Is Bartering A Thing In The Land Investing Business? | Land Investing Tips

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the land geek with your favorite niche real estate website, www.thelandgeek.com. and on this week's roundtable, we're missing some of the usual suspects. Mimi's not here. Scott Todd's not here. But you know who did show up? The Zen master. Breathe in the mailing, Breathe out. The marketing, Mike Zano. Mike, how are you?

Doing well, Mark, thank you for asking.

Good to see you. We've got Dude Buddy, the nightcap OG Scott Bossman. Scott, how are you?

I am great, Mark, how are you?

I'm great. I'm great. We've got the technician, Eric Peterson. Eric, how are you?

I'm good. Happy to be here.

Good to see you. And of course, I love it when you call me Big Papa Tate Litchfield, you know, it'd be great. Tate.

What's that?

If I could just watch how you worked. If I could just look over your shoulder. Check out thelandgeek.com lots. Tate, how are you?

I'm doing really well. Really excited for today's podcast. We got a cool topic, and we.

Have a really fun. We have a really cool topic, and I'm gonna start it off with a story. So let's rewind the tape to the year 2000. Tate, you were probably still in diapers, but for the rest of us, we remember that year. And I'm going to my first tax deed auction, and I've got three grand saved up for car repairs. And I'm having this conversation with my wife, and she's like, what happens if you buy a bunch of property at this auction and you can't sell it? I said, oh, well, look, if I can't sell it, I bet you that I could barter it and I could get maybe free dental work for the year, or maybe I could get free haircuts for a year or two. Like, I was kind of walking through, like, there's someone out there that's going to want this land. I just might have to, like, do some barter for it. And she was like, okay, that sounds good. So, you know, worst case, we're not going to lose anything. It's not like you're going to, you know, trash the house with a bunch of stuff that you just bought. Like, no, it's just all paper. You know, maybe I have some maps. That's it. So that. That's how it all started. So this week's topic then is, we're going to go around the roundtable. Have any of you guys ever bought Land, and then instead of selling it for cash or on terms, use it for barter. Let's start with you, Zen master. Have you ever done a barter deal?

No, I haven't. I've had people offer me different things, motorcycles and cars and things of that nature, but it's not my expertise, those type of things, so I didn't take advantage of it. So starting off with the most boring answer. No, I've never done that. I'd be open to it, I suppose, depending on what the item was, but might have all been bread and butter, you know, you know, just selling them for cash or on terms. So I haven't done that. Not opposed to it, but just don't have a story to relate regarding it.

Okay. Okay. Dude, buddy, Nightcap. OG Scott Bossman.

Another boring answer. I have not. I know people in the community who have. And the reason this came up as well is because we were talking on office hours last night in flight school about somebody's on the verge of a bulk deal and they're. And they're possibly going to trade a whole fleet of old cars for a whole fleet of land. So I think it's kind of a cool idea. So, yeah, I don't know if you have some things sitting around. I wish I had some, you know, I wish I had some Legos sitting around. Like, you know how valuable those things are. The last year's Legos, they double in price. I might become a Lego investor or something like that. Barter land, that way. But no, I have not done a barter deal. Although, like Mike says, many people have offered. The weirdest thing I was ever offered for a trade was some like, land, sea vehicle down in Florida. And I just don't have it in my bandwidth to travel down to Florida to pick that up and use here in Wisconsin. So.

Huh. Interesting, interesting. So, but you, you've never done a deal, Mike. You've never done a deal. But you guys have been offered these deals, right? Now that we're talking about it, why wouldn't like, why didn't you do it? Like, Mike, let's just start with you.

I loved the idea. You know, I was looking at it and, you know, it was sort of this romantic idea. I was like, laura, let's go get this kind of car. It was. And we can, we can drive it back from I think might have been Texas or somewhere. That'd be kind of a cool thing to do. But then just the logistical parts of it, or practically speaking, if I were to go down and look at that car I'd have to get some sort of, you know, mechanic down there. I don't have intimate knowledge over vehicles and wouldn't want to get taken advantage of on the price. So, you know, I could probably do an appraisal from here and all this, but I guess there's a way to do it. But I just felt unsure with the actual value of the vehicle that I was offered. And so I think another time was a motorcycle. I don't ride motorcycles, so I would have had that towed out here. So, no, I just didn't feel comfortable because it's out, you know, outside of my wheel. Well, it's not. I don't really have much knowledge of. In those areas.

