Dean Graziosi narrates a real estate subdivision deal where he purchased ~21 acres for $180,000 using seller terms ($90,000 now, $90,000 in one year) and a partner who provided the initial $90K. He used lot-line revisions to sell strips of land to four neighboring owners (generating enough cash to repay the partner and fund further work), completed a minor subdivision selling several lots (approximately $45,000 each), then completed a major subdivision (final remaining parcel sold for about $650,000). Key lessons: offering full price with creative terms can unlock seller cooperation, and converting unhappy neighbors into buyers by selling them buffers (lot extensions) can generate significant profit without using the buyer's own capital.
Questions this video answers
$180,000
$90,000 paid now and $90,000 paid in one year (seller agreed to this full-price structure).
$90,000 (to cover the initial payment).
About $45,000 each (Dean says he "thinks" he sold the lots for $45,000 each).
About $650,000 (Dean states he sold the remaining piece for $650,000).
Chapters
Hey, this is Dean. Welcome back to another deal of the month. You know, it's been a whole month for you guys, but it's only been about 10 minutes for me because I'll show you in a second with the camera. But I just left, right over the hill there is the cul de sac where I was standing on with my house in the background. The deal I did, the subdivision I did with no money down by selling lots in advance, using their money to purchase the property. Well, that build up that gave me so much confidence in subdivisions that right next door were standing 500 yards away from where I was. There was 21 acres on a hill here for sale. And I learned two incredible lessons on this property that have literally made me hundreds of thousands of dollars. And one is that full price can be your friend. And number two is that making unhappy neighbors happy, making unhappy neighbors happy by taking their money. And literally it made me a fortune. So let me just tell you about this property. It was for sale, been for sale for a long time and I remember the price, it was $180,000. And at the time that was amount of money for this hill because it was, it's a rough place to subdivide. So I went and talked to the owner who wanted to sell it and he wasn't going to move a bit. He was an 85 year old gentleman, wonderful human being. He said, dean, I don't need the money, but If I got $180,000, I'd sell it. So you know, I did the math and I said, wow, I did so well on that property. Let me go for it. But I didn't have the 90 or 100 and I didn't have the $180,000 to buy it. So here's the offer I made him. I said, would you take $90,000 now and $90,000 in one year and I'll give you a full price. You want your $180,000? Had the property on the market for five years. I said, it's been sitting there for five years with no money. How about 90 right now, 90 in a year? He said yes. We shook hands. The problem was I didn't have the first 90. So one of the strategies I share with my book and my teaching is find an equity partner. That's what I did on this property. Since I didn't have the $90,000 to put down, I went around and I found someone who had $90,000 in the bank collecting 2 or 3% interest. I showed them the value of what's here? I showed them the potential money we could make and I made them a 50, 50 partner. They put up the first 90, I pay the second 90 in a year. Well, I had to get to work. So that's how the deal happened. I missed no money down deal. I found an equity partner. So they put up the first 90. We closed on the property and then I started the subdivision process. Well, there's things that you learn, and I won't go too deep into it, but there's something called a minor subdivision. There's something called a major in this area. It's like that all over. Because I've subdivided in both parts of the country on east and west coast rules are a little different. But basically a minor means a couple lots. You're just subdividing. A major is a town road and a big process. So my thoughts were, let me do minor subdivision, subdivide a couple lots off, which I'll show you in a second, and get that money so I could pay my 90 back in a year. So when I started the minor subdivision process to knock off a couple lots and generate some money to pay my half of this $180,000, some of the neighbors got upset. They didn't want this property touched. They rode their four wheelers on it. One guy shot his bow and arrow, had a stand set up, and it was just a comfortable piece of property. And there's an old saying, not in my backyard, it's okay to live here. But they didn't want anybody else behind him. So I went and talked to him. Instead of hiding from it, I went and knocked on the door and talked to the first neighbor that was upset. And he gave me an idea that has made me hundreds of thousands of dollars through the years. What I found out he really wanted was a little cushion between his property and where these new houses were going to go in. So I made him an offer. I said, how about I move the property line and sell you a hunk of property behind yours for a cushion. Ecstatic he was or what I found out when was with a lot line, it's not a full subdivision. You can just as long as his property bordered mine, I could just move the lot line, give him more property, I take less and get paid for it. Well, I'm going to show you in a second. I went around to 1, 2, 3, 4 of the neighbors. I sold four of the neighbors extensions to their property, extremely easy and put hundreds of thousands of dollars in my pocket before I