I have a killer property that I just purchased and stand to make $120k, but my new neighbors are not happy. They wanted to buy it, but did not have the cash, so the seller decided to let the property go me. The neighbors are now challenging my legal access
- a Thread 🧵
So… I find myself in a situation where the neighbors are telling everyone who visits the property that they are trespassing, they are actively blocking access, and my next option is to hire an attorney to help sort this out. Wish me luck!
Land investing is fun
***UPDATE***
I hired an attorney - he reviewed all the documents and agrees it is unlawful for my neighbor to prevent access.
For those of you who love drama, below is an image of the letter we sent him.
Today is day 3 of 10 before we work together, or file a lawsuit. 1/2
I have a killer property that I just purchased and stand to make $120k, but my new neighbors are not happy. They wanted to buy it, but did not have the cash, so the seller decided to let the property go me. The neighbors are now challenging my legal access
- a Thread 🧵
*******FINAL UPDATE!
I dropped the lawsuit.
My surveyor made it out, sat down with the neighbor and explained it.
He called me and apologized for the misunderstanding and said I would have no problems with him moving forward. We exchanged stories about our time in the Navy and
***UPDATE***
I sued my neighbor.
The situation has really escalated.
Since the last update, the county mapper has agreed that my access extends to the public ROW.
BUT... my neighbor exitibted some incredibly threatening behavior that forced my hand.
a short 🧵⬇️⬇️⬇️
@casshartford
@VRBO
is terrible. Someone threatened to leave a 1 star review if I didn’t give an 80% refund saying the house was haunted (not a single complaint until after they checked out).
I didn’t give the refund, I got a 1 star review. Apparently extortion doesn’t violate their terms.
***UPDATE***
I sued my neighbor.
The situation has really escalated.
Since the last update, the county mapper has agreed that my access extends to the public ROW.
BUT... my neighbor exitibted some incredibly threatening behavior that forced my hand.
a short 🧵⬇️⬇️⬇️
I have a killer property that I just purchased and stand to make $120k, but my new neighbors are not happy. They wanted to buy it, but did not have the cash, so the seller decided to let the property go me. The neighbors are now challenging my legal access
- a Thread 🧵
$1.5M of additional economic value just appeared with the recording of this plat. I am super proud of the work that went into it over the last year. Now on to the sales!
Its been a minute since I've posted a deal breakdown since it's time consuming to post content on here! But here is a TEXTBOOK land flip 👇👇👇
Deal Breakdown 📊
Deal Overview:📍
Location: Buncombe County, NC
🏞️ Acreage: 5 acres
💰 All-in Purchase Price: $17,664.22
⏰ Hold
Before purchasing the property I had some doubts. For one, the tax map did not show any kind of public access. But the deed language told a different story. It showed a 20 ft piece of land deeded to a timber company back in 1989 and references a Right of Way along the paved road
The chain of title goes as follows:
1. Timber Company owned the 57 acre tract prior to 1989
2. Timber company buys a 20 ft wide strip of land from the neighbor that connects the 57 acre tract to the paved rd known as Persall Dr.
3. The Timber company sold the land (including the
I wanted to put this out there to let people know what I’m all about: *Long Post* ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Here are some details - I am a vacant land developer, primarily focused on subdividing parcels in the southeastern USA. I currently I am working on 10 active developments ranging from a
Closing tomorrow on 174 acre waterfront property in between Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA. Deeding waterfront access to all off water lots. Here is the cut. Engineering complete and just waiting for county approval. Dirt work starts next weekend!
My neighbors are arguing that where the county maintained ROW ends, I no longer have access. The paved driveway that goes onto my property and is also used to access another neighbors property, they say, is not legal access…
But my deed references it at a right of way, and so
Having a couple doubts, I paid to have a survey completed on the property. It showed the lines just as they are shown on that interactive map. See the attached image for reference. I zoomed in on the strip as well.
The only confusing thing is that at some point between 1989 when
Many new followers over the weekend - Thought I would reintroduce myself. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
I'm a US Navy submarine veteran and prior Nuclear/Chemical Engineer turned Real Estate Investor/Business owner. I primarily focus on the south east US. I find vacant land and look for opportunities
These last couple days have been crazy on the sales side of the business. I have signed 6 contracts to sell land in the last 24 hours. Many of these are lots from some of the small splits I do.
This is how March closings are looking. Left column is my basis and right column is
Contractors are out working today on a nice rural 8 lot split I'm bringing to market in Alabama. 5-7 acre tracts will have about 1/2 of the land completely cleared with gravel driveway access. Power and water available.
