How He's Using Land to Pay Off a $1M House

Derek Bourgeois, a coach for Land Investing Online, shares his origin story of getting into land investing after relocating from Seattle to Nashville during COVID. After failed attempts at house flipping (earning only $30K over nine months) and real estate agenting (which took him away from family on weekends), he discovered land investing through the Land Investing Online bootcamp. He started bartending nights to fund his early business, sent out four county mailers in 2022, and netted $57,000 from three deals — providing his proof of concept.

Derek describes the evolution of the land investing space using a 'funnel' metaphor. He argues that early entrants could succeed with basic strategies and high-volume mailers, but as more investors enter the market, success increasingly depends on mastering details: nuanced county selection, understanding metrics like absorption rate vs. sell-through rate, crafting personalized marketing letters, and identifying niche strategies like subdivide plays. He credits tools like Land Portal with enabling more sophisticated data-driven decision-making.

The centerpiece of the conversation is Derek's 'million dollar survey hack' — a deal he found live at a conference by searching Zillow in his own county. He identified a $1.3M listed property (a home with three livable structures on 40 acres) and negotiated it down to $1M with $200K down. The key insight is that appraisers only value a home on up to five acres, meaning the remaining acreage is drastically undervalued in the purchase price. At $25K per acre, Derek is buying land that could sell for $50-150K per acre when subdivided. His plan is to subdivide roughly 12 acres, sell it for ~$600K, and use those proceeds to pay off most of the $800K mortgage — ultimately keeping 20-25 acres with a paid-off home.

Derek also discusses the broader trajectory of his business and coaching practice. He continues running standard land flips via mailers while increasingly pursuing larger subdivide deals. He's considering expanding into deal funding for other land investors and launching a disposition/social media marketing service specifically for land investors. He emphasizes that the core reason land investing works — people facing hardship, divorce, tax delinquency, or inheritance situations — is unlikely to change, even as tactics and tools evolve.

On the topic of AI, Derek takes a measured view, treating it as a productivity tool rather than a disruptive threat, and notes that overly AI-generated marketing copy may already be losing effectiveness with savvier audiences. He closes with coaching advice for new investors: treat early setbacks as learning opportunities, focus on improving small details rather than abandoning the strategy, and understand that the first deal typically unlocks a cascade of subsequent deals.