did anything with this Property. So I made back all the money just on lot line revisions to pay my half. Then I went ahead and did a minor subdivision, and I sold four lots, four buildable lots that I got a significant amount of money for. I was already in profit, making a ton of money. I don't have the exact numbers, but I think I sold the lots for $45,000 each. So you could tell the profits just started rolling in. Well, I got done with the lot line revisions, got done with the minor subdivisions, but guess what? I still had the main hunk of property done and ready in the middle of everything. So what I did was a major subdivision. Now, that took a while. I hit some obstacles. Small town, don't like big things, big changes. But I had the money. I had the profit from the other places to spend to get it done. Well, I took it through the whole process. I think it took me 18 months or two years to get a major subdivision done. When I got the final approval, I sold that for $650,000. So I don't know the exact numbers, but it's probably 5 or 600,000, maybe $700,000 in net net profit off of this one piece of property. And I didn't use any of my own money. So, Doug, let me take the camera. I want to show people what I did here. Okay? Now, I have the camera in my hands, and what I want to share with you is right there on the screen is my old house from last month's deal of the month when I was standing on that cul de sac talking about the subdivision. I did. And as you see, this property comes this way. So I bought this 20 acres, like I explained, for $180,000, $90,000 down and 90,000 in a year. Got an equity partner to give me $90,000. And then I bought all this property. But let me tell you what I did. I have all this property here. See this incredible view up here? Took a while. It's already subdivided now and finished up. But let me just go back and tell you that story one more time. When I got the property and I started the subdivision process, I realized I had some upset neighbors that didn't want this property subdivided. So instead of hiding or just going forward with it, I stopped and knocked on the doors. And one gentleman lives right down here in this house, little house right here. And basically what he said, dean, if you sold me a part of my backyard, if you extended my backyard and I had a cushion between what you're doing and my property, I'd Be happy. So I gladly made a deal with him and took his money and he paid me for some property down in here. Well, that was hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit for the rest of my life. Because what he shared with me is you can make upset neighbors happy by taking their money. I ended up selling the guy on the other side of this house, a strip here for I think $90,000. I sold a piece down here for, I don't remember the money, but it was a significant amount of money. I sold him a piece. And then the gentleman who bought my old house, I sold him acreage here for I think $100,000. So just with lot line revisions before a subdivision, I was able to pull out all the money I needed to, to pay off the property and have money left for a subdivision. Then I went ahead and did a minor subdivision, sold the house down here, property down there. I sold these two lots here for $45,000 each. And one over the hill there with a little barn on it. But guess what? When I was all done with that and had already generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit, I had this whole piece here where my hand is. Sorry my filming is not the greatest, but I wanted to do this myself. I had all this left, so I took that profit, did a major subdivision division. Took me about 18 months or two years. Took a while, but when I got done and got the final approval, I sold the remaining piece for $650,000, which this hill alone, starting with no money, just wanted the ingredient using other people's equity. Me finding a good deal, generated me hundreds and hundreds of thousand dollars of profit. And I hope I sparked some interest with you today. Alright, so that's the deal of the month. Another subdivision. And I don't want you to think subdivisions are so far past you that maybe you're just starting out. Maybe this is your first week of getting the book and watching my first deal of the month and thinking something like this is so past you, but it's not. Use these strategies, apply them to anything. If you find a great rundown house, that's $20,000. If you don't have $20,000, you might have the ability to find someone who's excited about giving you that money rather than having their money in the bank collecting 2% interest. But just think, just thinking a little bit outside the box and not being afraid to take action. Went and talked to the neighbors, listened to what they had to say, and I delivered and made money from it. You know, I listen to what my students want. That's why we're doing the monthly deal. You ask for my deals, things that I've done, and I'm just sharing with you off the cuff, no script. And I'm just hoping to inspire you. But you know, this one piece of property taught me two lessons. Full price can be your friend. We'll see that in another deal of the month. Of other properties that I've bought. By structuring incredible deals. By giving people the price they want, but structuring the deal around it. Meaning seller funding, seller financing, no interest. All kinds of things you can get when you give someone full price. So full price and lot line revisions and thinking outside the box generated me hundreds of thousands of dollars. I look forward to chatting with you next.
