In this episode of the Best Passive Income Model Podcast, listen in as Mark Podolsky, the Land Geek, chats with former student, Chris Pritchard, a Land Geek student and coach extraordinaire.
Chris tells Mark about how he was a software engineer by trade and trying out new businesses but having the tendency to over analyze things. When he heard Mark for the first time ever on a podcast, he instantly knew he was interested. He wanted something that was simple, where you do the work and keep doing the system. He says he’s doing what he’s told and it has worked out for him.
When asked what ‘worked out’ meant, Chris said that he’s sitting on a monthly revenue of about $1,400. He has $75,000 on the contract values. Last month, he did $27,000 in cash deals within ten months of starting the business.
The most difficult part of the business was when he was just starting. He said there was a lot to absorb. He had to watch all the videos and there’s all this new information and he was scared to call the counties to ask for a list. He ended up sending them emails instead. That was the first action he took. He also said there’s a learning curve and a lot of new things to figure out, some of them intimidating. Mark mentions that he kept his Toolkit actionable and that he gave what he thought was enough information but not too much. The big 3 modules; Deal Flow, Due Diligence, and Marketing, the other information is just a bonus. When Chris got the Toolkit, it took him a couple of weeks to get his first list. It took some time to absorb the information and take action.
In terms of deal flow, acquiring properties and anything about land, Chris says that he learned a lot. He especially learned a lot from watching the Craigslist videos because it was a deep dive into how to construct your ads and be successful. Initially, Chris started with Craigslist, and then Land Watch and Land and Farm. Currently, he’s experimenting with different marketing. With the money he’s making, he can now spend more on marketing.
Talking about a big deal he’s had, Chris sold a property on terms and he used the down payment to buy the land. It was within the period of time when he was doing due diligence so he went ahead and got the property. This deal defaulted but he was able to sell it for cash last month. Chris talks about the mix you want and how you can market your properties. Are you marketing towards a payment situation or are you marketing towards a cash flip?
On the advice he would give a newbie, Chris says that he made a conscious decision not to do Mail Chimp and setting up CRMs in the beginning. He says to focus more on getting offers out and mailing these letters every week. He had to be consistent with that. When offers came in, he stuck to due diligence and got them listed. He focused on the M&Ms – mailing and marketing. It wasn’t until six months down the road that he started working on a website.
When asked if the program met his expectations, Chris responded that there were a lot of eye-opening moments such as when he got a 6.5 acre, $17,000 property for $2,500. Another client of Mark's got a call from Jeff Akstin saying that he sold a property he bought for $15,000 for $150,000 on terms. He’s getting his money back in 8 months and then he’ll be getting $600 a month for the next twenty years.
Some newbies, according to Mark, make the mistake of stopping the deal flow. But it’s a numbers game. You always have to keep up with it, even if you run out of money. The value is always in that deal.
Chris’ wife was skeptical about this online course, at first. When Chris first told her about this, she said, “oh, you found another shyster, huh?” When she saw that he started making his deals, she then kept bugging him to get that sale or do that video. This was her mantra for the first few months. After seeing the income from the deals Chris worked out, she has been more flexible. Although her preferences are steel appliances and granite counter tops, she’s not as interested in raw land.
The raw land market was then compared with house flipping. Chris and Mark agree that the raw land business is not crowded at all. Chris did ‘bump’ into someone from the Land Geek community who had a property near his. He then told him that the views from the property were amazing. He even gave him a Google Earth screen shot that showed it at a different angle and showed what the views might be like. In the Land Geek community, everyone’s willing to share information. After seeing some success even if there are other ads in the same area, they tend to be less competitive. It’s a massive market with relatively few players in it. Keeping the information to themselves would be lonely. Mark thinks that it’s better as a community and as a whole, sharing, getting better, and having an abundance mentality versus a scarcity mentality.
So far, Chris has seen an ROI of about 700-900%. For his cash deals, he has gotten about 350% using other people’s money. The county makes it easy to get that. Using the county’s tax bill helps and works out on both ends. Another client of Mark’s was a hedge fund manager who thought that making 100% was ludicrous. But in two weeks, he flipped three deals and made 100%.
Mark asked Chris about being skeptical about the income the Best Passive Income Model could generate. Chris said that Mark’s being a guest on the Jerry Robinson podcast gave him the credibility. Before he was featured as a guest, they even asked Mark for his social security number so they could do a criminal background check.
As a new member of the Land Coaching Team, Chris is going to give back and pay it forward. He thinks it will make him a better investor because it’ll force him to see things in a different way. Chris is looking forward to being part of a system and have quality control and making sure that everyone is doing a good job and it’s consistent. Plugging in, helping those in the community, and leveling up is something Chris is looking forward to.
At the moment, Chris is working on the business about 20 hours a week but is working on reducing that.
TIP OF THE WEEK:
Chris: Trello, a nice website. It’s free and set up like a Kanban system from the Japanese. You can put lists, you can do your Deal Flow and have cards for each property, add notes, images, videos, and whatever content you’re acquiring through your Deal Flow process. You can add them on the cards, drag and drop them and it’s really great for a team to get in there and take care of everything. Trello makes sure that the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted.
For the newbie listeners, do not get discouraged if you have a bad mailing from a county. Don’t think it’s something you’re doing wrong. If you throw out 20-50 letters and you don’t get a response, switch it out a little bit. Do a few different counties and experiment. Try something different in that county or you could try a different county.
Mark: Try the iPhone app called Digit. Save money without thinking about it and it automates saving a little bit here and there. It is an effortless way to save money without thinking about it.
Also check out LandsOfAdventure.com and Marks’ newly updated website, FrontierPropertiesUSA.com.
Go to TheLandGeek.com and download for free the Passive Income Blueprint. Get the e-book How to Avoid the Three Fatal Land Buying Mistakes and get this always informative and engaging podcast delivered each week to your email inbox.
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