All lots larger than 5 acres, so no approvals needed.
All
Holy smokes, just tweeted last night about some access and neighbor trouble I’m having on one of my properties and got 300 new followers.
I need to up my Twitter game. It definitely falls pretty low on my priority list with 3 kids and dozens of fires. Thanks for the follows!
✨Grace “Gracie” Adalynn✨ joined us just over a week ago as the perfect chunky, snoozy addition. Chaos and messiness have been a theme this week with the older kids being home sick, but watching the big kids fawn over their little sister has filled me with Joy.
HUGE win today.
I closed on a deal that I have been working on since Jan 2022 and realized an $85k profit after all fees and commission.
This deal was rife with issues, but having the fortitude to weather the storm and take each step forward through the mess paid off. Enjoy.
**ANOTHER UPDATE**
Neighbor came to the table with an attorney. Willing to paper it all up for $10k.
BUT - I'm not paying him $10k.
Countered at $2500 to get it done quick. Alternative is that we go through the lawsuit.
I either pay my Attorney 10k and he also spends 10k
***UPDATE***
I hired an attorney - he reviewed all the documents and agrees it is unlawful for my neighbor to prevent access.
For those of you who love drama, below is an image of the letter we sent him.
Today is day 3 of 10 before we work together, or file a lawsuit. 1/2
So I just uploaded my first youtube video - It's long... like 35 min - but in it I talk through my land investing journey and highlight details of a $2.5M subdivide I'm finishing up. I don't know how long form video looks on X, but here it is in raw form.
This type of development is a little out of my wheelhouse, but it’s in the path of development, school around the corner - 1/4 acre lots, etc.
Why shouldn’t I go down this path?
(15+ acres will fit up to 49 lots without and drainage or detention requirements)
Got a new property listed today in GA. 34 Acres in Chattooga County near the GA-AL border. Really pretty tract with a partially finished cabin. There is a bit of random stuff on the property, but not too much. Definitely a nice place to spread out. Enjoy!
Other things I've been
The
@eightsleep
mattress cooler is the best investment I’ve made in my sleep comfort ever. It’s a game changer.
Cools my bed down so I’m never hot, separate controls for my side and my wife’s side, you can warm it up to wake up without an alarm. It also has a vibration alarm
Some great news on my 150 acre development! The county approved driveway locations - just finishing up the drainage calculations to determine what detention is needed, and then home free.
Timber sales have completely offset development costs up to this point. Well capitalized to
November is turning out to be a fantastic month for my business.
We booked $115k of Gross profit with $50k more to close this month.
Today my sales team got offers on another $310k of properties (cost basis $175k) set to close in December.
5 new lots going up this week.
Gotta
Went out to a 1600 acre ranch east of the Texas Triangle this morning to fly the drone and check things out.
The beauty with which God crafted the world never ceases to amaze me.
I had the drone 2.5 miles away from me and got a little worried It wouldn't come back! but, it did.
Ok. Someone else needs to see this. My property manager just emailed me a review that one of my guests is threatening to post on VRBO. Not only is the house beautiful (after a 400k renovation) but this is just insane. Thoughts?
@MrJonesSTRs
Land can be a lumpy business. Two weeks ago I struggled to sleep due to uncertainly in the market and cashflow concerns.
Then, in the last week we had $289k of properties go under contract to sell and another $220k get the green light from title.
Setting October up to be 🔥🔥
Excited to be bringing a trophy hunting property in Northeast Alabama to market. 85 acres with power - Getting the trail cams and feeders setup this weekend - $60k road cleared, rocked, and graded crossing a creek with 3 -36” pipes.
A fellow Submarine Veteran, Justin, has been battling brain cancer for several years. He has undergone 2 brain surgeries to remove other tumors, but a third was recently found. His family is fighting for time and anything helps. Please share far and wide
Update - Lesson Learned. Don't run fb ads in small towns before taking title. Especially if your team didn't explicity tell the seller what you were going to do.
I spoke to the seller - she was rightfully upset with me and my team. She was really just spooked at how many people
Got bit this morning by premarketing a property I have under contract to purchase on facebook.
32 acres I am buying for 39k (1k in earnest) - maybe worth 70k as an owner financed sale.
Drone work came back with more water than expected so my team posted on fb to guage interest.
After upgrading my computer to the new MacBook Pro, I decided to upgrade the rest of my desk setup.
I have the intent to start creating some content. Primarily YouTube deal walkthroughs, and videos about minor land splits, systems, hiring, etc.
