Land flippers make their cash on the purchase, and loads of them mail a blind supply at 50 cents on the greenback to get there. Seth Drehle-Ewan says he’ll pay 80, 90, even 100 cents on the greenback, and he refuses to ship a blind supply in any respect, as a result of a lowball quantity within the mailbox kills the dialog the place the actual deal would have occurred. Here is how that works:
- Seth and his brother Bryce arrange their LLC in 2017 on the basic purchase for $500, promote for $2,000 desert sq. mannequin, and did offers in 15 totally different states. Since about 2020 it has been one market labored a mile deep, flips and minor subdivides, and the subdivide is what creates the worth they’re paying for.
- He may ship blind affords if he needed to. After years in a single market he can take a look at a property for 30 seconds and know his vary. The impartial letter retains a money flip, an owner-finance deal, and a subdivide all on the desk as a substitute of selecting one earlier than the vendor ever calls.
- Quantity alone stopped working. After they began, a thousand mailers may produce 4 or 5 offers. At the moment ten thousand may produce one, or none.
- There is a heavier thread working by means of this one. A severe well being occasion put Seth on the sofa for roughly six months whereas Bryce ran all the firm, and the query he leaves solo operators with is price sitting with actually: when you disappeared tomorrow, what breaks?
Hyperlinks and Assets
Who’s Seth Drehle-Ewan?
Seth first appeared on this podcast method again in episode 9 in 2018, as one of many sharpest younger land buyers folks have been beginning to discover. He discovered the land enterprise in 2016, recent out of Colorado State, purchased a course educating the basic “purchase for $500, promote for $2,000” desert sq. mannequin, and arrange an LLC in 2017 along with his brother Bryce, who was 16 years previous on the time and nonetheless in highschool.
Eight years later, the 2 of them are working a totally totally different enterprise. And the story of how they acquired from there to right here says lots about the place the land trade has gone.
From 15 states to 1: why they stopped doing what everybody else does
Within the early days, Seth and Bryce labored “an inch deep and a mile broad.” They did offers in 15 totally different states, taking no matter got here within the door. It sounds spectacular till you understand what it means in observe: each property is a unique widget, in a market you realize nothing about, with no compounding information from one deal to the subsequent.
Since about 2020, they’ve flipped that utterly: one market, labored a mile deep. Flips and minor subdivides, concentrated the place they really perceive the native financial system. Seth’s instance of why this issues: manufactured properties are the bread and butter of the Mississippi land market, whereas Colorado has regulated them almost out of existence. Identical nation, reverse economics. The “spray and pray” mailer method treats these markets as an identical, they usually’re not even shut.
The numbers on mail inform the identical story concerning the trade’s evolution. After they began, a thousand mailers may produce 4 or 5 offers. At the moment, ten thousand may produce one, or none. Mail nonetheless works, however the period when quantity alone carried you is over.
Why he sends impartial letters as a substitute of blind affords
Seth may ship blind affords. After years in a single market, he can take a look at a property for 30 seconds and know his vary. He sends impartial letters anyway, and his reasoning is price listening to: a blind supply closes doorways earlier than the dialog begins.
As a result of they subdivide, Seth’s staff can usually pay 80, 90, even 100 cents on the greenback for the appropriate property, because the worth will get created by splitting it. A vendor who sees a lowball blind supply at 50 cents on the greenback simply throws it away, and the dialog the place the actual deal would have occurred by no means happens. The impartial letter retains each exit open: a money flip, an owner-finance deal, or a subdivide at a quantity that may shock most land flippers.
Then he awakened with half his face paralyzed
On the finish of June 2025, Seth awakened with all the left facet of his face paralyzed and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The prognosis was Ramsay-Hunt syndrome, a shingles an infection that assaults the facial nerves by means of the ear. In contrast to Bell’s palsy, which normally resolves in weeks, RHS has no treatment and no protocol. The specialist he noticed spent 5 minutes with him and stated there was nothing to be finished.
It did not cease at his face. His complete nervous system was affected. This can be a man who was lifting 200 kilos and taking 15-mile walks days earlier than it occurred. Afterward, he could not raise an empty espresso cup or stroll 10 ft with out a cane. For roughly six months, Bryce ran all the firm whereas Seth’s contribution was sitting on the sofa.
His restoration has been largely self-built: chiropractic, acupuncture, physiotherapy for the nervous system, facial workouts that at one level took two hours a day, an entire overhaul of his weight loss plan, and, on his physician’s orders, studying the best way to breathe appropriately (that is the place the ebook Breath by James Nestor is available in, linked above). He is again within the workplace on daily basis now, although a single afternoon on the household cabin can nonetheless wipe him out for 2 days.
What this really teaches about enterprise
Two issues from this dialog caught with me.
First, the partnership. The one cause this enterprise survived is that Bryce may take over all the pieces for six months. If you happen to’re a solo operator, it is price sitting with Seth’s query actually: when you disappeared tomorrow, what breaks? For them, the sincere reply was “high quality management slipped, however the enterprise lived.” For lots of one-person land operations, the sincere reply is “all the pieces.”
Second, his definition of success modified. His model now: if you are able to do what you need, the place you need, with the folks you need, with out worrying about time, that is final freedom. He’d fairly construct sufficient and have his time than ship 100,000 mailers to purchase extra work. No matter you consider that commerce, it hits totally different coming from somebody who spent six months unable to hold a glass of water.
If life has punched you within the face just lately, bodily, financially, or in any other case, this dialog is price your time. It is sincere concerning the components that do not wrap up neatly, together with the truth that Seth remains to be in the course of it.
Episode Transcript
Editor’s word: This transcript has been evenly edited for readability.
Share Your Ideas
Assist out the present!
Thanks once more for listening!
