Costly Land Buying Mistakes & How to Avoid Them | Real Estate Investing Pros

HANI LEVY (00:00)
You gotta believe in God and you gotta be thankful for the things you have and for your health because otherwise if I wouldn’t know how to be thankful. I think that was one of the situation that people literally. Literally they said, but you’ll repair with. Everything with dog. And the stock market and people was throwing themselves and your story that people just lost everything and just jump off a building and, and, ⁓ that could be one of those stories too, because you literally those, those individual that I dealt with them, I find it out five days after closing. Okay. And I thought there is kind of law that will protect me because it’s so fresh. And I say to them undo the deal, nothing happened yet, you You take your land, I take my money, you know? Nothing happened, it’s five days.

Dylan Silver (02:34)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest is the owner of H & M Housing and Land Development based out of beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Please welcome Hani Levy. Hani, welcome to the show.

HANI LEVY (02:48)
Thank you very much for having me today.

Dylan Silver (02:51)
It’s great

to have you on here. connected before the show, I believe last week, it might have been the week prior. You’ve got a very interesting story and really a cautionary tale. But before we get into that, how did you get into the real estate space, Hani?

HANI LEVY (03:07)
I always love real estate. I always love investing since I was a young kid. believe having peace on the earth is a great investment until it’s not.

Dylan Silver (03:20)
That’s right. I tell folks you know real estate is one of these things where a lot of people have made tremendous wealth from it. But on the flip side there is some fair share of leverage that can hurt if you ⁓ get involved in the wrong deal. When you were just starting out in the real estate space was there a specific asset class or type of deal that you were exploring when you were just getting started.

HANI LEVY (03:45)
So when we getting started, we was focusing on flips, getting to know the area, the space, the municipalities that you work, getting to know the code and what it take. You always have to start somewhere. So you start small. You start by buying little condos, then you start buying little house, and then you flip them and you sell them or you rent them. And that’s how you start. ⁓

But on the side of learning, that’s the baby step. You never go from zero to 100, you gotta start somewhere.

Dylan Silver (04:25)
Do you remember by any chance your first deal?

HANI LEVY (04:28)
I do actually it was here in floyd in like two thousand fifteen when the market was very very harsh here i bought up to condos. So i’m flipping them out and renting them. And then i saw them and that’s how we move.

Dylan Silver (04:50)
Walk me through that process. Did you find those condos on the MLS? How did you come across those condos?

HANI LEVY (04:56)
Actually, I was living back in the days in Atlanta, Georgia,

and I was kind of needed different environment. And I was actually looking online. I never even been there, you know, with the condominium was looking nice and stuff. And I saw the potential. I say, okay, if you demolish the bathroom, if you demolish the kitchen and do it this way and this way. And I think I start

put in a spreadsheet and I say, I’m going to take me to do this and I’m going to have to spend that amount of money. And then I can put a renter and the renter going to cost me that much every month. can bring me an income. So I started that way, you know, just buying two corner was on foreclosures. I didn’t know anything, anything about foreclosures. And I bought those two deals and that’s how I moved to Florida.

Dylan Silver (06:34)
and I’ll

Were those cash deals? Did you have financing for those?

And also, how did you find the labor? You were in Atlanta, I believe you mentioned. Was this people that you knew or did you have to make all new connections?

HANI LEVY (06:47)
you

Actually i have to make all new collections so i came down here it was all like a demolition site you know. I got together with few people in the building and they recommend you somebody it’s always good to go with the competition.

Dylan Silver (07:11)
100%. 100%. I moved down, actually in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. And I wouldn’t call it a flip, but I would say that there’s a lot of things that we did over here for our own ⁓ condo that we ⁓ really had to make connections, whether it’s electrician or whether it’s HVAC or so many different other things. whenever you’re moving anywhere, I think you need to have these types of people in place.

HANI LEVY (07:12)
Yeah.

Thank

No.

