong> – Less deals, more profit</p><p><strong>07:47</strong> – Major vs minor subdivides</p><p><strong>11:16 </strong>– Getting started in subdivides</p><p><strong>14:01</strong> – $1.5M Deal breakdown</p><p><strong>17:37</strong> – Seeing the land's potential</p><p><strong>20:56</strong> – "Power Hour" marketing</p><p><strong>25:08</strong> – Reliability & follow through</p><p><strong>27:30 </strong>– Less deals, more focus</p><p><strong>30:24</strong> – Steps to a major subdivide</p><p><strong>37:54 </strong>– Funding process & Due diligence</p><p><strong>44:45</strong> – Land potential in 2026</p><p><strong>49:30</strong> – Outro </p>
Key Insights
- Andrew claims that decreasing acquisition volume by 60-65% while maintaining disposition velocity allows for better inventory scaling and capital recovery, enabling him to redeploy capital faster than high-volume single-parcel models
- He argues that 'cross-contamination' occurs when the same team handles both quick flips and complex subdivisions, creating inefficiencies, which led him to deliberately shrink his team to three specialists
- Andrew asserts that relationship-focused acquisition through agents and professionals (surveyors, engineers) generates more qualified deals than SMS marketing, explaining why he shifted from SMS campaigns to direct networking
- He contends that the Memphis deal exemplifies how investors miss subdivision opportunities daily—buying properties at 80% value without recognizing they could wholesale the entitlement rights and earn six-figure fees
- Andrew maintains that 'by right' zoning compliance is the primary risk reducer in subdivisions, as counties legally cannot deny approved lot divisions that meet ordinance requirements
- He claims that phased, refundable-to-nonrefundable deposit structures incentivize sellers to wait for serious operators versus accepting quick lowball offers, because deposits compensate sellers for time
- Andrew argues the land investing market is transitioning from a volume-based, low-barrier business to an efficiency market where subdivisions represent the remaining 'blue ocean' for operators willing to commit to longer cycles
- He states that approximately 50% of deal success is 'luck' (timing and relationships), suggesting that systematic processes can only control the other 50%, implying deal-making has inherent unpredictability
Topics
Transcript
All right, everyone, welcome back to the Real Estate Investing Podcast. Today we have Andrew Short on again. We had him about six months ago, but I was talking to him. We've been talking the last two months pretty consistently, and he's acquired over $10 million of properties in 2026. So I was like, we got to have an update, right? But excited to have you back, Andrew. Welcome back to the show. Yeah, thanks, guys. Thanks for having me back. Definitely has been an evolution of the business over the last six months. So happy to hop on here and kind of share what's happened. Absolutely. Where do you want to start with this round? I think that's a…
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