Okay. Scott, how about you?

I mean, I think if it was the right item in the right location, I would definitely consider it. I mean, if. If I'm looking for a. For a car for my new teenage driver, which I will have three here in the next year, that's a lot of cars, lots of. And it was across town. I think I may definitely consider something like that, but it just hasn't been the right situation.

Right, right. Eric Peterson, how about you?

So I think I've been offered maybe guns and motorcycles in the past. None of those deals ever really came to fruition. I wouldn't be opposed to it, but I think that kind of like everybody else is saying is, you know, I'm not an expert on, you know, motorcycles or cars or whatever that item might be. So it's going to require additional work on my end. Plus it might require a bunch of extra logistics in terms of getting that item from point A to me. And, you know, there's a cost to that time. Right. We talk about how money loves speed, so we want these easy deals that we could do quickly. So it's often hard to make those bartering deals work because of that. I mean, I think that if I knew the value of the item, you know, I would be offering substantially less than its value. I mean, almost like how we buy land. Right. In order to take that on a barter, because there's so much more involved in it than just, you know, the item itself. So I guess to take it a step further, you know, the closest thing I've done to a barter would be taking payment in the form of precious metals for property. So, I mean, it is kind of a barter because it's a physical item and it's not necessarily spendable cash. So that would be the closest thing. And what happened with that was, I It was actually, like, the first property I sold. A guy locally wanted to buy the property. He wanted to meet me at Starbucks and give me a down payment in both silver coins and gold coins. And then we ended up closing through title, and he wanted to pay the balance in silver and gold as well. Because I was new, just getting started, I only let him pay for, I think, like, 50% of the value in precious metals, and I wanted the rest cash, so I had something that I could immediately put back in the business. But, you know, that was kind of a fun little adventure doing that. And, you know, I think the other things, the more larger physical items would require a bit more logistics and time invested in order to make that happen.

Yeah. Yeah, that totally makes sense to me. Tate, how about you?

So, you know, I had a guy offer me a dirt bike one time, and it was. It was a new model. I think it was, like, 2018 or something like that. I went online. I've never ridden a dirt bike at all. I know nothing about it, but I was like, I'm getting this. I want this. I'm doing this. And he ghosted me. So that was the only opportunity that I've really had a chance to, like, get something that I wanted again. I don't even have a car that could pull a dirt bike, but I was gonna get that. I don't even know how to ride one. But I told my wife was like, some guy wants to trade me a ktm. I'm doing this. And she's like, what do you need a motorcycle for? I'm like, I don't know, but I'm into the land for, like, $1,500. It's an $8,000 dirt bike. I'm doing this. And she's like, okay, whatever. Do it. Never happened. So, I mean, I'm a little bit bitter still, if you can't tell. But, you know, I was gonna risk it. I thought, you know, this is cool. I'll take my chances on this one. It could have been a dud, but I don't know. Never worked out. I've also had other people offer me, like, old boats, old vehicles, and at the end of the day, you know, I'm really into cash. That's what I really want. It's easier on the tax side of things. It's easier for me to spend and turn and do those kind of things, so that's what my main focus is on. I would love for somebody to pay in bitcoin or something like that, just because that's cool. Why not? I'm open to it if it's the right deal. But unfortunately, I've never really had a cool story there. But I do have one of our coaching clients, Mark, who had a pretty awesome story. Can I share that?

Yeah, yeah. Zach.

Yeah.

So Zach had a guy trade him some old Mustang for the car, and basically. Or for a property, and he had picked up the land for $3,000. He was selling it, I think, for 15 or 16 grand. And the guy says, I don't have the money, but I do have this old vehicle. Zach's dad is actually a classic car guru. So he says, hold on a second. Calls his dad, and his dad's like.

