He Made $290,000 in 90 Days With ONE Land Deal

Casey Cavell, so happy to have you here, man. And your story I absolutely love because within 90 days off one deal was $290,000 of profit. I think that's, that's absolutely unreal. And we'll get into your deals here in just a second, but I would love for you to help me understand like what your experience was before this. Did you have a real estate background?

Yeah, I started in real estate, gosh, in my early 20s. I'm 40 years old now, but I got started, you know, 20+ years ago and I honestly wish I would just would have stuck with real estate, but I started finding under underperforming properties, whether it was apartment buildings or self-storage facilities. And I said, hey, this is what it is today, but what can it be in the future? So I kind of cut my teeth and did really well in that aspect of business. And then 20 years later, I'm doing that with land. I look at a piece of land, I say, hey, what's its highest and best use? This is what it is today, what can it be in the future? And if I buy it today, okay, what could I potentially sell it for down the road for a higher and better use? And So I had a little bit of background and experience with analyzing properties and due diligence and negotiations and things like that. So it kind of helped me get a head start. And yeah, you're right. I mean, we made nearly $300,000 in our first 90 days in the business, and you're the one that was my coach. I worked one-on-one with you, and you're the one that helped me get focused, because I think that's what really, uh, helped me. It's like figuring out what to say no to so you can say yes to the right type of deals in the land space. Because as you know, there's so many different opportunities right now in land, but it's just trying to figure out the right opportunity for you. And once you and your program helped me figure that out, then we kind of took off.

Yeah. And that's why I absolutely loved working with you too, because we were actually going to be focusing on targeting other properties less for less profit. And you're like, Anthony, this actually just doesn't work for me. I think this is the route to go with. And it's like, okay, let's actually give you this type of— I always tell people like this prescription, right? So like we're going to be focusing on this now in terms of like your real estate experience is really interesting. What made you choose land instead of going back to what you were doing 20 years ago?

Well, I was just trying to find something that wasn't oversaturated and something that had an opportunity. And I look back into jumping into apartment buildings or self-storage facilities and things like that, but what I also realized, Anthony, is those are actually businesses and real estate. And for years, I ran businesses, I built companies, I had employees, I had major exits, and I helped other people build their businesses. And I realized I wanted something that was simple. I'm a dad of 4 kids, they're 4 and under, so there's a lot of activity in our household. And I said, okay, if our household is hectic, how do I build a business that isn't hectic? And I think a lot of people want to build these amazing businesses and make a ton of money, which is good, but for me it's like, what's the end goal? And the end goal for me is peace. So I had to go after land because I said, hey, land is a simple business if you surround yourself with a couple people and the right processes and you really understand like what type of business you want to build. And if you're going after the right type of properties that you can make the most most amount of money on in the least amount of time. That's really what I like. So that's why I didn't really want to get back into operating a business. I just wanted to be a deal maker. Because for me, if you're good at seeing something for what it is today and then seeing what it can be in the future, and you're just good at communications and relationships, you can do really well in this business.

Yeah, that's so true. Communications and relationships is so important when speaking to sellers. And how did you— how did you even hear about land investing in the first place?

I think I just started probably seeing ads on YouTube or Facebook or something like that. I'm trying to even think back what it was. Oh, it was another guru that had some sort of program, and I called him. I said, hey, this is what I want to do, you know. I said, hey, I want to make, you know, half a million, million dollars a year. And he's like, well, our model is this. I don't know if you can do that with our model, but there's other models that actually are allowing you to do that. Why don't you go check out this program or this program or whatever? And then we obviously got connected, and then your model was a little bit different. It was building a business where you can do a lot of volume and a lot of deals. And I think that's great for a lot of people, but I had to realize what was good for me, and that was keeping a simple business that had a lean team and doing less transactions but doing bigger deals per transaction. And that just fit my skill set. I think a lot of people, as they listen to this, you just got to figure out like what type of business you want and really figure out where do you want to be in the future. And I always like to say, if that's where I want to be, what's the simplest and easiest way to get there? And Bland kind of provided that for me.

Yeah, I completely agree. And I think you, you made a good point is that you have to figure out what works best for you. Now, have you worked with people one-on-one before, or was I the first person to where we did like a mentorship one-on-one, or have you had experience like that before in the past?