Thank

Dylan Silver (07:40)
You were doing an investment. It wasn’t just a move, it was an investment. Which came first, by the way. It sounds like you did this investment before you fully moved down to Fort Lauderdale. Were you looking at moving when you made that deal?

HANI LEVY (07:54)
I did, I was looking to kind of change the atmosphere. I say, I’m just going to buy it for an investment. And then I will just come when the tenants move out and I need to put a new tenant. So I think I can handle two. ⁓ that’s do the smart move. But then I ended up falling in love in the beautiful sunshine and just want to be here and want to work here and want to create a life here. So I just had to do the move.

Dylan Silver (08:24)
Fort Lauderdale is the place to be, hani. I’ve told people this because I live in the Dominican Republic. I’m in Fort Lauderdale specifically or the Miami airport maybe like five or six times a year and it is so nice when you’re over there especially downtown by the beach in Fort Lauderdale. It could be any time of year. It could be February and you’ll think to yourself my gosh this is nice. Did you have the same kind of experience when you went down there the first time that I did that? Wow this is a really nice place to be.

HANI LEVY (08:53)
I just didn’t want to leave. just like, okay, how do I make a life in here? You know, how do I get to live in such a beautiful place? And then I met my husband, you know, we started dating back in the days 10 years ago. ⁓ And I didn’t know his capability. I don’t think he knows himself his capability until until this day he was kind of in the

So when I met him, we had an air conditioning shop for trucks and truck, for cars and truck. We still have it here in Fort Lauderdale. And his goal tremendously every year more and more and more is called Placetas AC. So we started there and then he kind of neglected his skill and his love for building because he was so busy with the truck and car.

and slowly, slowly got back to school, got back into the construction together and got his licenses. And that’s how H born.

Dylan Silver (10:35)
I want to ask you about the deals with H and also the first year starting out and what that was like. I think a lot of people think about starting their own business within the real estate space and maybe looking in at one vertical. Housing and land development is an amazing space right now with how hot new builds are. Walk us through what that first year was like ⁓ for H

HANI LEVY (10:40)
of this book.

So first year in H ⁓ was very difficult because we thought that we finally got to do the space that we are in. And we thought that we can go ahead and put our first deal together, you know, and borderland for H ⁓ you know, so all the money that we saved from selling and buying and doing those little deals, you know.

That’s nothing like the animal of development, actual development. And fortunately, it’s very fortunate that that was our experience. So finally my husband got back all his, his, his finish all his school, got his himself these general contractor license is a plumbing license. got all the license that he need to actually create a development space.

And we went and we was looking for a land to buy. And when you look for a land is a brand new animal that people need to understand. That we thought, okay, we’re here in America. What can go wrong? know, it was innocent and you put all your life saving everything that you’ve been working on, plus money off other people that invested in you.

And you go and make a deal and unfortunately from being excitement to the entrepreneur and the development company, it started to a nightmare.

Dylan Silver (12:38)
And we’ll walk through that here and I want to mention this to our audience that as a realtor myself licensed in a different state in Texas You know, there are things that all people have to be cautious of and even and I say this as a realtor not every realtor is aware of of everything that can go South everything that can go awry in a deal

So walk us through this deal, Hani. How did you find the deal? Was it on market? Was it off market? Walk us through the deal and how things went south.

HANI LEVY (13:12)
So the deal was I found a land that advertise ⁓ and don’t quote me quote unquote, but it was marked as suit to build. This was exactly what we’re looking for. So when you see advertising on the TV, for example, for medicine that you might be needing, that’s what they marketed for somebody that have a migraine, somebody that’s saying in the…

In the market, if you are looking for a land, you’re looking for something specific. So when I call SoutoBuild, I contact my village. And I say, hey, there is a land that advertises SoutoBuild ready to go. I want you to get me more information about this land, like everybody else would have done. So I hire an agent. I show him the land. He start contacted with the other agent.