He.

He says to dad, I've got this car. Here's the model, here's the make, here's the year. It's all original. And his dad's like, I'm in the truck driving to wherever this guy is. Give me his address, and I'll meet him there. We'll load it up immediately. So Zach called the guy up, like, yeah, I'll take the vehicle. He traded it for, like, $16,000. His dad takes the car, drives it around, does a check on it, everything's good, and he ended up flipping it, I think, for like, 27 or 28,000. So not only did he sell his property, but he sold it for basically double what he originally wanted. So that's a pretty cool story. But I think the key is he had somebody who knew what they were doing. And if you're not a classic car guy or a motorcycle person, like, I don't even know what you call those people. Like, a moto guy, right?

Yeah. Like a motorhead.

Yeah.

Maybe this isn't the right move for you, but it's cool to see that this option definitely exists out there. You know what somebody needs to do, Mark? They need to post an ad on Facebook that says, you know, $10,000 or best offer or trade, and see what the craziest thing is that somebody's willing to trade for one of these properties.

I think that is an interesting marketing concept. If you're so like, let's just pick on bossman for a second, right? Like, I guarantee he knows the value of Star wars memorabilia or, like, a baby Yoda. And so he could go in and be like, okay, I paid $500 for this land, you know, and I'm gonna sell it for, you know, maybe four grand on terms. My cost basis is 500. So you can say, hey, look, you know, 4,000 on easy terms, or best Trade if you own the following items that are worth $4,000 to me. But then Scott's got a new problem, which is now I got to make sure it's an authentic piece. So it's like what Eric was saying. Now it's a headache in a sense of determining value. You've got another logistical step. We're also spoiled in the way that we do this model because we make it so sort of frictionless with the payment process and getting automated payments. It'd be almost better for Scott to take the cash and then go to an auction house and buy his baby Yoda. But Mike, Zena, what are your thoughts?

So you just inspired me. I'm thinking, like, we all have, like some cheap properties we picked up here and there. Why don't we all, like go out and list one of our cheap properties and off road trade and see what we get offered and come back and tell everybody, let's just have a little fun with it. I have a few properties. I do that. I'm going to do that. I'm inspired. I'm going to see what people are going to offer me.

All right. I mean, it'd be crazy. Like, I bet you could get like a used peloton.

Like, you know, maybe I should look for the peloton. Yeah, I want to get a peloton.

Okay, let's go around and be like, okay, what would you trade a piece of land for right now, Eric?

Oh, man, I don't know.

And if you're listening, make. Make Eric an offer.

Maybe. Maybe some. Some hardscape or landscape in my backyard.

Hardscape or landscape? What is hardscape?

Like, you know, patio, stonework, that kind of stuff.

Oh, okay. So you'd want a service that just.

That didn't even cross my mind that I could be bartering for to have my pool refinished or something like that. That's actually kind of. That's what I would do is somebody come and refinish my pool.

Yeah. Okay, so you. So you want a pool refinished, Eric? You want hardscape landscape, Mike? Is it unlimited kibbe for two years?

You know, I'd be more inspired by some sort of like rare Buddhist book or some rare. Some. Something kind of unique like. Like that. I don't know. I see. Because that's what I know, right? I don't know anything about cars or boats. I would be easily taken advantage. I'd have to think of something I love or maybe like some old weapon, like an old Japanese sword or something, you know, Something like that. Game on.

Game on for those people that love stepbrothers. Yeah, I got. I got an autograph on the samurai sword from Randy Jackson because you're not. Not going to get his autograph. And this is the only thing I had.

Is this true?

Wait a minute.

This is part of that? It's a line from Stud Brothers.

Oh, okay. I like you. What do you got, Mark? You want to trade.

Scott Bosso? How about you? You're on mute. There you go.

Yeah, I might trade for some sports memorabilia or some Star wars memorabilia.

Sure.

