New to Real Estate · Cathedral City CA · Member since 2026 · 3 posts · 0 votes
Hello everyone,
My name is Jerid, and I’m just getting started on my journey into land flipping. I’m currently focusing my research on rural and vacant parcels across California, Arizona, Texas, and Oregon.
To be completely honest, my biggest frustration right now is the barrier to entry for practical education. It feels like every time I look into how to actually run this business—evaluating deals, due diligence, and marketing—everything leads straight into a flashy course or a thousand dollar plus mentorship program.
I want to learn how to do this the right way from people who actually do the work, so I’d love to hear from experienced investors here:
How did you get your initial training when you first started out?
What specific, affordable resources (books, public records, trial and error) actually moved the needle for you?
Looking back, what is the single most important action you took in your first 90 days?
I appreciate anyone willing to share their experience and real-world advice with someone ready to put in the work.
Investor · Clearwater, FL · Member since 2025 · 224 posts · 78 votes
1d
I wholesaled land in Florida for 3 years. I would first approach builder, get their criteria, get the lot under contract and assign to them. Land flipping has lot of landmines along the way. Way too many local regulations. If you are starting, try sometging simple that will get you money.
Englewood, NJ · Member since 2018 · 461 posts · 74 votes
22h
Jerid, I learned land investing the hard way through tax deed auctions down in Florida. No courses, just started bidding on vacant lots and raw land that came up at auction. First year I probably overpaid on a few parcels because I didn't do enough homework on zoning and access issues.
The best resource is your county clerk's website - they list all the properties coming to auction with basic info. Then you drive the properties, check the zoning yourself, and talk to neighbors if you can. That's worth more than any mentorship program.
Most important thing in those first 90 days? Just bid on something small and see what happens. You'll learn more from one actual purchase than from reading 50 articles. Start with cheap stuff where the downside is limited if you make a mistake.
New to Real Estate · Cathedral City CA · Member since 2026 · 3 posts · 0 votes
12h
Thank you very much! That is greatly appreicated. What is your favorite tool for taking your county tax delinquent list and putting it into in order to find out things like, Lot Size, Zoning, Property Address etc. I feel like I am flipping from Windows tab to tab to try and piece it all together. Thanks again for responding!
CPA, CFP®, PFS · FL · Member since 2017 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
3h
Jerid, I’d be careful about spending a lot on education before you’ve actually analyzed a large number of parcels yourself.
For land, the learning curve is usually less about memorizing a strategy and more about getting good at due diligence. Access, zoning, road frontage, utilities, septic/well feasibility, floodplain, topography, easements, taxes, HOA or deed restrictions, and legal buildability can completely change what a parcel is worth.
If I were starting over, I’d spend the first 90 days underwriting real listings and sold comps every week. Pick one or two counties first instead of trying to learn California, Arizona, Texas, and Oregon all at once. Call the planning department, assessor, utility providers, title company, and local agents yourself. That process teaches you very quickly which questions actually matter.
I’d also avoid buying land just because it looks cheap. With vacant land, the exit can be slower, financing is different, and there’s no rental income covering the holding costs while you wait.
From the tax side, land itself generally isn’t depreciable, so the tax profile is very different from rental real estate. And if you’re buying parcels with the intent to resell them repeatedly, that can become active business/dealer activity rather than long-term investment activity.
If land flipping turns into a consistent, profitable business, I’d also evaluate whether an S-Corp makes sense based on profit level, activity volume, payroll, reasonable compensation, and the broader setup.
The best education early on is usually a repeatable due-diligence checklist plus a lot of real deal analysis.
Feel free to DM me, I’d be happy to send over a few resources that might help with entity structure, tax planning, and evaluating the business side as you get started.
Attorney · Philadelphia · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
1h
Here's the truth: Land value is largely dependent on land use and zoning which is highly localized. Each municipality has different requirements. There's no course that provides you the broad knowledge. In fact there's not a civil engineer or land use and zoning attorney you can call who can adequately represent your interests across the country so how do you expect a paid course to provide you the necessary knowledge to understand the ins and outs of land? If you want to get involved in land investing you need to focus in on specific markets where you become knowledgeable with land use and zoning. Second, most land in the US is not developable because the property values do not support today's vertical cost of construction. This means there are few areas in the US that are ripe for development and they have immense competition.
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