What I'm thinking about: How 2X gross margin deals are still out there for focused and resourceful operators, even when it seems like most of the industry has convinced themselves these opportunities have vanished in 2025.

We recently funded a rural Illinois property that moved from ~$60K purchase to a ~$127K cash offer in 32 hours after listing (and we closed less than 3 weeks later, hard to beat!)

Here's how we did it.

Finding Value Where Others See Risk

The fundamentals were solid but not spectacular: 22 acres with mixed utility for both farming and hunting, priced at $2.6K per acre.

The seller had bought it a few years back with plans to relocate there, but life happened and they were stuck with a mortgage they couldn't handle. Most seller stories rhyme with each other — similar situations, different details. We would've preferred to get the seller closer to the $50-55K purchase price based on a volatile market and limited comps, but after our broker visited the property and was impressed by the characteristics, $5.5K per acre to exit seemed reasonable.

As always, downside protection comes first. Even if we had to fire-sale at the lowest comp we found (a distressed $3K per acre sale from earlier this year with shoddy improvements and poor road frontage), we'd still break even after commission and closing costs.

Also, while this deal supports our thesis about Midwest and Northeast RE markets outperforming, our broker warned us this specific area had been “rough” this year, noting long days on market. Perfect reminder that real estate is hyper-local — you go zip code by zip code or street by street, not state by state or region by region.

Immediate Interest: The First 24 Hours

With solid drone photos (and trail cams placed, always helpful for hunting properties), we priced the parcel at $6K per acre to test the market.

Almost immediately, a cash buyer who owned 400 acres of farmland adjacent to our property called with a verbal offer: $ 5,000 per acre, all cash, close ASAP using the same title company that handled our purchase.

In today's market, that level of immediate activity is rare enough that most operators would jump on it, especially with this profit margin, or just attempt a light counter.

We didn't.

The 32-Hour Negotiation

Here's where it gets a little hectic, but let's take it step-by-step:

Instead of accepting the $5K offer, we countered at $5,750 per acre. If there is early activity on a parcel with limited market data, generally we will attempt to anchor higher instead of meeting in the middle.

Their response: $5,400 per acre. We countered that we would accept, provided the buyer paid all closing costs with the title.

On the morning of the following day, they agreed to $5,400 per acre, covering $3K of the seller's closing costs. However, they set their purchase price at $118K as a written offer expiring at 6:00 p.m.

We did not have a survey for the property, and the buyer did not require one. We were going by the county-listed acreage of 22.11 acres for the property's size.

Using $118K as a base, that would be equal to a ~21.85-acre property, at $5,400 per acre. We didn't want to be short-changed, so we countered back that we would need to use the correct 22.11-acre measurement and $5,400 per acre, arriving at $119,394.

Here's where timing created leverage: We had another site visit scheduled that same morning at 9 AM. Recall that the farmer's offer would expire at 6 PM. This was a perfect setup to create competitive pressure without being dishonest about our position.

When you have genuine activity and a hard deadline, you ask for “highest and best” from both parties, assuming the site visit lead would want to make an offer. Some sellers lacking in integrity will use that tactic to attempt to juice pricing, without having a backup buyer. But in our case, if they tried to call our bluff, the buyer who lost out would see our listing go under contract later that day as a proof point.

Why We Rejected a $140K Offer

The site visit lead loved the property and said they were going to come back with a “high offer” by noon that day.

In the meantime, the farmer presented their final offer: $5,750 per acre (matching our original counter) plus up to $1.5K in seller closing costs (and at the correct 22.11 acres).

That put us at approximately $ 127,000 total, with proof of funds already submitted and an ASAP closing timeline.

The site visitor came back at $ 140,000 total, but contingent upon them selling their house first. They hadn't even listed it yet, but thought they’d be able to sell and close on our property within 30 days.

Our broker showed us data on how slow the local housing market was, saying, “It’s pretty terrible,” and a 30-day contingent sale timeline was unrealistic. Maybe three to six months if they got lucky.

Easy decision. $127K cash closing within a few weeks versus $140K maybe-deal that could drag us through months of uncertainty or lose an excellent bird in hand?

As mentioned, the property closed shortly thereafter, with great realized profits!

The Reality of Challenging Markets

This deal proves that 2X margin opportunities still exist for operators willing to maintain high standards. And our standards are as strict as they come, or so I'm told.

Are these deals harder to find? Absolutely.

Do they always move this fast? Definitely not; we were expecting a significantly longer hold time, and this will probably result in the fastest purchase-to-sale we've EVER handled.

The market is tougher, but the 2x deals are there for teams that know how to find them and are ready to execute when they appear.

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Looking for reliable funding on proven 2X margin deals? Serious Land Capital specializes in exactly these opportunities ($50K min purchase price). We've built our entire mid-7-figure operation around funding deals some people say are extinct:

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Originally published on https://seriousland.capital/newsletter/ on September 1, 2025