197: Today's guest is Ben Pijanowski.

(Show Notes: REtipster.com/197)

Ben is the co-owner and COO of Assets for Acres. In this episode, he shares his journey from a corporate job to becoming an entrepreneur in the land investing space. He details how he partnered up with Ajay, describing it as "dating before getting married"—they tested out working together before fully committing to a 50/50 business partnership. Ben explains the complementary roles they play, with Ajay as the visionary and Ben as the integrator who focuses on operations and efficiency.

The discussion covers Assets for Acres' evolution, from simple land flips to tackling larger development projects like entitlements and subject-to deals. Ben provides insights into scaling the business and diversifying their investment strategies, as well as how and why their partnership has worked so far.

If you've ever considered teaming up with someone in the land investing world—and how to find that someone in the first place— you don't want to miss this conversation.

196: Today's guest is Ted Thomas.

(Show Notes: REtipster.com/196)

Ted is a maestro in tax liens and tax deeds, an area of real estate investing with many fascinating parallels to the land flipping business—with a few important differences.

Today, we will explore the ins and outs of tax lien and tax-defaulted property investing. Ted is going to share his decades of experience in this niche and the exact strategies he uses to find and close these deals.

Whether you're an experienced real estate investor looking to expand your portfolio or you're just getting started and eager to learn, there's a ton to unpack here. Ted's expertise will shed light on the strategies, potential pitfalls, and the strategies needed to succeed in this complex yet rewarding space.

195: If you’re a long-time listener to this show, you almost certainly know Jaren Barnes.

(Show Notes: REtipster.com/195)

Jaren has been running his community, called the Land Maverick Society, for the past couple of years. He’s also among the very select few REtipster Certified Coaches, meaning he’s someone I know, like, and trust, and he aligns very well with the REtipster brand. Whenever people ask me where they can find a good coach in the land investing business, Jaren is one of the people I point them to.

Today, Jaren and I will discuss our thoughts on the current state of the market, some of the challenges many land investors have had this year, and, more importantly, why we should all have hope and why it’s not all doom and gloom.

When I started offering seller financing on my properties, I thought I had found the perfect way to generate steady income and sell properties faster. But after years of waiting for borrowers to pay off their loans, I realized one of the biggest drawbacks of selling properties with owner financing: my money was tied up, which hindered my ability to reinvest and grow my business.

(Full Blog Post: REtipster.com/sell-your-notes)

It felt like a Catch-22. Seller financing helped me sell properties for higher prices and collect interest, but the slow drip of payments limited my cash flow. I wanted a way to get my money back sooner without losing the benefits of seller financing.

I know I'm not alone in this dilemma, and that's why I wanted to explain when, where, and how a real estate investor can sell their notes. This can unlock the cash we need now rather than waiting for years to collect it.

It's not always the perfect solution, but it can be a great way to get your money back quickly, keep the momentum going, and avoid the headaches of managing loans. In this episode, I’ll explain how it works and the key factors to maximize your returns when selling notes.

194: Today, I sat down with Evan Shelley, the brains behind Truck Parking Club.

(Show Notes: REtipster.com/194)

Evan took a unique path in real estate, spotting a big opportunity in truck parking. He used his experience in land investing and civil engineering to build a tech startup that's changing the way truckers find parking across the U.S. We talked about how he went from zero bookings to thousands of reservations every day—a real testament to his hard work and vision.

We also dive into the potential of industrial outdoor storage, the challenges of building a marketplace for both truckers and parking lot owners, and how real estate investors can get in on this growing trend. Evan shares some great insights about the market, the importance of solving real problems, and how focusing on a clear goal can lead to huge growth.

Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting out, this episode will give you a new perspective on finding opportunities in unexpected places and how technology is changing the game in real estate.

193: I discovered George McCleary recently when I came across a viral video he made called “I Stole a House.” In this video, he demonstrates how easy it is to be a squatter and take over a house in Portland, Oregon.

(Show Notes: REtipster.com/193)

This video amassed tens of millions of views, and since then, George has been featured on Dr. Phil and in news outlets worldwide, including BiggerPockets, Fox News, and Joe Rogan. Since this happened, George has been educating property owners about the financial devastation caused by squatters and title fraud.

Unfortunately, title fraud has become a big problem in some parts of the country. Even the squatting issue is a potential problem some of us may have to deal with in the land business, so we’re going to get into this subject a bit today and understand what squatting is, what "squatters rights " are, why squatters have rights at all, and what a property owner can do to protect themselves and deal with a squatter if this issue ever comes up.

192: Jay Thomason and Daniel Earhart have been friends of REtipster for many years now. I first talked with them in episode 50. This is a great place to start if you want to hear their backstory, how long they’ve been in the business, and so on.

(Show Notes: REtipster.com/192)

In this episode, I wanted to learn more about how they’ve been pretty successful at getting bank financing for their land deals. Most land investors have a hard time with this because most banks aren’t interested in lending on residential vacant lots unless the owner has an immediate plan to develop it.

When I caught up with Daniel and Jay at the Land UnConference this past year, they explained a little bit about how they did this, and I thought the whole REtipser audience needed to hear about this. After all, if we can unlock bank financing and the lower rates that come with the package, this would be a very helpful financing alternative for those of us who don’t have the funds ourselves, don’t want to take out much more expensive hard money loans, and don't want to give away huge amounts of our profit to funders.

For many years in my land investing journey, the biggest challenge I faced was access to capital. I had to walk away from countless opportunities to buy properties at a fraction of their market value simply because I didn't have the funds, and most banks wanted nothing to do with these kinds of deals. The landscape of land investing has changed significantly over the past 15 years. With thousands of new investors entering the field, the emergence of land funders has opened new avenues for those who know how to find deals but lack the money to close them.

(See the Full Blog Post)

In this episode, we'll dive deep into land funding—a fascinating sub-niche where funders provide the necessary capital for deals and share the profits with operators. We'll explore how these partnerships are structured, the key elements to consider when drafting a funding agreement, and the different "recipes" that funders and operators use to divide responsibilities and ensure a successful partnership. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just getting started, understanding these strategies could be the key to unlocking new opportunities in your land investing journey.