My wife Erin is pushing real hard right now for the new peloton tread. Those are pretty spendy. So that'd be a nice trade.

That'd be a nice trade. I think for me, I'd want, like, some kind of lessons. Like, I want to learn how to fly, fish or surf or. I mean, Tate actually does owe this to me. Like, mountain biking lessons.

You make sushi.

What about sushi?

How to make sushi? You know, all I could picture is, like, you know, remember the end of Wheel of Fortune? Like, I could picture myself now. I'm in that magic window I wanted to be when I was a kid. And I'm looking around, I'll take that sword over there and I'm picking out all these. I'll take some sushi lessons.

Right? Right.

Yeah. But the problem is, is, like, now, you know, I'm in this negotiation, like, oh, do you want this piece of raw land for this? You know, for these fly fishing lessons? And, like, why don't you just pay me? Like, okay, so, I mean, the problem is, for us is that it's not like the land is hard to sell. If it was a hard asset to sell, I could see barter as a really viable option.

But, well, if you had something you couldn't find and it was rare, and you could always just attach it to your ad all the time. And maybe with all of this, thousands of ads that go out there, you might uncover this one thing you're looking for. Just sort of like a little. Just, you know, and a samurai sword. Right. Maybe. Maybe after thousands of ads, someone like, yeah, I got this old. This old samurai sword sitting in my basement I got from my great, great grandfather. Yeah.

Boom.

Bingo. Like, maybe I'll uncover it, add it to my ads tag word hashtag summerxlood.

All right, so if you're listening to this and you are a hardscape landscape expert, you have sports memorabilia and you have a samurai sword, and you can do pool deck landscaping and you can teach me something cool. Let us know. We've got land for you. We'll make you a deal. We'll do our first barter deal. Now, the other issue is, if you're listening to this, don't think just because you do barter, you're not going to have to pay tax. The barter. You do have to pay taxes. It is. It is a thing. I mean, if you get audited, I guess.

Scott, you guys know there is a barter section on Craigslist, So let's. We could all go in there.

I'm doing it.

There are barter sites. Yeah, I know. I know a land guy that a barter site, and he would get all types of crazy stuff with the first land.

I mean, I'm doing it. Like, what do I got to lose? I could always just say no, right? Like, I'm not interested in, you know, learning karate. So bring me the next thing. Like, okay, oh, you're gonna teach me, you know jiu jitsu. Okay. Way better. Yeah, let's do that.

Scott has a slight dig. Did he just do a Johnny Lawrence dig on me there?

Somebody's gotta be here for Scott. Somebody's gotta take Scott's place.

I'm looking on the barter site right now in Craigslist, and somebody has listed land in the barter. In the barter section.

Is anybody listening to samurai sword? Is there a samurai sword in there? I want to know. This is. Wow, this is interesting. Even we learn on the roundtable. See.

Yeah, no, I thought this was a really good topic, and hopefully the listeners are getting value from it. And speaking of value, today's podcast is sponsored by flight school. Learn how the next 16 weeks can literally change your life. Go up that mountain of land, investing quickly, safely, efficiently with someone who's literally done it thousands of times with Scott Todd. The next class is October 28th. Start signing up now. Learn more. Go to landgeek.com training thelandgeek.com training schedule a call with the Zen master or the nightcap OG and let's start building that passive income machine in real time with Scott Todd. This is not academic. You are going to be working the business with your class over the next 16 weeks in doing deals, and we guarantee that's not going to cost you anything. You will make back your flight school tuition investment. 180 days or less, guaranteed. Just show us your work. So now, Mike Zeta, we're at that point in the podcast where we get to ask you for your tip of the week. A website, a Resource a book, something actionable for the art of passive income listeners to go improve their businesses, improve their lives. What do you got?

Otherwise known as the time we make fun of Mike's quotes. By the way, I always like to think of Scott Todd as the Misty Miyagi of land investing, since we're talking about all these philosophies and stuff. So today's quote comes from the Book of Five Rings. Talk about swordsman. He's a famous swordsman from the 1600s, undefeated. Wrote his principles for success. And many business people do use this today because the concepts are universal. And I know I talked a little bit on Coffee Talk, Mark, but afterwards we talked privately about this one. So I was going to read it here, if that's okay.

