How The Land Geeks Strategies Skyrocketed My Land Investing Business

Hey, it's Mark Kudolski, the land geek with your favorite niche real estate website, thelandgeek.com and on this week's Roundtable podcast, we don't have all the usual suspects. We have a few of the usual suspects. We have the technician, Eric Peterson. Eric, how are you? And how is the Traeger treating you?

I'm well. The Traeger is just fine. I thought you were going to say you had the most important people here today, but I. I guess, you know, it's all good.

I mean, I'm just. I don't want to start a controversy. But we do have someone very important, and it is Terea putting in the reps. Harris. Treya, how are you? Back from the Caribbean, the Lesser Antilles?

I am great. Rested and relaxed.

How's the Traeger treating you?

Well, we like our Traeger.

Ok, great, great. I love it when you call me Big Papa Tate Litchfield Tate, how's the Traeger treating you?

It's good, man. It's putting in the work.

Today's podcast is not sponsored by Traeger, but we have a special guest today, and I love when we have these podcasts with our special guest, Luke Harris. Luke, welcome.

Thank you.

Luke, can you kind of rewind the tape? Let the listeners know how you found us and your journey through land investing and what you've accomplished so far.

Yeah, gosh. Because it actually started with a Google search and your name came up on the Google search and your. I think it was like three tips for land investing or something. Or three tips about what to know. I don't remember exactly.

Three fatal land investing mistakes.

That's what it was. Yeah, it was 2016. I believe it was right around the new year. So like early January. 20s, 15 or 16. I think it was 2016. And so I watched some of your YouTube videos and then I think I started doing it with another educator a little bit later on. Kind of bounced around for a couple of years. And then when did I start the coaching? Was that 2018? It was like a couple years later and I don't know, I was doing deals. I think I did 40, like my first 40 year. And then. So that would have been 2017 and then, yeah, I think it was 2018, probably around June, July. I started talking to Mike and Scott Bossman and, you know, I watched a lot of your stuff. I listened to all your podcasts and ended up just going all in and pulling the trigger on coaching and of course, did the boot camp and stuff before that. So I kind of had a little experience under my belt before I really dived in with all of your training. But so that was 2018. And then I think I started coaching in September, October that year. And like I said, I think I did, yes, 640 deals in 2017. I think I ended up doing, like, 60, some maybe 70 in 2018. And then, so I started working with tate late in 2018 there. And then right about at the end of the year there, things just really started taking off with several months of coaching under my belt and working with Tate, and that's really just when things really blew up for me.

And so can you define blow up?

Yeah. So 20. What would that have been? 2019, I think it was, like, 190 some deals, if I remember, just under 200. Was it the. Yeah. Okay. And then. And they're mostly small deals. Honestly, I probably should have prioritized the larger deals more and done fewer, bigger deals, but I didn't. And then. So that was 2019, and then 2020. I ended up doing over 500, but they were still the really small deals. And now I'm trying to finally trying to do fewer deals and bigger deals. But, yeah, the coaching is really what made things blow up for me.

Wow. So I know we have a lot of questions that we're gonna have to. We're gonna do, like, the grill the geeks. Eric, do you want to. You want to start?

Yeah, yeah, I'll start us off. You know, Luke, in your kind of intro there, you said something that I think potentially a lot of our listeners will pick up on and wonder about. And you mentioned that you'd done some other education outside of the Land Geek at some point during the journey.

So.

What drew you to the Land geek? Our program versus some of the others, or just kind of, how did all that work out?

And.

What advice could you give to somebody that's maybe confused about who to work with?

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, all of the educational programs have value. And I think the reason things really blew up for me when I went with you guys is the coaching and the one on one aspect of it, and that's when, actually, I think those were the very first live events I went to, too. So I kind of just dove all in. I went to all the boot camps during coaching. I was doing my calls with Tate, and, you know, there's a certain level of accountability that happens there, and just all the questions that came up got answered instantly. There wasn't, like, tons of digging that had to happen. And me spending a ton of money before I got them solved, I kind of got the answers straight from the pros. And, yeah, I think. I mean, you know, obviously we all know the coaching is expensive, but it was totally worth it for me. And I've made it back so many times over, but I think it was just the. That higher level of more intensity is what. What I was looking for and what you guys had and what made it work for me.

Okay.

Yeah, absolutely. Terria Harris, what's your question for Luke?

