135: $1-3 Million Per Month in the Land Business w/ Doug Smith

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I discovered Doug Smith about a year ago when I heard his interview with Austin Peek on Millionaire Interviews.
Doug has a fascinating story because he has succeeded in a BIG way in multiple domains, but his journey hasn't been easy.
Doug started out as a house flipper, then transitioned into an online business, and now he’s a land investor who bought and sold thousands of acres in Texas through his private equity firm, Hawthorne Capital. We're going to cover all of that and more in this conversation.
Doug is the highest-grossing land investor we've interviewed on the REtipster Podcast, and there's a lot we can learn from this guy!
00:00 - Intro
01:51 - Who is Doug Smith and how he got into real estate?
02:57 - What kind of land deals are you focusing on?
05:34 - Looking back at your house flipping experience, what was the hardest thing about it?
08:04 - What was the timeframe when you were in house flipping versus moving on to myhousedeals.com and then into land?
10:52 - What is the concept behind myhousedeals.com? How does it work?
13:10 - How profitable was myhousedeals.com?
13:43 - How did you hear about the land investing business and what made you get into it?
15:48 - How did you break the game of land and was able from the beginning to get into the nuanced details that made your strategy work?
21:35 - How do you find a good land specialized agent?
23:04 - How do you find land deals and how does your business operate?
28:05 - How do you decide when to make improvements to a property and what improvements to make?
29:28 - Are you doing the zoning change before or after you take possession of the property?
30:59 - What would be a typical time range from subdividing a property to getting everything sold off?
31:18 - Using a Private Equity Model: How did you decide to start taking on other people's money, and why?
35:03 - Seller Financing vs. Cash - What do you prefer more?
35:48 - How can people partner up with you, and what kind of returns should they expect?
37:11 - Selling or Holding Notes? How and who would you sell them to?
40:29 - Are you doing any background checks to the applicants before they can qualify for a borrower to buy land?
44:02 - Is there a mortgage originator company that can do background credit checks instead of you?
44:57 - What made you decide to start holding notes and stop selling them?
50:59 - How are you finding individual investors who want to inject $100,000 or more a piece into your fund?
56:28 - How do you prepare for the upcoming recession?
01:02:19 - Do you get mailers from people who want to buy land?
01:03:09 - How to find a business partner who'll help (not hurt) your business?
01:06:03 - How to find employees who'll help (not hurt) your business?
01:09:33 - Doug shares his secret to success
01:12:18 - What is your biggest fear?
01:13:53 - What are you most proud of?
01:14:17 - What would you do if you just got $100 million wired to your bank account and you're not allowed to stay on your current career path?
01:15:58 - The pros and cons of living abroad in Spain and Chile
01:18:47 - How to reach out to Doug?
01:19:15 - Final thoughts

[@justthej]

Love the chapter breakdowns. Great interview. Took soo many notes.

[@Retipster]

Thanks for listening! Glad you appreciated all the effort we put into those. :)

[@therondalal]

I've been waiting for this one, super encouraging ! Thanks Seth

[@Retipster]

Thanks for listening, Ron!

[@brianbouchard1947]

Thank you for your insight

[@franklix]

How do you compete with land sales happening on EBay, Bid4Assets, Auctions, Lien sales etc?

[@MrAhoelzel]

Why the RMLO screening for land?

[@swatisquantum]

Only thing I disagree with is selling with an interest rate, bc interest is haram. Otherwise, this guest is very well spoken. Very clear language. Easy to understand. All of it makes sense. Gets land and adds value to it by and makes it more useable and makes it easy to acquire for buyers. ..one of the best guests on this subject.

[@gettingbettereachday9607]

How can I reach Mr. Smith?

[@Retipster]

You could try his website: hawthornecapital.com/

[@BatistaInvests]

too long to get a profit out of this. This is only for folks who are established

[@ThePorshaEdmun]

It’s not

[@BatistaInvests]

I'll take another look

[@veev327]

Yep

[@countpicula]

“I was the money guy, and I had a guy out there boots on the ground working with the counties” Ie he has no idea, you need to interview the other guy.

[@Tron7Thousand]

Did he say Collin county??

[@countpicula]

“It’s like the Wild West down here?!”This guy is part of what is making Texas less Texas. Cause pretty soon it WONT be the Wild West. Lol.

[@yourmomhello7695]

You mentioned certain markets you now need to send THOUSANDS of letters for one piece of land. What’s the point anymore

[@5Towaways]

Even if you send 10k pieces of mail (that's 5k in mail) you can get a deal that makes 30-40k, that still makes sense *and cents*

[@ThePorshaEdmun]

Lmao 😂

[@CamperMan727]

Why is Jared co-hosting interviews? He adds no value with his questions or comments.

[@midastouch7773]

Wow That's cold but......... 😕

[@yesmansland]

Seths so modest he asks every question so indirectly. Just fire out those direct questions and get to the meat. Love Seths questions. He's great.