How $3K Land Deals Turned Into Massive Subdivides
Dan Haberkast shares his journey from house hacking in 2018 to building a multi-million dollar land investing business, including his transition from small infill lots to large acreage deals with complex problems, and his current focus on subdivisions and builds in Colorado while maintaining a distressed property flipping operation.
Summary
Dan Haberkast began his real estate journey in 2018 while still in college, initially house hacking a duplex in Ohio before moving to Colorado. His entry into land came through networking with an experienced developer in Pueblo West who needed help sourcing properties. Dan started with simple infill lot assignments, earning small fees ($1,000-$3,000) while learning the business from a paid mentor.
For several years, Dan focused on infill lots primarily in Colorado, Florida, and North Carolina. By 2023, he was completing around 70 deals annually across his operations and a funding partnership with Mason, generating $30-40K monthly in profit during peak periods. However, in early 2022, Pueblo West's water district shut down new water taps without warning, forcing Dan to pivot his entire business strategy and expand to other markets.
Dan recognized that infill lot profits were shrinking as the market became saturated with competitors, each making only $2,000-$5,000 per deal. Around late 2024-early 2025, he made a significant shift toward larger acreage (typically 10+ acres) with inherent problems—access issues, title defects, squatters, or other complications. This transition required learning new skills including timberland valuation, recreational property value, and title curation. His marketing copy now explicitly targets distressed sellers by showcasing problems his business has solved.
Dan built a strong online presence with testimonials, reviews, and before/after photos that establish legitimacy and trust with sellers who have struggled elsewhere. He discovered that legitimate land buyers with proof of funds, non-refundable earnest money, and proper escrow arrangements stand out against competitors sending standard offer letters.
Currently, Dan operates two distinct business arms: Front Range Land (his fully-owned company focusing on smaller subdivides and distressed flips generating quick cash), and a partnership with a significantly larger operator where they buy 2,000+ acres collectively in Colorado. In the partnership deals, they use bank financing at 6-6.5% LTV, then sell subdivided lots on owner financing at 12% for arbitrage while building on portions of the land. These long-term projects generate no income this year but build substantial equity.
Dan's team is lean—a virtual assistant for data, two acquisition specialists, and himself managing larger deals. His monthly marketing includes 10,000 mailers and 9,000-10,000 cold-calling dials. He emphasizes that success now requires skilled salespeople who can qualify leads, navigate objections, and close sales—a stark difference from his early years when email offers were often accepted without conversation.
Dan views his business strategically, considering how regulatory changes, AI, or market shifts could disrupt his models. He's deliberately building construction expertise and manufacturing home credentials as a sustainable competitive moat. He regrets not starting earlier with relationships with small regional banks and not capturing more five-star reviews from early deals through intentional follow-up systems.
About this episode
<p><strong>Want to quit your job and build a real land investing business?</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><br /></p><p>In this episode, Ron sits down with Dan Haberkost to discuss how land investing has changed and how he’s adapted his business. They cover distressed land, solving title and access issues, scaling through larger acreage and subdivides, and why strong sales skills and marketing matter more than ever.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you are looking to build a strong land investing business that will last, this episode breaks down exactly what you need to do to adapt, and keep growing no matter what the market throws at you </p><p><br /></p><p>🌐Connect with Dan Haberkost: </p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/danhaberkost/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Instagram</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/dan.haberkost.3/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook</a></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>00:11 </strong>– Rentals to land</p><p><strong>03:31</strong> – Land journey</p><p><strong>05:41</strong> – Pueblo West story</p><p><strong>09:15</strong> – Infill to large acres</p><p><strong>15:48</strong> – Fixing problematic land</p><p><strong>19:29</strong> – The advantage of building a brand</p><p><strong>23:03</strong> – Small & big acre balance</p><p><strong>28:59</strong> – Creating your 'moat'</p><p><strong>34:32</strong> – Networking with a podcast</p><p><strong>36:24</strong> – Thinking long-term with land</p><p><strong>42:13</strong> – Building trust with mail marketing</p><p><strong>48:34</strong> – Growing your sales ability</p><p><strong>50:49</strong> – Dan's final advice</p><p><strong>52:32</strong> – Outro </p>
Key Insights
- Dan discovered that Pueblo West's water district shutdown in January 2022 eliminated his entire primary business pipeline overnight, forcing immediate geographic diversification and teaching him the vulnerability of geographic concentration.
- He found that infill lot profits compressed from $15,000-$25,000 per deal down to $2,000-$5,000 as the market became saturated with competitors, making the business model unsustainable at the scale required to justify effort and risk.
- Dan argues that his early success came from solving specific problems for sellers (title issues, access problems, squatters) and discovered his marketing copy explicitly listing these solved problems attracted qualifying sellers who had failed elsewhere.
- He experienced that deals accepted via email offer letters without any conversation in his early years now require skilled salespeople to qualify leads, overcome objections, and navigate complex negotiations due to increased seller sophistication.
- Dan claims that building an online presence with testimonials, reviews, and legitimate business indicators (proof of funds, escrow, non-refundable earnest money) significantly differentiated his offers from competitors sending generic solicitations.
- He found that most large rural land parcels now have some combination of title defects, access issues, or other problems—stating that receiving a clean title report on 26 acres was surprising enough to question its validity.
- Dan discovered that small regional banks offer 6-6.5% LTV financing on land compared to hard money and JV funders, creating a significant arbitrage opportunity when selling on owner financing at 12%.
- He reflects that failing to systematically build bank relationships early and failing to capture reviews from satisfied customers represents substantial missed equity-building opportunities that compound over years.
Topics
Transcript
All right, everybody, welcome back to the Real Estate Investing Podcast. Super excited to have Dan Haberkast on with me today. Dan, welcome to the show. Ron, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. Yeah, I'm excited to learn more about your story. When did your land journey start? How did you get into it? Yeah, so I got into real estate my last year of college, 2018. And I was looking for something to do after school because I had been working while going to school. And I thought, okay, if I can manage work and full-time college, I can certainly start some sort of side business. Read a whole bunch of different books, scoured the internet,…
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