Listen Here
Peter Reese is the President of Reelvest Properties, a prominent land development and investment company. With nearly two decades of real estate experience as a broker and investor, Peter has successfully purchased and sold hundreds of pieces of real estate for a profit, both for himself and his clients.
In 2022, his land flipping and development business generated an impressive revenue of $3.5 million, and he’s pushing to achieve even greater heights with a target of $10 million in 2023. Peter’s extensive experience in the real estate industry has solidified his reputation as an expert in the field.
In this podcast, Peter shares how his curiosity to learn about land flipping turned out to be hugely profitable and eventually becoming a multi-million business. His track record of profitable transactions and deep understanding of the market make him a valuable resource for listeners seeking insights into successful land flipping strategies.
Peter provides important insights into the world of land flipping as he defines the concept and delves into the strategies he has employed to achieve success in this area. He discusses a deeper understanding of the factors to consider when evaluating land for flipping and development, allowing them to make informed decisions in their own real estate ventures.
With numerous profitable real estate transactions under his belt, uncover Peter’s wealth strategies while finding the right balance for his health and family!
In This Episode
- Peter’s background and how he started his company Reelvest Properties
- Definition and overview of land flipping as a real estate strategy.
- Insights into the strategies employed by him in successful land flipping endeavors.
- Factors to consider when evaluating land for flipping and development.
- Maintaining a balanced lifestyle: Family, business, & health
Welcome to today’s show on Wealth Strategy Secrets. We’re joined by Peter Reese, the president of Realvast Properties, a land development and investment company. With nearly two decades of real estate experience as both a broker and investor, Pete has successfully purchased and sold hundreds of properties for profit, both for himself and on behalf of his clients.
In 2022, he generated $3.5 million in revenue with his land flipping and development business, and he’s aiming for $10 million in 2023. Always on the lookout for his next deal, Peter has a longtime dream of owning his private island. Beyond his professional accomplishments, he is a proud father of three beautiful girls, stays active by working out, follows a vegan diet, and is the 31st great-grandson of King Henry II. Pete, welcome to the show!
Thanks, Dave! I appreciate it and the introduction.
Absolutely! Let’s unpack that intro for a moment. First of all, your dream of having your private island is fantastic! That’s on the level of Richard Branson’s Necker Island. What inspired that dream?
You know, I’ve always been a fan of Richard Branson, and I think I’ve had that idea stuck in my head that having your piece of the world would be the coolest thing. An island is unique in that it’s a place where you can be off by yourself and create your own rules, which I’ve always thought would be pretty cool. I’m not looking for just any island—not one on a river or something like that. I’m thinking more along the lines of the Caribbean; I believe that would be a nice spot. Maybe one day, I’ll leverage my land skills to acquire one.
I love that! We often talk about wealth strategy, and the first step is creating your vision. If you don’t have a target, you’ll miss every time. That’s certainly a huge vision you have, so I admire that. And I have to ask about this: what a cool fact that you are the 31st great-grandson of King Henry II!
Yes, I think I am! I discovered this through ancestry.com—well, actually, my daughter did. After uploading our DNA, they provided those clues to help trace our ancestry back, and it just kept going and going.
It went back to him, and there were some other notable figures before him who were kings of various countries. I thought that was pretty cool. I have no way to verify any of it, but I thought it would be fun to include it in my bio to get people talking. I even joked with my wife about putting it in my Instagram bio, but she said it wouldn’t be a good idea. Still, I think it’s a super fun fact, and there’s so much to learn from history.
My last name is Wolcott, and actually, Oliver Wolcott was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. That’s awesome! Yeah, we even named one of our sons after him—his name is Oliver. The lineage and history are fascinating, and passing on some of those traditions is all part of building a legacy around your family, values, and virtues. So, Pete, tell us a little about how you got into the real estate space and ultimately into the land.
I’ve been in real estate for quite some time, since the early 2000s. My wife and I were flipping homes way back then. We watched some shows on HGTV and thought, “That looks pretty cool; we could do that ourselves.” So we jumped in, and it went well for us.
I got my real estate broker’s license here in California in 2006 because I was primarily working on deals with MLS-listed properties. I wanted better access to deals and to potentially save on buyer’s commissions, which would help the numbers work out a little better. But when the market crashed in 2007-2008, that knowledge came in handy. During that time, foreclosures were the main market, so I positioned myself as a listing broker for these properties, an REO listing broker. I focused on that for two to three years.