And say, hey, I have a people down into the development space. They looking to build three single family home on this land. We think it will work. And good thing that he put everything in writing because if it wasn’t in writing, we might will have a different conversation right now. So, ⁓ but he makes sure that other literature knew that we looking for something to ready to build.

That was clear from the beginning. people get to also confuse between developers and buying a land. So you can be the greatest developer in the world. You know how to build, okay? You know how to build from the ground up. It doesn’t mean that you understand how to buy land.

That’s totally different story. Whoever needs to be able to assist you is your realtor.

and your closing agents that guide you. My husband can be the greatest builder in the world and could be building shopping mall, could be building whatever in different countries, whatever that doesn’t make you an expert in buying the land itself. That’s totally different, different thing. And why I’m repeating that so people know, don’t, don’t get confused between the developer. It sounds great. can develop for you.

But it doesn’t mean that it’ll guarantee to you that there is no complication on the land buying itself, which we experienced too. We didn’t even know the terms that we face in the first time in our life in 2023. We didn’t know what does it mean, landlock. What is this term, landlock?

And I don’t believe a lot of people here in the broadcast will understand it, that term. I didn’t even know what is ingress and egress. I know what is exit and enter. I don’t know what is ingress and egress. So when I am as a consumer going to the city, I ask the specifics questions, which I did before I bought the land.

Dylan Silver (16:51)
Right? Walk us through that.

Right.

HANI LEVY (17:14)
I walk into the building department. I want to know what issue with the land before I’m buying. What can I face? What gives me the inside and out? You are the building department. I want to know what can you tell me about this land? So if you would think as a normal consumer, if there was a serious issue, they would have told you right then and there. Listen, this is the issue, but…

I get a long list of things. Okay, we check this, we check this, we’re going over the list with the zoning people. Check this check. Good, we can handle this. We can end this problem. We can do this. But nobody tell me, hey lady, hey ma’am, this is a landlock because I would ask that question. What do you mean? So you send emails.

Dylan Silver (18:09)
Right.

HANI LEVY (18:11)
to the zoning department and you go in and meet with them and trying to figure it out before you buy, is that good investment or that bad investment? And as a consumer, I would think that the building department would be the place to go, the place to get your answer. Those are the people that are dealing with your land. Those are the people that would do everything they put there in this position to help you.

And that’s what I think other people would think that ⁓ that should be your answer you go to. But from my experience and I hope this doesn’t happen to anybody because that’s the whole reason is to bring people here to educate them. ⁓ So they doesn’t go to what I go. So I go to many sleepless nights. All my investment is

tied up to a property that has no use at the moment. And I don’t want…

Dylan Silver (19:17)
I want to ask you, Hani, about what people can do to avoid this. know, if I’m listening to this story, you went to the city, ⁓ you asked questions. This was a time where you were trying to do your due diligence properly, right? ⁓ And still the city wasn’t able to give you the right information. And so what can people do to avoid these issues?

HANI LEVY (19:46)
One thing that the people can do is maybe that I didn’t do probably has day attorney going with them to the city maybe ⁓ and walk to this, which I think in my case, it wouldn’t be any different because he would have received the same information I got at that day.

So this is something that keeps repeating in my head also and I keep going back and forth. Maybe if I would have my attorney going with me to the city, ⁓ is that would it be different? But he would get the same information so he could make the same mistake as I did. ⁓ Other thing maybe would be better for me if the same guy that did my closing.

Shouldn’t be my attorney for the closing. Maybe should be different person that look over the closing. ⁓ So it’s not conflict of interest. Do you see what I’m saying? ⁓ I wish I would have a better answer. What could I done different? Because I’m asking myself too. What could I done different to avoid this issue?

Dylan Silver (20:55)
Yeah.

