Your First Land Subdivide Is Easier Than You Think
This podcast episode breaks down the process of completing a first land subdivision deal, arguing that minor subdivisions are not significantly more complex than flips but offer 5-10x higher profits ($70,000+ vs $15,000-$25,000). The hosts provide a systematic approach covering market selection, list building, and marketing strategies.
Summary
The hosts discuss how land subdivisions are more accessible than people believe, with the psychological barrier being the main obstacle rather than actual complexity. They emphasize that average subdivision profits ($70,000+) far exceed land flip profits ($15,000-$25,000), making the similar process worthwhile.
Market selection involves two parallel tracks: analyzing data (days on market, sell-through rate, absorption rate) and checking legal restrictions. The hosts recommend starting with 15-20 counties, filtering for red flags (negative growth, poor population density), then analyzing arbitrage—comparing price per acre for larger parcels (40-60 acres at $6,000/acre) versus smaller subdivided parcels (4-6 acres at $15,000/acre). They stress needing at least 10 data points to avoid skewed results and that strategies can be adjusted if restrictions don't allow the planned subdivision size.
For list building, they advise filtering for deal-killers like wetlands, flood zones, and excessive slope, while avoiding over-filtering by length of ownership or requiring deep discounts. They recommend building separate filtered lists for each county since acreage targets and buildable percentages vary. Properties should have adequate road frontage, though advanced strategies can work with unconventional layouts (flag-shaped parcels with interior roads).
Marketing outreach should use multiple channels (cold calling, direct mail, texting, email), with the hosts favoring direct mail for subdivisions. They emphasize that one $100,000 deal justifies significant marketing spend, with ROI appearing quickly. During negotiations, sellers should be approached with open-mindedness about best use of land, and dealing with multiple eyes/expert review is recommended before closing.
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"><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"><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"><strong>FREE strategy call</strong></a> here.</p><p><br /></p><p>================================</p><p>In this episode, Ron and Dan break down the process of finding and landing your first land subdivision deal. They cover how to choose the right market, find arbitrage between larger and smaller parcels, filter for properties without restrictions, and market to sellers to lock down the deal.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you want to learn how to find and land your first profitable subdivision, this episode is for you</p><p><br /></p><p>================================</p><p>SOCIAL</p><p><strong>Ron's Instagram </strong>📸:<a href="https://www.instagram.com/ronapke/"><u> </u><strong>https://www.instagram.com/ronapke/</strong><u></u></a></p><p><strong>Dan's Instagram </strong>📸:<a href="https://www.instagram.com/danielapke/?hl=en"><u> </u><strong>https://www.instagram.com/danielapke/</strong><u></u></a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/danielapke/?hl=en"><u></u></a></p><p>================================</p><p><br /></p><p><strong>TIMESTAMPS:</strong></p><p><strong>00:00</strong> – Intro</p><p><strong>00:19</strong> – First step to subdivides</p><p><strong>02:12</strong> – Finding the right markets</p><p><strong>06:09</strong> – Arbitrage breakdown</p><p><strong>09:30</strong> – Red flags & restrictions</p><p><strong>15:32</strong> – Balanced list-making</p><p><strong>18:46</strong> – Road frontage requirements</p><p><strong>22:45</strong> – Best marketing for subdivides</p><p><strong>25:12</strong> – Opportunity when negotiating</p><p><strong>26:56</strong> – Outro </p>
Key Insights
- The hosts argue that minor subdivisions are structurally similar to flips in complexity but generate 3-5x higher average profits ($70,000+ vs $15,000-$25,000), with the gap primarily explained by psychological barriers rather than actual difficulty
- The speakers claim that buyers must analyze arbitrage by comparing price-per-acre metrics across acreage ranges (e.g., 40-60 acre parcels at $6,000/acre versus 4-6 acre subdivided lots at $15,000/acre), requiring minimum 10+ data points per range to avoid skewed market data
- The hosts assert that over-filtering property lists (requiring long ownership periods, out-of-state owners, deep discounts) actually reduces deal flow more than it improves quality, since arbitrage allows buying closer to market value and still profiting
- The speakers argue that property shape and road configuration matter more for experienced subdividers than road frontage amount, enabling strategies like running interior dirt roads through flag-shaped parcels to create otherwise unmarketable land into viable subdivisions
- The hosts claim that one successful $100,000+ subdivision deal justifies thousands of marketing pieces because the ROI ratio is 50:1 or higher, contradicting the notion that marketing costs are prohibitively high for this strategy
Topics
Transcript
All right, guys, welcome back to the Real Estate Investing Podcast. Today, we're talking about steps A through Z on getting your first subdivide. And I like this deal or this conversation around a lot because if someone's just been doing a lot of flips or double closes and they hear us talk and everyone's talking about their $150,000 profit deal subdivide, it's just I want to break it down as simple as possible for this conversation. Yeah, I think it's very topical in terms of what people are interested in too. Like this is what people wanna do right now. They see people, like you said, doing these six figure deals and maybe they were doing $10,000 deals. And…
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