So, Luke, I was wondering. I know sometimes when I get, like, a new coaching client and they want everything to happen overnight, right? They just. They want it to work. They want it to. Can you talk about what helped you stay motivated during the times where things may not have been moving as quickly as you may have liked?

Yeah. So my situation when I started coaching, trying to remember when Oren was born, my first child. I don't think he was born yet. At the beginning of coaching. No. Maybe he was. I think he was born right before coaching, wasn't he?

He was just a little guy. He was a couple months old, if I recall correctly.

Yeah. So my big. I had a big fire under my butt to basically not have to travel. I was doing timber inventory work just all over the country, tons of traveling. We lived in a little single wide trailer. You know, all that was a great experience and I think character building for me, but I didn't want that for my family and, um, kind of had to come up with a better, you know, way of life where we didn't have to just always be on the road and where I could, you know, make a good income without traveling and also just have a better home to live in as well. So I think that's really what was motivating me early on is to just, you know, get out of that position that I was in.

Did you have lulls in the business, like, so times where maybe you weren't getting as many responses to your mailers or maybe sales weren't, you know, rolling in the door every day? Did you have those moments when you, you know, throughout the process?

Yeah, yeah, I feel like I did. Yeah. And, you know, I think a lot of it was. I feel like I've probably heard you guys say it on a podcast and stuff, too, but, you know, seeing, you know, Tate, Scott, Eric, all of you guys that had already kind of made it, I knew if you guys could do it, I figured it would work for me, too. So that was something I told myself a lot. But, yeah, I feel like there definitely were lulls and, you know, just end up pushing through and making it happen, I guess. Nice.

Thank you.

Yeah, I love that, because that's kind of like what Scott Talbot always says. Well, if Podolsky can do it, can't be that hard. Right. And it's true. It's a simple model. It's just not easy. There's lots of moving parts to it, but I think at the end of the day, you just have to have grit and just keep going, and eventually you get there. Like I always say, like, your success in this business is inevitable. It's just when it happens, we don't know, but if you just keep going, it's inevitable. Tate, big papa.

You're.

You're. You're protege.

Yeah, no, it's. You know, I'm always excited to catch back up with Luke, and fortunately, I've been able to work with him continuously since he's graduated from the coaching program. So it's been a lot of fun to see him grow. And I saw him coming into the business as this guy who had this burning desire to basically be able to make a living and support his family in a lifestyle that he wanted. And it's really, truly inspiring to see somebody who not only achieved that, but is truly living the dream. Right. I mean, he's doing it. Man, I'm proud of you. That's incredible. So my hat goes off to you, but there's been a sacrifice, right? You've worked really, really hard, and you've stayed focused and you've kept the blinders on. And that's one of the biggest thing that kind of gets in the way of other people's success, is they get sidetracked, they don't commit all the way. They don't burn those bridges. And you did that in. Now you're reaping the rewards. So my question for you is an easy one. I got two, actually. The first one that I think a lot of people would be curious to know about is you did 500 deals. How many properties do you have in inventory roughly at any given time? Like what. What's the magic number for Luke Harris?

Yeah. So I went into the year basically just buying as much as I possibly could. And I guess the short answer is it fluctuated a lot, but.

Right.

Um, But I was starting the year, I was just buying a ton wholesale. That's how I think. I only bought 165 or something through mailers, if I remember correctly. Okay. And the rest of them I bought wholesale. And at. I Think I was doing 20, 30amonth at the beginning of the year. And then Covid hit and that's when things really blew up. I don't know what I'm sure probably the same for you guys, but like doubled my sales and I was positioned perfectly. I think I ended up having 150 properties ish in inventory at that time. So that's what allowed me to have so many sales so quickly is the inventory. But yeah, I think and I kind of changed my model where I'm doing bigger deals and fewer of them. So that number is kind of changing. But yeah, right now I'm at like actually I don't think I only have like 20 or 30 that I actually own. I just have a lot under contract. And then yeah, I think when I was doing the 500, doing that model, like a hundred was about what I was kind of at a lot of the time.

Yeah, it's interesting because that carrying capacity, you know, there is a sweet spot. We talk about it all the time. Like, you know, having just one property or two properties or five property, it's. It's hard to really get the results that you want. So that's really cool. And I guess the second question I'd have for you is tell us about one of your more memorable sales that you've had. What, what was one of those sales that just kind of is near and dear to your heart, doesn't have to be your biggest sale, doesn't have to be the best property. But what's one that you remember and why?