I've always had somebody that has helped me in every business I was in. So when I got into the self-storage business, I said, hey, who's the best person to do this? I don't care how much it costs because I knew I was going to get a return on that investment with my coaching. And then I had somebody in the self-storage business, right? And then I had somebody in my traditional business space, and then I had partners invest in my businesses because I realized, okay, great, I'm good at building a company to $5 million in revenue, but who else could I surround myself with that's already done that 10 times? So I've always had people that have helped me. And I think that's like— I think I'm really smart, but I think I'm really smart because I'm smart enough to realize I don't know what I don't know. And I want to find somebody else that's already done something similar that can really push back on me and ask me the tough questions. And for me, it's all about focus. And I think, um, I have a problem with focus. I'm always looking at new opportunities. That's just part of being an entrepreneur. But it's like, oh, help me focus. So honestly, I paid you and I joined your program because I'm like, hey, if you could just help me create the right strategy and stay focused on that right strategy and say no to 8 out of 10 opportunities that come your way and say yes to 2 of the good ones, I think you're in really good shape. So yeah, you were the only coach that I signed up with and the only one that I had, because at the end of the day, once I had the right strategy and I was able to stay focused, it was just now all about execution.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And when people— when I tell people about your story and they hear like the deal that you had and where you're at now, they're like, oh, he has to have this large team, he has to have all this crazy stuff set up. But what does your team currently look like? Right now versus when you started?

I really just have one person. His name's Jericho. He lives in the Philippines. He's an awesome guy. He's been with me almost 4 years, and he's actually been with me in multiple different businesses doing multiple different things. So he's made a bunch of different pivots, and I think where he's really been able to help me is helping me stay focused. That's what I tell him. You got to make sure I don't drop the ball on the things that I can't drop the ball on. And I always tell him, like, in, in any business, right, there's multiple things you're juggling at a time, but it's like, okay, not every ball is a crystal ball because if you drop that crystal ball that you're right juggling, that thing's going to crack, it's going to shatter. And I said, you got to help me realize what are the most important things in this business and then how do you help me be successful? And I think that's all you really need. You need to understand what's the one or two most important things you do in this business and then getting somebody else to help you focus on that. And for us in our business, it's Are we following up with the people that we already know are interested in selling their property? And are we getting new people on the phone that could potentially be interested in selling the property? And if you just do that and have a good marketing plan and a good follow-up plan, you're in good shape. So it's just me and him, and every day he's making sure that I'm following up, or he's following up on my behalf, with people that said they were interested, or maybe they weren't interested but I want to follow up every 6 months. And then he's making sure that we have a marketing plan to get new people on the phone that fit our criteria that might potentially be interested. So it's, it's me and him, and we use a lot of technology and processes, and, you know, we got a CRM and marketing calendars and stuff like that, but it's, it's just us.

Yeah, I think that's, that's absolutely awesome because people think of these large infrastructures that you have to have. Like, I've heard people say, I have 20 cold callers, like, it's absolutely needed. I'm like, I, I don't think that's the case. You don't need that depending on, you know, what you're trying to do. And in terms of, you know, when you first started, what would you feel like the biggest learning curve was for you? Was it just the focus, or was there anything else that was missing?