What am I missing?
I just closed on another land development deal 🌅. It's a waterfront property near Birmingham and Atlanta, with so much potential! Here's how I found, underwrote, funded, and did my due diligence on the property. (1/9)
Just arrived in Europe for a 6 week trip - Kids are having a rough time adjusting to the time change, but they are making due!
1. Nice, FR/Monaco
2. Northern Italy
3. Croatia
4. Slovenia
5. Austria
6. Southern Germany/Switzerland (possibly)
Easier to WFH with views like this.
UNDERWRITE CONSERVATIVELY
Even the best laid plans go awry.
I've had a simple plat sitting with the county engineer since December 7th for a 4 lot split with plenty of road frontage in NE Alabama.
Underwritten last year and purchased in November.
A short🧵 ⬇️⬇️⬇️
@MichaelGangade1
Yeah. If it turns out I don’t actually have full legal access, this is the next thing we will do. Just let them know we are going to file a lawsuit, but would be happy to settle it with him getting a few grand rather than both of us in the hole 5-15k. This is almost a guaranteed
My contractor backed his trucks and equipment down the narrow road and drove south 35 miles into another county.
ALL THE WHILE - the neighbor was agressively tailing him.
For more than an hour he was followed by the neighbor.
Luckily my contractor knows the sheriff in the
Christmas came early this year! Another subdivide almost ready to go. This one goes before the county commissioner Jan 12th. The neighbor to the North and the neighbor to the south already want two of the four lots.
Merry Christmas!
Applying for a home loan as an entreprenuer is not for the faint of heart.
A bank asked me for every settlement statement (buy and sell) in 2023 and 2024 (~200 documents).
I asked how they wanted me to organize it.
They only need a spreadsheet of purchases and sales now 🤣
We got back to the place where she said yes (but kinda no) 11 years ago. A very special place to us indeed.
Also got a couple great properties under contract to buy and one solid profit deal to sell - all executed by my incredible team.
Today was a good day.
Just got the drone files back for another lot split in NE Alabama - This one Bordering the Bankhead National Forest. Love seeing the fall foliage.
Relatively simple split 12.5, 12.5, 15 ac- $2k survey and ~$23k for dirt, clearing, and driveway work - bank financed at 80% LTV.
Life is absolute CHAOS right now.
Moving out of my house to start a huge addition - looks like a bomb blew up.
Leaving on Tuesday for a 6 week trip to Europe with a 5 year old, 2 year old, and 4 month old (flights were bought this last Thursday Evening)
Next rest on the plane
I bought a Lenovo laptop from Costco for ~800 bucks a couple years ago, but now it cannot handle all the applications I run daily- recording video, etc. always lagging.
Gonna splurge a bit after a solid 6 figure month on the new MacBook Pro
Anyone regret going from PC to Mac?
My 10 year wedding anniversary was in July - This weekend my wife and I will take a short trip away from the kids up in Newport, RI at the incredible
@CastleHillInn
.
I proposed to her back on September 7th 2012 - the day I commissioned as an Officer in the Unites States Navy at
Day 60 of 75 hard. I’m going to end up calling it off in 1 week due to a trip to Belize. Probably will have a drink on the beach… because why not. But results are pretty staggering.
Jan 17: 211 lbs
Start 75 hard April 8: 196 lbs
June 8: 184 lbs
Signed the plat for Mill Branch Estates yesterday afternoon - a beautiful 13 lot subdivide in Morgan County Alabama - been working on it since January - Residential timber cut, multiple county approvals, $110k of detention pond work...
Excited to bring it to market soon.
4 closings today! One of them is buying and then selling the same property.
I had a surprise closing scheduled for Monday so it looks like I’m making a trip to the notary this afternoon. It’s a great couple days. 2 cash sales and 2 notes generated.
Good week so far:
New Team member is crushing it - freeing the rest of my acquisitions team to increase outbound marketing.
Got another 82 acres under contract (buying 10 separate lots)
Sold the first of a 3 lot subdivide
Solved a paperwork issue on a 220k sale
Oct is 🔥
I am listing another small subdivide this next week - 40 acres into 3 lots, all bordering the Bankhead National forest in Lawrence county, AL.
I cleaned up the front and installed culverts/driveways. I absolutely love getting the photos from my contractor when work is complete.
Love surprise closings. You think cash isn’t coming for another month and your closing attorney emails you closing docs 30 days early and says, “Buyer already sent funds.”
Yes please.
Here's a free, step-by-step guide to subdividing rural vacant land that could quickly make you hundreds of thousands--or even millions--of dollars while working a nine-to-five.