Uh huh. Yeah, that's a tough question. Let me think here because you're probably.

At a point now where like deals are all, you know, like deals happen and they don't really mean as much. Right. Because you got the team in place. But like there's got to be one.

Yeah, no, I can think of a specific one. Sorry.

There.

So it's actually a specific buyer and I won't mention his name I can remember if I wanted to. But he actually bought a property from us very early on, probably like 2017 or something. He bought it on terms I sold it to him way too cheap. It was like a five acre property in Lake County, Oregon. I'm sure some of you know that county. And I sold it for $50 a month. I mean it was back when you can get deals a lot cheaper. And he defaulted on it after like two or three months or something. He just wouldn't pay. He was super flaky. And then he, you know, he defaulted. He was Nice about it. I don't remember what the exact scenario was. And then he popped back up maybe like six months or a year later, and he was like, hey, it's me again. I want to buy property from you. Is that okay? I know I defaulted last time. I was like, sure, whatever. If you don't pay, I'll just foreclose on you. And so he ended up buying two or three more properties from me. And this has been two or three years ago. And he sends me pictures of. He built like, this little cabin on it. So he bought like, at least two Humboldt County, Nevada, 40s from me. And he. Every six months or so, I'll get an email or text message with pictures of his little compound he's building. And he's got, like, a tiny house, and like, he just loves it out there. And he makes his payments perfectly every single month. So it kind of makes you feel good when you can provide a service for people that really love what you're offering. And he's definitely involved category.

I mean, that gives me like, the warm and fuzzies because often, you know, people will say, you're not selling anything good. And it's like, beauty's in the eye of the beholder, right? And a lot of the people that we work with aren't afraid of a little elbow grease, right? They're not afraid of hard work and. And putting in the. The time necessary to make a property what they envision it to be. So pretty cool to see that not only are you building a business, but you are changing lives and helping people find their dream property. So good stuff, man.

Yeah, that's so cool, Luke. So I've got a question, and I'm sure the listeners are wondering, to do that type of volume, how many VAs are you working with, and what are your favorite tools of the trade to manage that kind of volume? And how many hours a week are you working?

Yeah, good question. So in 2020 to do the 500 deals, I was probably working. I did not have a salesperson for any of that. I think I was working 20 to 30 hours a week doing the land. It was probably closer to 30. It was while I was building our house and everything. So it was kind of in the evenings and whatever. And right now I have like 10 people.

Ish.

Maybe a little bit more. 10 or 11. I don't think I had quite that many when I last year when I was doing the 500. But I'm like I said, I'm doing larger deals and fewer of them now. Yeah, six local people and then two, four, six VAs right now. So what was the other question?

Favorite software? Tools.

Software and tools. Yeah. Podio is what? Like it's my CRM. It's my contact. It's like my realtor bank for contacts, my surveyor bank, my. It's got all my contacts in it. A lot of automate, tons of automation I've got set up in there. Of course, all the, you know, the old go to is like zapier and I finally just set up like a, you know, a link where people can schedule calls with me with calendly. Gosh. What are all the automated tools I'm using? Ringcentral is my phone system that connects with a bunch of stuff. Trello. I use Trello a ton. Yeah, there's so many of them. Those are kind of the main. Honestly, I use like Google a lot. Like Google sheets, Google Docs for my ads. Google Drive. Yeah.

Any love for Geek Pack?

Oh, yep, yep.

Actually.

So yeah, I can put in a little plug for Geek Pay. We actually, I have a loan servicer that works 20 hours a week now. And that's all she does is the loan servicing. And so her quarterly goal earlier this year was to find the best loan servicing platform basically. And we ended up, to make a long story short, we ended up settling with Geek Pay. And I mean we went all out like, yeah, there's a bunch of other ones. But we were simple. Money is one we're using a lot that gets extremely expensive. But for just a simple like go to inexpensive loan servicing platform, that's what we've settled on for all of our notes now.

So fantastic. How many, how many notes do you have now, Luke?

400 active ones right now.

400. Wow. All right, I'm going to pass it off to Eric here. And then we have one more question for you, Luke. And then, then we're going to have to go to the. Put you on the spot for the tip of the week.

Oh, geez. Anything ahead of that? Coming for something.

All right, so my next question would be.

Talk about.