It was a good business at the time. A lot of transactions were happening, and I was thankful to have that during a period when many others in real estate were struggling. However, it wasn’t the best business model; there were a lot of emotions involved that weren’t the most enjoyable.
That experience led me to great connections with larger companies buying foreclosure properties, whether they were holding them or flipping them. For a while, I focused on finding them deals, and they would buy as many properties as I could bring them that fit their criteria. I found that fun, but after the market crash, I didn’t do any investing myself—I guess I was gun-shy. That was the time I should have been buying up properties, but instead, I did the opposite. Live and learn, right?
Eventually, I got a bit burned out on dealing with clients, so I started an online education business with my wife focused on blogging and travel blogging. She had an established travel blog at that time and received tons of inquiries about how to do it. We built a whole business around that, which was successful, and we had a great run.
However, we eventually lost interest in that, and I knew I needed to get back into real estate investing. I just didn’t know which model to choose. While doing some reading and research online, I stumbled upon land flipping. I saw anecdotes of people buying properties for $10,000 and selling them for $30,000 in just a couple of months. I thought, “That’s pretty cool! I like buying and selling things, and I love that profit percentage.”
So, I bought a course on it and went all in, learning how to do the business model and evaluate land. In March 2021, I flipped my first piece of land, which kicked off a chain reaction of events. In that first year, I made about $1,200,000 in sales, with a gross profit margin of around 50%. By the end of 2022, I generated about $3.5 million, just shy of a 50% gross profit margin again. Now, in 2023, I’m aiming to hit $10 million.
Wow, that’s awesome! I love the ingenuity and innovation in this space. As an entrepreneur and investor, you get to be so creative with these ventures and how you were able to put the pieces together to make it work for you.
Before we dive into some of the details, could you share a bit about your wealth strategy? We talk a lot about portfolio allocation here. Since you’re coming from real estate and now focusing on land, is everything in the land, or do you have a particular wealth strategy you’re following today?
Yeah, my wealth strategy primarily revolves around my land-flipping business, which acts as the cash generator. It’s a short-term business; these hold generally last about 60 to 90 days, so everything moves quickly. There aren’t any tax advantages with these types of deals—no depreciation, no long-term capital gains, and no 1031 exchanges.
However, this business generates a considerable amount of profit. We’ve been using those profits to buy rental properties and various commercial properties for accelerated depreciation to offset that income. So, we’re essentially generating as much cash as possible in this business and then funneling that money into longer-term investments, which may include value-added plays.
That’s a great strategy! Are you buying commercial real estate locally, or are you looking at syndications or properties anywhere?
We haven’t done any syndications or anything like that. We bought a motel in Wisconsin, but it’s not a motel; it’s a collection of 18 mini cabins, and that’s a project we’re currently working on. We’ve also purchased some other units in North Carolina and are always on the lookout for new opportunities. The good part is that we’re making profits, but the downside is that we feel a bit pressured to acquire a certain number of properties each year to avoid paying a lot in taxes. It’s a good problem to have!
Do you have any systems in place for managing these properties, or is your wife helping you since they’re not local and require an active role?
Right now, I have a project manager on our team, but that didn’t quite work out, so I’m looking for a new project manager to help manage these properties. For now, the responsibility falls on me, and my wife helps out a lot as well.
Awesome! So, tell us a little more about land flipping. Can you walk us through an end-to-end example? This might be new for a lot of listeners, so I think it would be helpful to understand how it works.
Sure! It’s a pretty straightforward business model. We generate all of our deals through direct mail, which means we send actual letters to people.
To backtrack a bit, we first build a list by pulling data from services like DataTree or PropStream. We apply basic filters to identify vacant land, focusing on properties that are generally 10 acres and above.
We analyze the average price per acre in the areas we’re targeting. For instance, if we’re looking at a specific county, we’ll check the comparable sales and determine the average retail price per acre—let’s say it’s $10,000. We then deduct a percentage from that to come up with our offer price per acre for those areas.
The offer is sent in a two-page letter: the first page introduces who we are, why we’re contacting them, and what we can do for them. The second page contains the actual purchase agreement with our offer amount, their parcel number, the acreage, and some basic terms.
