All Forum Posts by: Kyle Ferguson

@J. Anjaria I was not able to find 202205932 but 5 acres would most likely disqualify it. Too small of a project.

Your other two sites could have potential but right now I am missing the powerline and substation data for those areas. It looks to me like you would need to upgrade/extend commercial power lines(3-phase power) to the sites which could easily kill a project. Usually, it's economical if they only have to extend it by 500-1500 ft anything beyond that usually does not make sense for a 20-40 acre project because extending powerlines is very expensive. 

Do you know what type of powerlines are near the property? If so how far?

On top of the powerlines issue, I am not sure how close to a substation the properties are but they need to be within 3-4 miles of a substation to be valuable for solar. 

Do you know of substations near the property? If not, which utility sells power in the area? I may be able to find by searching for parcels that they own in the area. 

@Ronald Rohde What exactly do you mean by time-based access? Sounds interesting. We really do want to launch a GIS program that can be used by almost anyone as opposed to the super expensive software that doesn't make sense for most people because they don't have enough scale. 

@Jai Reddy I highly recommend investing in the direct mail. We run 95% of our business from direct mail to landowners. A well put together mailer turns into results.  Its all about those off-market deals.

@Jai Reddy how are you are going about acquiring your target parcels?

@Charley C. Interesting. I like the idea of buying a large tract and then subdividing it into 10-50 acre ranchettes. Have you done any of these projects yourself?

On average like $15000-30000 per an acre but there is definitely some cheaper land and some more expensive

Food demand is always increasing and our fertile soils are eroding. 

I'm wondering what type of opportunities are out there for buying farmland and improving. In my line of business, I have come across a lot of farmers who want to sell their land. 

Is it profitable to buy land, improve the soil and then re-sell or lease to a farmer?

What types of opportunities do you go after in this potential niche?

@Gerald Weathersby  If you do not want to go through all of the development, rezoning and sub-division work yourself. You could also consider working directly with local developers to develop the project. I would find some local home builders and start by talking to them. You might be able to partner with them or you will at least learn something new. 

I believe its best to work with the experts and learn from them. 

I would start by doing some research on my own and then reach out to 5 different local home builders / residential developers to see what they think of the piece of land and what they would do. 

@Mak K. We used to use land vision but that's really expensive. We built our own GIS system now so I'm no longer super familiar with the free resources or monthly services.

I would try to use local systems. Look up a town/county/state along with the term "GIS". These tools are not organized for exporting large lists of landowners but you can manually pull data from them and build a list. 

I have also heard that list source is good. 

I am trying to figure out a way to "rent out" our GIS system to people like you. Stay in touch for updates. 

In terms of evaluating prices for land, I would look at comps and also think about the end-user. What could the land be used for and how much is that end-user of the land willing to pay. A quick google search could help you with that.

@Matt Sterling do you still get offers from developers for that property? Would love to take a look at it and see how valuable it looks for solar. Could be a good use for the property.

I specialize in solar land deals and let me tell you for sure, IT IS PROFITABLE. You have to be in the right state at the right time as the development of renewable energy is mainly made possible by government subsidies. Soon this will change but for now, this is the game that we need to play. 

We are in process of developing over 100 projects and already profiting.

As a real estate investor, the financing is definitely more difficult and specialized as well as the development. However, there are still ways that you can get involved. 

Personally, I would invest in the ground that is underneath the solar farms as there is only so many good properties for renewable energy development and it's a simple way to get into the game. If you wanted, to get into the financing, you could find syndication to invest with but that would be very risky as many developers do not know what they are doing in this niche.

Feel free to message me with any questions specific questions. It's definitely an industry worth diving into!