Figuring out, one, your target market— where do you actually want to do business? And then two, what type of property should you actually go after in those target markets? That was my biggest challenge, is, okay, first I pulled a list of 3,000 properties in a county. I realized that the 20/80 approach really makes sense, you know, Pareto's principle— 20% of your results, or 80% of your results come after 20% of your opportunity. So when I looked at that list of 3,000, I'm like, okay, really? If it's only, uh, 600 of that 3,000 that I really want to buy, how do I narrow my list down from 3,000 into 600? And then how do I really go deep into finding who these people are that own these properties, connecting with them on the phone? Because I think there's a lot of people that are doing the same kind of thing, sending out the mail or sending out the text. For us, it's like, what can you do different from a marketing standpoint to make yourself stand out, to get somebody to reach out to you? So yeah, I mean, what was the hardest thing? It was really figuring out what counties I want to be in. And then understanding those counties really well. So when an opportunity came my way, I knew exactly what it's worth today. I know exactly what it's going to be worth in the future, and I know exactly how much it's going to cost me to develop it into that land. And I think now when people send me deals to partner on, they're like, hey, I want you to take a look at this and tell me what you think. I'm like, no, I'm not going to do that. You tell me what you think. I think there's so many people out there that— listen to this— you're an amateur. You don't even know what you're looking for. So, right, if you got a great deal in front of you, you got to know it's a great deal, and you got to study ahead of time to know it's a great deal. So my biggest challenge was I have to understand the markets that I'm going after, the properties I'm going after, to know exactly what these properties could be worth. And for me, it was becoming a student of a few markets because my model is all about going after bigger deals. And yeah, that ultimately means probably less deals, but it means a little bit more due diligence upfront because it's not simply buying a property at 60, 70 60 cents or 70 cents on the dollar and selling it at market. It's buying a property, subdividing it, going through the process. So that was my biggest challenge— where should I actually be and what should I actually be doing there to make money?

Yeah, and you made a good point too about people just sending deals, and it made me think where most beginners mess up. What, what would you say would be the main reason like new land investors don't get this business model dialed in? Is it just lack of awareness, selecting the wrong markets, and not partnering with funders correctly. Like, what's your take on that?

I mean, I think it does go back to focus, is just mastering something and doing something really well before you scale up. So, you know, instead of mailing out to 20,000 properties, maybe do 5,000 and test it out for 30 days and then tweak it, right? Because I think there's a lot of people that are like, hey, I just blew all this money doing this, or I blew all this money doing this. I think You're really in the marketing business, and I think you really have to understand what business you're in. You're not in the land investing business, you're not in real estate business, you're not in anything besides marketing. And marketing, all it is, is understanding who your customer is and then figuring out how do you get them to raise their hand and say, I'm interested in what it is you're trying to sell me. That's it. So I think people forget that they're in a marketing business. And if they realize I'm a marketer, okay, well, marketing 4 different methods right now where there's really 4 other ones, okay, am I marketing just like everybody else? And that's like, you know, just doing the exact same thing as everybody else and you're not going to stand out. So I think that is where people mess up. They're going after the same properties everybody's going after in the same way, and there's nothing unique about their pitch. And what we do is, you know, we go about relationships first, and all of our marketing is about creating relationships with property owners and not going after an opportunity until we have that relationship. So I think that's it— figuring out what business you're in. I'm in the marketing business. Understanding who you should be marketing after, most importantly probably who you shouldn't be going after, and then figure out what's the best way to get those people interested in what you're doing. And then by that time they come to you, you know exactly how to handle those calls and those relationships so you stand out rather than everybody else. Makes sense.

I absolutely love that. And I tell people that all the time is that where I think a lot of new land investors screw up is that they put themselves first in terms of like, how can I make this deal happen rather than understanding a seller's story and actually trying to build trust and credibility with them. So I completely agree. And I think that makes total sense. Now I just wanted to go into your first deal quickly because this one's really interesting because this one actually almost didn't happen. It fell through a title company if my memory serves me right. And then we're working together trying to figure out what to do with it. But can you just elaborate a little bit more of what happened with that and how you're able to get to the finish line?

