How to Comp Defected Land
A live Q&A session from a real estate investing podcast focused on land flipping, covering topics like comping defected or wetland properties, handling unresponsive sellers, direct mail marketing results, and the growing role of AI tools in land investing operations.
Summary
The episode opens with a question from Dylan, a first-time land deal closer in North Carolina, who discovered that the access road to his two parcels is severely washed out. The hosts recommend getting quotes on road repair (estimating around $5,000 for a quarter-mile dirt road cleanup), noting that most raw land doesn't have driveways at all, and that this is not a deal-breaker. They suggest using the repair cost as leverage to negotiate the price down if needed.
Jacob then asks how to price a 25-acre Berkeley County, South Carolina property where roughly half is wetlands or swamp. The hosts walk through using Land Portal's filtering tools — specifically the water features filter for swamp/marsh — to find like-kind comparable sales. They conclude that in coastal South Carolina, buyers are accustomed to wetlands, and the discount should be modest, perhaps 10-25% at most, especially since 11 acres of dry road-frontage land anchors the property's value. They estimated market value in the $250,000-$300,000 range.
A community member named Cam shares that they've sent 3,000 pieces of direct mail since February across central and eastern Tennessee without closing a deal, receiving only about five leads. The hosts note that 3,000 mailers is not a large enough sample to be alarmed, emphasize consistency and not discarding leads, and suggest supplementing with texting or cold calling to increase deal flow.
A broader discussion about AI tools follows, prompted by a question from Joe about keeping up with rapid AI developments. The hosts advise focusing on AI applications that solve specific, repetitive admin tasks — like moving data into CRMs, reviewing calls, or surfacing old leads — and warn against building AI workflows that don't provide clear, trusted value. Nick shares his experience transitioning from resistance to adoption of Claude AI, noting it has replaced the need to hire additional employees for many operational tasks.
Dylan returns with a second issue: two sellers who signed contracts have gone silent. One never provided a phone number, and the other has been unreachable for nearly two weeks after Dylan already paid for a perk test. The hosts explain that without earnest money in the contract, the agreement is essentially unenforceable — comparable to a letter of intent. They advise Dylan to be transparent about money already spent and to add earnest money clauses to future contracts, noting that even $1 technically makes a contract legally binding and gives the buyer leverage, including the ability to place a lien on the property.
About this episode
<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, Ron and Dan do a Q&A with their community to answer the hottest questions in the land investing industry.</p><p><br /></p><p>Want to be a part of the conversation? Join our <a href="http://landinvestingonline.com/discord" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>discord calls</strong></a><strong> </strong>every Friday at 12:30 EST, to get your questions answered and meet other land investors!</p><p><br /></p><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><br /></p>
Key Insights
- The hosts argue that raw land without any driveway access is the norm, so a rough quarter-mile dirt road is actually an attribute rather than a liability, and repair quotes (~$5,000) can be used as negotiating leverage rather than a reason to walk away.
- Ron contends that in coastal South Carolina markets like Berkeley County, buyer familiarity with wetlands means the price discount for having half the acreage in wetlands or swamp should be no more than 10-25%, particularly when dry road-frontage acreage anchors the property.
- The hosts argue that a purchase agreement without earnest money is essentially unenforceable — similar to a letter of intent — and that any consideration, even $1, is technically sufficient to make the contract legally binding and give the buyer recourse such as placing a lien.
- Ron argues that 3,000 direct mail pieces is too small a sample to draw conclusions from in land investing, and that the real concern would begin around 20,000-30,000 pieces without results, emphasizing that direct mail leads are expensive but highly qualified.
- The hosts argue that AI adoption in land investing should be evaluated by whether the output is trusted and continuously maintained, warning that many people are building AI workflows — including 'vibe coding' projects — that provide no real operational value and only distract from deal-making.
Topics
Transcript
All right, everybody, welcome back to the Real Estate Investing Podcast. In this episode, it is going to be a live Q&A with myself, Daniel, and our community. There's some amazing questions in this, so enjoy the episode. As we're getting started here, guys, put your questions, raise your hand if you guys want to raise your hand, come up stage. We appreciate that opposed to chat, but if you can't come up, put your questions in the chat. Dylan, what's up? Welcome to the stage hey how you doing thanks for having me yep um so i am about to close on two parcels in north carolina um i was originally gonna purchase them outright um and they're about…
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