Responses vary. Some people are quite angry about the low offers they receive, while others are interested and sign the offer to send it back to us. Some call, expressing interest but asking for a better price. When they respond, that’s when we dig deeper, looking into their property individually to see if we can work out a deal.
We buy these properties off-market, directly from the sellers. Once we have a signed contract, we initiate a comprehensive due diligence process. This involves sending out a photographer, obtaining broker opinions, and conducting a series of checks and calls to determine if the property is buildable and to identify any potential red flags.
Every deal goes through an attorney, title company, or escrow company, depending on the state, to conduct a title search. Sometimes issues arise during this search that can be corrected, while other times they cannot. Our goal is to ensure that any property we buy is insurable, so we also obtain title insurance.
After we close on the properties—typically using our own cash—we list them with a local agent or land broker to sell as quickly as possible. Occasionally, we do some minor value-added improvements to these properties, but it really depends on the specific property in question.
Wow, so you’re achieving about a 50% profit margin on those?
Our goal is always to double our money on the deals we do. For example, if we buy a property for $50,000, we aim to sell it for $100,000. Now, it doesn’t always work out that way, but that’s the benchmark we strive for.
On average, last year we made about $23,000 in profit on each deal. We’re continuously trying to tackle bigger deals to increase that figure. But I’m focused on the acquisition side.
Are you concentrating on particular markets? Do you have a sweet spot or niche that you’re targeting?
Yes, we’ve been primarily focusing on the East Coast, particularly from New York down to Florida, covering all the states in between. However, we want to expand into a variety of different markets.
In this business, our approach is to test specific markets by sending some mail and seeing if we gain momentum and secure deals in those areas. From there, we try to build a team and infrastructure around those markets. If we can find good partners—such as land brokers, agents, and title companies—then we aim to do more business in those regions. It’s almost like establishing little satellite operations in various areas. We’re working on expanding westward as well.
I’ve done deals in random places like Washington State and California, but the East Coast has been our primary focus so far. That said, I’m not limited to just that region; I’m open to doing deals anywhere.
Interesting! Can you share more about the metrics? For instance, does it take 100 offers to get one accepted, or is it more like 20? What are you seeing in terms of uptake?
The main metric I focus on is the cost per deal, specifically the mailing cost per deal. It’s been averaging about $3,000 per deal, which means I typically send around 6,000 letters to secure one deal.
Other metrics, such as call response rates, are also tracked, but they can be difficult to quantify because they depend on the offer price. If I offer a higher price on these properties, I’ll get a better response rate, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to more deals. Ultimately, I look at what matters most: the cost per deal. If it costs me $3,000 to generate a deal and we’re making an average of $23,000 per deal, that represents a pretty solid return on investment.
That’s a no-brainer! What about the time commitment? How much time is involved in this process?
There are a lot of different factors involved, and it really depends on the scale at which you’re operating. At the level we’re aiming for, I have a staff in place that handles many aspects of the business for me. When I first started, it was just me and an assistant I brought over from another business, and I was handling nearly everything. I gradually offloaded administrative tasks to him one by one, and then I began hiring for specific roles.
At this point, I have a pretty large team. I have two acquisition managers who handle all communication with sellers—whether they call, email, or text. Then, I have a head of acquisitions who evaluates all the incoming deals, determines their value, and decides whether we want to buy the properties. I also have a transaction manager who manages all the transactions on the buying side and communicates with attorneys and title companies when we resell.
Additionally, I have a list manager and a lead and due diligence manager who enters all the information into our CRM and orders the necessary due diligence once we get a property under contract. I also employ an executive assistant. So, there are a lot of different people supporting me at this point, and I’m primarily focused on approving deals.
I’m working on improving processes within our business putting out fires and solving problems. Eventually, I want to hire someone to take over that role so I can focus on the big picture. However, it is possible to do this as a side hustle, although it’s different from sending out 100,000 letters a month like we are currently.
That’s exactly where I was going with this, Pete. We have a lot of investors out there who might be working W-2 jobs and looking to increase their cash flow to invest in different opportunities and scale their efforts. This sounds like an intriguing way to do that as a side hustle— and a lucrative one, too.