The best part? You can do this with on-market deals.
A 🧵
Slam dunk development deal (300% return on cash in 6 mo) just fell apart… because the seller was literally impersonating the land owner and trying to defraud me, the title company, and the land owner. Had a suspicious feeling so did some extra Facebook due diligence. Crazy.
**AMAZING UPDATE**
The deal is back on!!
My team sent her the cancellation via docusign, but the next day she back and asked to speak with me. I tried calling her yesterday but was not able to connect. I ended up calling and speaking with her this morning.
We are back on and
Update - Lesson Learned. Don't run fb ads in small towns before taking title. Especially if your team didn't explicity tell the seller what you were going to do.
I spoke to the seller - she was rightfully upset with me and my team. She was really just spooked at how many people
@bowtie_ins_guy
I had a title opinion confirming access, deed language describing a R/W and a surveyor who also believed I had access. Additionally this is not a housing development. This is hunting land or maybe a single homestead with a lot of privacy. You can’t subdivide this tract without
I had a few simple improvements planned:
1. Gravel my drive way
2. Grade and widen the access to the first greenfield
3. Put up a gate to protect access to the rest of my property.
My contractor was ready to unload the rock when he was confronted by the neighbor.
Things quickly
I haven't been posting much this month - me and the fam got taken out by a plethora of winter time illnesses, and on top of that, I've just ben insanely busy - I've found the busier I am, the lower X falls on my priority list.
One thing I wanted to share was just how grateful I
Just got the bank appraisal back on a large waterfront subdivision I am developing near Birmingham AL. $350k OVER purchase price as is. I LOVE buying with that much "built-in" equity. Not to mention the $1M+ of forced appreciation by subdividing it. Its gonna be a good year.
I had a call with
@Launch_SMS
. I certainly appreciate the customer service.
Here is what I am doing now to get my feet under me moving forward with texting as a marketing tool:
1. Getting all my old templates from LC as a starting point for editing
2. Pausing my LC until
Solo-parenting this weekend while my wife is enjoying a girls weekend in New Mexico before baby
#3
arrives. Kolaches and soccer in a minivan. Full dad mode.
What does a typical home services business do for marketing to get inbound leads?
I just helped a friend of mine set up ringless voicemail to a call center that books appointments through her scheduling app for her home cleaning business. SOOO CHEAP and WAY too many leads.
Just had a guest for a 2 day short stay demand a full refund or he would dispute the charge and leave a 1 star review due to one of my 2 AC units going out making 2 of the 10 bedrooms in the home “unusable” …overnight lows were in the 60s.
What would you do?
@MrJonesSTRs
Two wins this morning:
Put a deposit down on a green Toyota Sienna platinum. Likely to get one within the next 2 months
Got a sick 50 acre subdivide in GA under contract for $110k with a $275k-$300k exit. (Using leverage gets me a 180% return).
Happy Friday.
@SMB_Attorney
Business 100% - not even a question. Time value of money - the MBA will take 2yrs and cost $100k+ for most people for a median starting salary outside of school of $150k.
Cold Calling is rough.
Everyone knows it. You are calling people out of the blue and since you are an ANON they take it out on you.
So we try to make it fun for the team.
This month my cold callers have a competition.
6 callers, 2 teams - the most contracts wins...
Team
Wow… I’m speechless. It took less than 30 minutes for one of my kids to get poop in the new minivan. Luckily I was filming my kids exploring the car… so for your viewing pleasure 💩🚐🤦♂️
Yes, this is real, and no, my dog is not getting her tongue anywhere near me now.
Man... January was a pretty bad month for sales, but Feb is Killing it.
My team has gotten 15 properties under contract to sell in the last two weeks alone. (1 in January). Looks like things come in waves.
There are a lot of reasons why living in Houston is not ideal, but there are so many fun ways to spend half a day with kids
The last three days we’ve gone to:
1. Museum of natural science
2. The Houston Arboretum
3. Houston Children’s Museum
This morning: Memorial Park
This is our second project in GA - First one was a 3 lot split in Charlton county - Bought for 40k and out on all three lots at just over 80k. This one is lucky - The property was in its last year of timber conservation. If I took it out early - the tax bill was $70k - Dead Deal
Just finished listing our first
#subdivide
in
#Georgia
. Total of 7 lots in beautiful Crawford County, GA with a nice creek & highway road frontage.
Surveyed out to 49.45 acres. Listing as 5-6 acre tracts with 1 larger estate size lot. Waiting to finalize plat until 1st closing.