Yeah, of course.

All right, that's great that Scott Todd is on here, but I'm sure somebody else will pick up the slack and tell me that my quote just don't forget to breathe. So this one's becoming new. It says when fighting with enemies, if you get the feeling of snarled up and you're making no progress, you toss your mood away and think in your heart that you are starting everything anew. As you get the rhythm, you discern how to win. This is becoming new. So the last part of it is anytime you feel tension and friction building up between yourself and others, if you change your mind that very moment, you can prevail by the advantage of radical difference. This is becoming new. So I think if we were to insert rather than enemies, but you know, our own battles when we're building our business, as many times that we're working on something and it can get very frustrating, it can get a little overwhelming, and you got to step back, take a larger perspective on things. You know, it's sort of like if you're in your room, you can stand up on the table, get a better view of it. You know, just change it up. Like literally try to think of it from a different perspective rather than keep trying to like. Because how many times we've all done that where we're just trying to solve something in our business and we're trying to hit it harder and higher and the more effort that we put into it, the harder it gets. But I think the idea that's important here is to change your perspective, change your view, and look at it from a different. In a different way that could bring about the result that you're hoping for. So I think this is why people love this book. It's very universally applied.

No, I personally like it I get the sense Tate is not happy about it.

No, I'm just taking it in.

Trying.

To, you know, figure this out. But I do see how.

Get the book tape. I'm gonna send you a copy tape. That'll help.

Send me a book. Send me a book.

Very thin, easy to read.

Good. How many pictures?

No pictures. But anybody who's out there is a fan of the Avatar, which is a really great show. They're gonna make a great movie out of. It's a cartoon, but it's really. That's some great philosophy. This is similar. It's got the Earth Book, the Water Book, or the scroll, they say. So it's a fun read, and you can take it in little doses. One of those books, you can kind of open up any way you want and read and get some value. So I love having I have it right here on my desk next to the Artist's Way, the Morning Journal, which I know Tate loves. That tip from Scott a few weeks ago.

Oh, look, Tate. Are you gonna take that? Look how he's stirring the pot.

Oh, yeah.

I'm just saying it. Let it go.

I'm gonna let it go. I mean, it's fine. Journaling. Such a new concept. Wow.

Well, I want to thank the listeners and just remind them that the only way Tate is going to continue showing up every single week on the Roundtable Podcast simply to make fun of Zano, is if you do us three little favors. You got to subscribe, you got. You got to rate, you got to review the podcast. Send us a screenshot of that review to support thelangeek.com we're going to send you for free the $97 wholetailing course, how to double your money in 30 days or less. Eric Peterson. Are we good?

We are good.

Mike, are we good?

Great.

Perfect.

Scott Bossman.

We are excellent, Tate. Yep.

Let's do this.

Let's do this. 1, 2, 3.

Let freedom, freedom ring.

Pretty good, actually. Pretty good. How about that Carole Baskin commercial that was airing during Dancing with the Stars? Where is Don?

I think he's down in another country there. That's where I think he is. I know everybody fights me on that, but I think he just took his plane and went away.

Can you blame him?

I think he's in a tiger's tummy.

The tiger tummy. That's the next series. The tiger tummy.

The tiger tummy. We did talk about this. You were the only one, Mike, that thought that he faked his own death.

That the means he wasn't like he was poor. He could disappear if he wanted to.

I think it's. I mean, I guess, but, you know.

He'S got his family. Why would he want to? I get it. It's a. It's complex issue, I suppose.

Yeah.

He probably bartered one of his cats for a piece of land down in. Wherever he was going. Puerto Rico.

Yeah. There it is. The barter concept. Look how. Look how Scott just brought that full circle.

Brought it around.

I love it. All right. All right, guys. Well, have a great day. Thanks. And we'll see everybody next week.

See ya.

Thanks. Bye. See ya.