Absolutely! There are plenty of ways to set it up. For instance, I use a phone service that answers calls for us 24 hours a day. I don’t have anyone on my staff to handle that, so I outsource it. They send an email with the lead information, and then my acquisition managers follow up.
If you’re doing this as a side hustle, you can cherry-pick the leads you want to call back—those that look like good potential deals. You can contact them via phone or email and work out those deals. You can also hire for specific tasks on an as-needed basis. For example, a transaction manager can be hired only when you have transactions, rather than having a full-time staff member.
I’d recommend hiring an assistant as soon as you’re able, perhaps someone from overseas to keep costs down. You can train them to handle those repetitive administrative tasks, which can free up a lot of your time. Many people do this as a side hustle, and they’re often very happy with doing one deal a month. That can be life-changing—making an extra $10,000 to $20,000 on a deal can quickly lead people to question whether they want to stay in their W-2 jobs, even if those jobs are high-paying.
A hundred percent agree! That’s fantastic. Do you offer any kind of training or program to help people get started?
Yes, I have a website called turningprofit.com where I provide a monthly income report. In these reports, I break down everything happening in our business, including the revenue, profit from each deal, what we bought properties for, what we sold them for, profit details, notes on each deal, and how many days we held them.
I try to be as transparent as I can, and my goal is to show people what’s possible in this business. If it interests them, they can see if it aligns with their skill sets. I also started a land-flipping community where we have individuals eager to learn how to flip land. There are experienced land investors in there making over $1,000,000 a year, collaborating, funding deals—it’s been cool to see it grow.
I’ve been putting a lot of effort into building that community, and I’m currently working on a training program that will probably be released in the next 2 to 3 weeks. I’m doing everything I can to make it as good as possible, and it will be available for free within the community. I don’t have anything to sell at this point, but eventually, I might consider a mentorship program if there’s interest. For now, I’m focused on providing as much value as I can. If people find it valuable and can close some deals, that would make me happy.
Additionally, I want to partner with my students. I’d love to train them on how to find deals, and then I can fund those deals, splitting the profits with them.
That sounds awesome, Pete. Being in a group of like-minded people and continuously learning—ensuring you’re not the smartest person in the room—is key to growth. This side hustle offers so many opportunities, especially in light of the current craziness in the world. It’s one of the best times to be alive, right?
The ability to start a business from home—even at 16 years old—is staggering. It’s thought-provoking for people to listen to this idea and look at your scale. The speed at which you’ve been able to scale is really impressive. Creating a side hustle could lead to an additional revenue stream, which is always beneficial. Plus, it could serve as a gateway to entrepreneurship, allowing you to leave your W-2 job and focus on your strengths.
Yep! I’ve got an interesting example of that. I have three daughters, two of whom are 23 and 20, and they noticed what I was doing with land flipping. They became interested and asked if they could be employees of our company, so I had them evaluate properties for me. They showed a genuine interest in the business and eventually said, “Dad, can we start doing some deals too?” I thought that was a great idea. They pooled together about $8,000 that they had saved and formed a corporation for a different business that never took off.
So, they formed the entity and pooled together $8,000. I had a couple of smaller deals that weren’t going to be very impactful for me, so I thought, “Why not let them try their hand at this?” To make a long story short, throughout just over a year, they managed to turn that $8,000 into $84,000 through about six deals. They learned the entire process, and it was very lucrative for them. They still live with us, so they don’t have a lot of expenses, allowing them to keep rolling that money.
That’s so awesome, Pete! I’d love to hear more of those stories. I have kids in their twenties as well. We’ve had household masterminds since they were in high school. It’s amazing to take all the lessons we learned over the decades and pass that knowledge on to our kids. It empowers them to think differently for themselves and to be independent, which is so important. A lot of this is about autonomy.
If they can learn at a young age that they can create their capital and income, it opens up their perspective. They might think, “Maybe I don’t need to follow the traditional W-2 path; maybe that’s not for me.” The world is so different now.
Absolutely! I always talk about how many people are still stuck in outdated ways of thinking, focusing on how things used to be instead of how they are now and how they will be in the future. Ultimately, work is just a means to earn money. If you can figure out how to earn money while enjoying what you do and without having to work for someone else, that’s a pretty viable option.
