How To Invest In Land with Brent Bowers
My guest today is Brent Bowers. Brent has five years of experience in the land wholesaling business. As an Army Officer with over eight years of service, Brent was spending a great deal of time away from his family, and he knew he needed a business that could help him be more present in his family life. His interest in real estate began in 2007 when he purchased his first rental house. From there, he started exploring real estate investing to support his family while enjoying more time with them.
We begin the episode with Brent sharing his backstory and how he ended up owning a very successful land company. After graduating from high school in 2004, Brent started a land company, and in 2007 he acquired his real estate license. He started buying rental houses and became a real estate agent, but it got so bad that he moved out to join the military. Some years later, Brent got back into business, this time into house hacking. It didn’t take long before he was in massive debt and broke again. To make things better, he started building a team, and in his quest, he stumbled on land business. He did several transactions, and before he knew it, his business was growing, which led him to his financial freedom, and ever since, he started focusing on land more.
We then talk about Brent’s transition to the land business and the lessons he learned along the way. He shares that he was doing well in wholesaling, but he was still searching for the answers. He was running from the pain of losing his first marriage, and he didn’t want what happened to happen to him again. The thought of leaving crushed his soul, and he knew he had to have some businesses to take care of all their expenses if he was to leave the military to be with his family. Coincidentally, he heard a guy from a podcast who was buying land at a massive discount and tripling and quadrupling his money during sales. Brent thought he could do the same. He had a land business, he took action, and within three weeks, he was able to make sales and later stabilize his cash flow.
Next, we talk about Brent’s wholesale company’s selling process. Brent’s biggest projects have been on land and assigning land contracts. According to him, a land business is unique because land doesn’t have a roof falling in, a foundation that needs fixing, or plumbing that needs repair. To find land for sale, Brent starts by finding an area, picking his playground, and then looking for land owners’ information from platforms like PropStream, Resource Guru, or the country tax treasury. The information includes their name and mailing address which he uses to send LOLs (Land Offer Letters).
We then discuss how Brent deals with cases where buyers on long-term contracts default on their payments before the due period and the full payment are complete. According to Brent, this happens all the time, and one out of twelve will default. However, the bigger the down payment, the less likely the buyers will default. In some cases, they try to modify the loans to enable the buyers to pay in full, but sometimes they let the land go into default even after paying almost 78%, which is heartbreaking. When this happens, Brent says that he usually cancels the contract by sending a certified letter or email through his attorney.
Lastly, we talk about Brent’s criteria and checklists for identifying land to buy. For Brent, his target is always 3x his money. He works with a margin of ⅓ of what land is worth, which guarantees him a return. When it comes to selling, Brent sales are triple the buying price, and the buyers often pay in installments with an interest of 9%. They operate on contracts for deed, the land remains under his name, and they don’t allow construction until the whole contract is paid.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Brent Bowers and get valuable information on real estate land investments!
Notable Quotes:
“Just start today, take action, and do it! We don’t always have the answers that we need tomorrow, but we have the answers for today.”
- Brent Bowers
“What makes the land business different is that it doesn’t have a roof falling in or a foundation that needs fixing.”
- Brent Bowers
“The bigger the downpayment the less the buyers are likely to default long-term payment contracts.”
- Brent Bowers
“There’s a secret with every house especially when you flip them and renovate them.”
- Brent Bowers
“Successful people in real estate are coincidentally the people who go out and take action.”
- Mike Simmons
“Implementors tend to be the luckiest and the most successful people.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Brent's Website; The Land Shark
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