Yeah, I mean, I think every deal, right, um, isn't just going to be smooth, right? But you really just got to make sure if you are working on different deals, you have experts in counties, you have a great title company, right? You have a great soil scientist, you have a great surveyor, and they're not all created equal, right? And I've worked in different counties and I've done multiple deals in the same county, and I'm on my third surveyor in one of those counties, but I finally got an A+ surveyor, right? I've, I've probably worked with 6 or 7 different title companies. Now I just work with 2, one in the state of Georgia where I'm from and another in another state. So I think it's just making sure when you're doing deals, and going back to this deal, and I don't know if we have time to get through all of the different details. But there was several hookups. There was hookups and hangups with zoning and planning and right of way and easement access, and we had to resurvey it. And there was just a lot of different challenges with that property. But I knew that I didn't know it all, and I had to find experts that were good at that individual thing in that county that can help me get this over the finish line. And that's what I did. I just thought outside the box. And then, you know, after we got that deal done, and yeah, that was a, you know, a $300,000 net profit deal. We were still working through another property that was in South Carolina that you helped me on, which was a 70-acre property. And it was another one of those where I got multiple opinions by multiple brokers. I had multiple surveyors and site planners kind of come out and take a look at it. And believe it or not, pretty much all of them had a different opinion of what we should do and what the approach was. Yeah, and that's crazy to me. I mean, how do you talk to 3 different site planners and they all say, well, you should actually divide it up this way and put the houses here versus here versus there? So, uh, and then we had different agents that said, well, you should get this amount for this lot and this amount for that lot. So I think at the end of the day, my level of success and anybody's level of success is surrounding themselves with experts that are really good at what they do in those areas. And if I know that area and I know the people that know that area and I got experts in all the different things I'm going to need to get a deal done, I think you're going to be in really good shape. And that's how I was able to get that deal done. And, you know, we were almost a million dollar profit on that deal in South Carolina that I mentioned, and we split that property up 13 different ways. And the first agent, they saw 6 lots. The second agent saw 9. The third agent saw 13. And I'm like, well, how do we do 13? What does that look like? And then we worked with one surveyor and they couldn't get me access, and the other one could, right? So I'm all about just making sure that I know local markets, I develop relationships in those areas, and just kind of go really hard in those areas. And I, I'm a firm believer that, like, you know, unless you live out in the middle of Alaska on some tundra, if you, if you draw a, a 2-hour drive around wherever you're at there's a multi-million dollar land business there. It doesn't really matter where you're at. You just got to say, hey, do I want to work in my own area where I live, or is there another area that you used to be from or you know really well that you want to work? So that's it for me, is just being hyper-local and being an expert in individual niche markets.

Yeah, I, I think that's so true too. And the people that I work with that do work in areas that they are from or they know quite well, and being able to go in person is so huge. But you could still do this remote, which is the amazing thing about this business model, in my opinion. Now, Casey, I absolutely really do appreciate your time and all of your insights here. I think there's been some really good nuggets. Now, in terms of where people can find you, where were they able to find you? Is it subdivideguys.com?

Is that right? That's it, thesubdivideguys.com, thesubdivideguys.com. And there's a bunch of free resources on there as well. I got some of my case studies that are kind of promoted on there because really I'm here to to share what I've done with others. I'm kind of of the mindset that there's an abundance in this world. There's more deals and more opportunities than there are people to take advantage of those. And I also believe we're here to help each other and we're here to add value with one another. And of the deals that we did last year, I think I had 5 different deals that I partnered with other people on. They brought the deal and I brought the cash and the expertise and things like that. And I've partnered with people on, on deals. And that's what I did on my first self-storage deal. I partnered with somebody else. They took a cut. I took a cut, but I learned. And then after that, I started doing some deals on my own, but that person actually invested in some of my future deals because I always believed that it was good to have another set of eyes on every deal I'm in for the rest of my life. That's a couple things. Number one, unbiased— they don't care about this as much as I do, and they're unemotional. And I think in business and in life, you need people in your life that are unbiased They don't have a dog in the fight and they're unemotional. And that doesn't, that doesn't, uh, mean just in real estate. It means in life, right? We're both married, we're both dads. We need somebody speaking into our life about our marriages, how to be a father, and then also in our businesses. But I think a lot of times everybody's so focused on getting deals done and making it happen and crossing off their to-do list that they don't really step back and say, hey, is there a better way? Because we're action takers, we're doers. But by helping other people do that for themselves, it gives me great joy. And then I have other people in my life that do the exact same thing for me. And for me, it's really about focus. It's somebody coming into my life, making sure I'm focusing on the right things in each and every single area and aspect of my business and my life.

There's so many golden nuggets in that, is having someone that pretty much keeps you in check is what I got from that. And like you said, staying focused. But Casey, man, this was an absolute pleasure and Man, I think there's so much good advice for people looking to get started, man. And anyone looking to find Casey, subdivideguys.com. Casey, I recommend you to everybody looking to do these survey hacks and subdivision plays. It was an absolute pleasure, man.

Cool. Thanks, Anthony.