For sure! It’s a system, right? They’ve been trying to put us into this archaic system since grade school. But now, if you can avoid being told what to do and where to be, and you’re learning skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and creating value, those are the skills people will need in the future. It’s great to see that you’re passing this on to your kids; we share the same philosophy.
Pete, you’ve accomplished a lot. It seems like health is your passion, which aligns with our interest in building holistic wealth. From a personal development perspective, what’s the one practice that has yielded the biggest results for you?
I would say consistency and persistence, but mainly consistency. I’m a very regimented person, and I wasn’t always that way when I was younger. I’ve learned over time that when I can be super regimented about something important to me, great things follow. Now, I’ve structured my life to be very regimented; my wife even teases me about being too rigid sometimes, which she might have a point about. I wake up at the same time every day, work out at the same time, and eat the same foods for the most part. I’m really into time blocking and controlling my schedule, and the consistency in these habits is where the key lies.
It’s easy to start something, stick with it for a couple of days, and then move on to something else. But you’re never going to get great results that way. You have to consistently do the same thing over and over again to achieve those results. I don’t know if you’ve read the book Atomic Habits, but it’s a fantastic book on that concept. It emphasizes the importance of establishing habits to reach your goals.
It’s not just about setting a goal and hoping it will happen; it’s about taking actionable steps. The consistency I’ve been able to implement in my daily routines has helped me achieve a lot, and I believe it will allow me to accomplish even more in the future.
You gotta put the habits in place in order to achieve your goals… it’s not just setting a goal and hoping it’s gonna happen. It’s about putting those actual steps into place.
Such a great point! When you think about the process of wealth building, it is just that—a process. Unfortunately, we’ve been conditioned to think of it as a product or an event. For example, we might think, “I might win the lottery,” or “I might exit a business for eight figures.” But when you create consistency and focus on the process, the outcomes will follow. It’s crucial to lay that groundwork.
Have you heard of the Kolbe test? Many of our listeners have discussed it before. It measures your instinctual wiring and how you think across four different domains. One of those is called “follow-through,” which gauges how systematized your thinking is. I can guarantee that you and I both score high in that area—it’s my highest score as well. That’s why I try to create a repeatable process for building wealth.
It’s a system for how you can build wealth, just as you do. It’s interesting, and I encourage everyone to check it out. If listeners haven’t heard of it, you can find it at colbe.com. Our whole family has done it, and it’s cool because you can identify people’s strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge helps build more harmony in your team or household by understanding each person’s natural thinking style.
I love it! I appreciate the recommendation. I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t explored it yet, so I’ll check it out.
Great! Now, if you could give just one piece of advice to listeners on how to accelerate their wealth trajectory, what would it be?
Get good at one specific niche within real estate. Since we’re discussing real estate and its connection to wealth building, becoming an expert in one area is crucial. Read everything you can, watch videos, and listen to podcasts about that particular subject. Avoid getting caught up in shiny object syndrome—don’t chase after every new thing. Instead, find a proven model that someone else has already figured out. Don’t reinvent the wheel; learn everything you can about it and then repeat it over and over again. It’s not rocket science; you just need to become proficient in one area to see returns.
Awesome! If people want to reach out to you, Pete, can you share those links again so we can include them in the show notes?
Sure! Our website is turningprofit.com, where you can find all of our income reports. That’s also the name of our podcast, where we discuss real estate investing and land flipping. You can find the podcast on all platforms—just search for Turning Profit. We also have a YouTube channel with additional videos. For our land-flipping community, visit landconquest.com, where you’ll find buttons to join the community.
That’s where you’ll find access to the free training I’m releasing. I also host a Zoom call once a week, which lasts about two hours. During these calls, I evaluate properties submitted by participants. I go through the deals live on my screen, showing how I assess their value.
People find this approach valuable because it’s how I learned the business myself—by watching someone else evaluate properties. I thought it would be beneficial to share that knowledge with others.
Awesome! I love that ethos of focusing on what’s in it for them and creating value for others throughout the process. Pete, thank you for joining the show today and providing so much value to the audience. I think this has been insightful, especially for anyone considering a side hustle or looking to get into entrepreneurship. This could be a great niche to explore.
Well, thanks for having me, Dave. I appreciate it!
You bet, Pete. Thank you!