Hey everyone, Rory Burkhart here. I’ve spent 20+ years in real estate and am expanding my focus into land acquisitions and investing. I’m here to bring my experience to the community, connect with serious land investors, and build relationships around real deals and JV opportunities. Looking forward to connecting.

The most important number in your land business isn't return on investment, it's what I call Return on Brain Damage. I've done 200+ land deals across 25 states. Average profit: about $37,000 a deal. From the outside that looks like a machine, here's what it actually was: Every deal started with a mailer to a seller who didn't want to sell, then a negotiation, then a closing that dragged, then hunting down a buyer. Two hundred times. In fact, on my first 15,000 mailers, I didn't do a single deal. Two hundred small deals isn't a business. It's a job with a lot of paperwork. That's when I learned the real game: MAXIMIZE PROFIT WITH FEWER DEALS AND LESS OVERHEAD. Now the model is 20–30 deals a year at $50,000–$300,000 each. Same money or more. A fraction of the transactions with a team of less than 10 with about $20,000 per month in overhead. At my peak that was over $60,000. More deals don't mean more money. More people don't mean you're scaling. Complexity is just brain damage you pay for. On 9/23/2026 at 7:00 PM EST, I'm going live to break down the exact system: how we changed our model to take in more profit for the same amount of work, how I underwrite them at 50–60% of value, and how a nine-person team runs the whole thing. 120 minutes. Free. Live. Grab your free spot HERE: Landman Underwriting Workshop

Anybody got anything near Cleveland, OH?

How many of you have been through this scenario? You came up with a number before calling a seller, you get on a call, it's time to talk price and the seller pushes back. What's your first instinct? Do you try to bring the seller closer to your price? Do you move your price closer to theirs or do you walk away? What lets you hold your ground in negotiating is conviction in your number. That comes from underwriting the parcel properly. You arrived at $18k and it's backed up because in your underwriting, you saw 4-5 parcels that sold in the same acreage band, in the same vicinity that supports your offer. You knocked off 10-15% due to the parcel not having water whereas the comps do. So when the seller comes back with "I was thinking closer to $30k", you're not guessing during the negotiation, you're comparing. You know exactly what would actually make you move your number and what wouldn't. Do this before your next call: Write your number down, then write 1-2 sentences next to it that supports that number, based on facts that you uncovered when you underwrote the property. If you cannot write a sentence, you're heading into the call with hope and a dollar sign on it. Think of the last call where you moved off your number. What exactly did the seller say to get you there? Drop it in the comments and we'll respond with what you could've said.

Every objection you'll hear falls into four buckets: Price, Certainty, Timing and Partner. Price is the real objection and it's a gap between two numbers. Controlling price is something you get better at over time and there are ways to control a negotiation around price. Certainty, timing, and partner aren't objections. They're things you missed in the discovery call and it’s often the three things that you can address directly, so handle them before price comes up. Partner: Ask who else needs to be involved, early, then get that person on the phone. This removes the “I need to check with my spouse” or a brother objection and immediately works to strengthen the relationship with the seller and lead to a better close rate. Certainty: "Before we talk numbers, what are you most concerned about working with a company like ours?" Sellers would rarely know who you are and the reality is that people do run scams. Address this directly as it strengthens your position Timing: You need to know “why now”, and find out what it means to the seller if this sold in 30 days, what does that money do for them. When a seller pushes you straight to the number, don't argue. Just firmly say "I know we reached out to you. Were you thinking about selling before I called?", then go back to your questions. When they say they'll think about it, ask what they mean. Usually they're being polite about a no and there’s something else they haven’t said. Unpack it while you have the seller on call. Pull up the last three deals you've killed. Write down what killed each one. If it wasn't price, you didn't get outsold, you had a discovery problem. Which of the four kills the most deals for you? Drop it below.