@EdKrassen
What an absurd thing to be upset about. Similar Tom Brady with his son. A healthy, loving, affectionate relationship with your kids is something to be praised and modeled.
Maybe it’s a hot take, but if someone thinks differently, there is something they haven’t dealt with yet.
Thinking about doing some in depth deal breakdowns on twitter. Not just the highlights, but real acquisitions, time held, costs and lessons learned. Anyone interested?
Today was my hardest day yet as a business owner.
I let 5 talented and valued team members go and it absolutely sucked.
I have to much to be thankful for but in an asset heavy business, managing cash is essential. We are lean and well positioned for the 2nd half of the year.
Update on the new MacBook Pro. Seriously so much better than my old computer.
I am confident that I would have benefited from a more capable windows machine, but the way this computer seamlessly works with my other apple products is pretty sick.
No regrets.
I've been an avid reader for years now. Mostly, I churn through sci-fi series, biographies, and business books, but recently the Pastor of my Church started a men's book club called "The Dead Theologian Society" - and The Wonderful Works of God by Herman Bavinck, which was
This little guy turned 2 just 6 weeks ago and has been crushing the scooter. He gets to watch his big sister (and she also likes to help teach him).
I love these walks after work with the whole family. This used to be the time I spent in gridlocked traffic listening to real
I used to dread Mondays.
Seriously... I dreaded getting into my car and commuting to work on things that I had no stake in.
I didn't even realize that there was something better. I just assumed everyone felt that way, because I wasn't alone - many others looked miserable at
@rohde88
I bought the property with a title insurance policy insuring access. In the original thread you’ll see where the confusion could be. My deed specifically references a ROW that crosses my property.
Also, there is enough profit margin in the deal where the risk is quite low.
Flew up to Oregon today. Surprisingly well behaved kids while traveling despite the 4 am wake up and 6 hours of flying between two planes.
Signed a contract on the plane to sell the last of a 3 lot subdivision and negotiated a 93 acre sale while the kids watched Moana 😎🛬🌄
Heading back to Texas after a fantastic Thanksgiving with family in Charlotte, NC. Left at 3:30 am EST. 2 stops so far and one left. 6:30 pm CST eta.
16 hrs of driving and the kids are crushing it.
Some highlight photos:
Looking for talent to support growth?
Let's talk about Hiring👇👇
Hiring is one of those things that is VITAL to any successful business. I'm certainly not an expert, but I've hired 15 people in the last 18 months and have a process that is relatively smooth, but....
before
@_apryor
Had a seller die 3 days before closing. :(.
Funds wired and everything. No show to closing. Poor guy left a 9 year old as his only heir.
Really sad situation.
My Sales team is on a roll - two deals under contract to sell this week already. 2 more with contracts out. Clearing out inventory for the pipeline of better deals we have coming in.
@ClintT_land
Another strategy - find a solid attorney in an area that specializes in prescriptive easement and easement by necessity cases.
Then market to nice landlocked parcels.
Work to buy access from Neighbors first, if that doesn’t work - go through the legal procedure.
State
Spent some time with the little dude coloring and building a fort while mom and sister were at ballet. These moments make everything else worth it.
I’m not sure why many folks consider the joy little humans bring a sacrifice and desire to live a life without knowing one of the
Goose hunting on the Katy Prairie this morning with some friends I met in the land investing space. Shout out to
@acquiringacres
for organizing it.
He told me, “The more I get into the entrepreneurial space the more work looks like fun.” So true.
Completed the famous Murph CrossFit workout this morning with some good friends.
I used the weighted vest, ran the first mile easy at 8:30ish pace then split the pull-ups/push-ups/squats into 5/10/15 for 20 rounds and finished with a 8:00 mile.
Total time: 42:41. Hooyah.
I went to funeral today for my friends husband. He passed away from brain cancer within 12 hours of his first symptom, which was an intense migraine. He was 36 years old with a 2 year old daughter.
Life is short - each moment is precious. Go kiss your spouse and kids.
I am closing on my first "Largish" Subdivide deal next week. Found this deal on the MLS - Purchase at $715k and exit at $1.8M with about $150k of capital improvements. Just got word the timber I am removing will add ~$100k to the profit - bringing total exit to $1.9M- 170% return
I haven’t posted anything fitness related in a while - bit of an update. After losing 30lbs from Jan to June I went into a slight calorie surplus and focused on strength for 14 weeks. My weight got back up to ~194 (low of 182) and I raised 1RM lifts as follows:
Bench: 255 ->