We all make mistakes in this business, big or small. But you know, I would say they can always be resolved. So talk to us about maybe a mistake that, that you made at some point in the land business and how it got resolved and what was the effect and so on.

Gosh, there's so many of them. So, yeah, I mean, one I guess that I kind of revisit all the time, I guess is hoa. My very first deal I lost money on it was in North Carolina, and it was in an HOA. I think I paid $800 for the property. I actually closed it through a title company or an attorney, and I guess several lessons that I learned. And then I ended up selling it. I think I actually sold it for like 1600 or something. But there was, like, the closing costs and then there's. I think I paid an HOA fee for the year. And I guess what I learned from that is it's hard, typically hard, to sell properties with HOA fees and restrictions, and you got to watch out for the fees. And I still do HOA deal sometimes, but I basically will only ever offer a flat $200 for them. I've actually probably lost money on multiple HOA deals, which is just kind of stupid for me to do, but. Yeah.

All right, well, okay, look, I got one last question before we go to the tip of the week. How has the land business changed your life?

Well, I. We were able to build our house. So we have a house now. And basically the two big problems that, you know, took the fire under my butt earlier on are now solved. If I wanted to, I could stick. I could probably downsize the team and work 10 hours or less a week if I wanted to. But I've chosen to grow it. But basically I can, you know, I'm extremely location and time independent if I wanted to be. And we have a great home to live in now, all because of the land business.

Great, Great. I assume your passive income exceeds your fixed expenses.

Yes. The simple answer is yes. Yep, I'm blowing up the business. So, yeah, I have a lot of expenses in the business, but yeah.

All right, fantastic. Well, we're at that point now, Luke, and your mentorship has been fantastic, but we're going to ask you for a tip of the week, a website, a resource, a book, something else actionable for the auto passive income listeners to go improve their businesses, improve their life. But before you do that, we do have to talk about our sponsor, which is flight school. Learn how the next 16 weeks can literally change your life. Be like Luke Harris and start going up that mountain of land, investing with a mentor who's done it thousands of times with Scott Todd. He'll take you up there quickly, safely, efficiently. Oh, yeah, and that tuition investment for flight school is not going to cost you nothing, guaranteed. You're going to make back that money 180 days or less. Just show us your work. Learn more. Go to landgeek.com training thelandgeek.com training all right, Luke, what is Your tip of the week.

So I think I'm going to go with a book. It's one I just finished recently by. Well, actually it's not by Dan Sullivan, but he is kind of the brain behind it. It's called who, not how. And basically the idea behind it is, you know, you find somebody to solve your problem, you don't figure out how to do it yourself, and it simplifies your life and gives you freedom of time and whatnot. Great book.

I totally missed that. My computer froze. Can you say the book again?

Oh, yeah, sorry. Who, not how is the book? And it's. I can't remember the guy that actually wrote it, but basically Dan Sullivan used a who to write the book for him, but he's kind of the brain behind it.

Okay, great, great.

Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy.

Yeah, Benjamin Hardy's written some. Some other really good books as well. That book is like a classic, though. Just. It's fantastic. All right, well, I want to thank the listeners. Remind them the only way we're going to get Luke Harris back on the podcast is if you do us three favors. You got to follow rate, review the podcast, send a screenshot of that review to supporthelandgic.com I'm going to send you what is now currently valued in crypto, 1.2 million coins, a signed copy of Dirt Rich. So please do it. It really helps. Luke Harris, are we good?

Yeah. This was fun. Thanks for having me on.

Thanks so much. Eric, are we good?

We're great.

Terea.

All good.

Tate. Yeah.

Thanks for joining us, Luke, and great work, man. Proud of you.

Yeah, Luke, we're so proud and we're so inspired. Such an inspiration to the community. And we're happy to get back at a thousand deals next year.

Yeah.

Awesome. All right, let's all do this. 1, 2, 3. Let freedom, freedom bring. Not bad, not bad, not bad.

My first time doing that.

How'd it feel? Good.

It's fun.

All right.

Little awkward.

Was it a little awkward or.

No, you can say it.

It's okay.

It's awkward for us. All right, thanks, everybody.

See you guys.

Thanks.

See ya.

Bye.

Bye. Thanks for listening to the Art of Passive Income podcast. Are you ready to learn how you can start building a passive income without renters, rehabs, renovations, or rodents? Schedule a free consultation@thelandgeek.com training let freedom ring.