HANI LEVY (21:10)
That probably those two things that I will maybe do next time have maybe my attorney with me going down to the city. I have a different attorney from your closing to the one that doing your closing that is. Is focusing on get this deal, get it off the book, get you out of the office, you know, and sometimes they can over loop over things, but I was so.

persisted with asking myself, I’ve been calling to my closing agent attorney and keep asking him, hey, look me in the eyes. This is everything I am right now. You gotta promise me that I sat down with him. look at his eyes, you know, and I say, please tell me if something is wrong. You know, have something gut feelings inside you to tell you something. You gotta be careful what you’re doing.

And all the answer I receive, he’s your first deal, he’s your first land. You’re just nervous, everything is okay. And you kept getting the insurance for them that you like, okay, I’m just overprotected. I’m over asking questions, you know? I did turn up and I wasn’t. I am.

Dylan Silver (22:06)
Yeah.

I want to ask you about ⁓ financing in these cases. think ⁓ it sounds like this was a cash deal, right? This is a cash deal. And I think a lot of people, when they’re starting out, ⁓ both because of limited experience and then also because of limited ⁓ deal history and connections and so many other factors, they do start out with cash.

HANI LEVY (22:34)
Thanks.

Yes.

Dylan Silver (22:56)
I’m curious to get your perspective. If lenders were involved, would lenders have come in it and maybe the lenders would have said, well, we’re not going to loan you on this because it’s landlocked.

HANI LEVY (23:08)
I think so. They more experience in reading all kinds of documents and what my agency that I hired to do the closing missed, they somebody on the end would have caught it.

Dylan Silver (23:10)
you know, and yeah.

would have known, you know, and when I hear stories like this, Hani, what it brings up to my mind is I think there’s so many different specialties within the real estate space. You know, you’re in housing and land development. There’s people that do multifamily. There’s people that do commercial residential, you know, ⁓ RV parks, storage facilities. And then each one of these deals, you’ve got financing, you’ve got zoning, you’ve got ⁓

HANI LEVY (23:45)
Thank

Dylan Silver (24:00)
underwriting the deal. You’ve got maintenance. If you’re going to sell it to someone you’ve got to find the correct person to market it and the correct platform to market it on. And it could be really on the surface a great deal but there could be one thing that inexperience or that not not having the right information could throw the whole thing off and now it’s a mess. And in this case it was it being landlocked. I’m curious

HANI LEVY (24:11)
you

Dylan Silver (24:29)
This is still of course fresh in your memory because you’re in many ways still dealing with it it wasn’t that long ago. How do you recover from something like this? How do you pick up the pieces and keep moving forward?

HANI LEVY (24:41)
You gotta

you gotta believe in God and you gotta be thankful for the things you have and for your health because otherwise if I wouldn’t know how to be thankful. I think that was one of the situation that people literally. Literally they said, but you’ll repair with. Everything with dog.

And the stock market and people was throwing themselves and your story that people just lost everything and just jump off a building and, and, ⁓ that could be one of those stories too, because you literally those, those individual that I dealt with them, I find it out five days after closing. Okay. And I thought there is kind of law that will protect me because it’s so fresh. And I say to them.

undo the deal, nothing happened yet, you You take your land, I take my money, you know? Nothing happened, it’s five days.

And everybody kind of basically told me school you from everybody else, from the military to the closing agents to the attorneys that involved, you know?

You know, that type of the point put you in such a dark place that you like, punch me like it’s not real. This is not real. This is not happening. How can it happen here in the United States of America? How?

Dylan Silver (26:14)
Yeah.

HANI LEVY (26:16)
How can this

happen? kind of like a… It’s like… It still don’t register to me that I’m going to this, but I have a three-year-old Dylan and I have to wake up and take care of her. And they took from me everything. They took from me. They literally took from me everything. My everything. And you have to get up.

Dylan Silver (26:34)
Yeah.

Yeah.

HANI LEVY (26:45)
And you have to be thankful, look at the sun and be thankful for what you have, which is your health. And say, as long as I have the health to get up and fight, I got to do that. I got to show my daughter that is okay. But the most, the most disappointing things that when I got up and fight back, you know, I felt disappointed for my city, you know, they knew what

what I went through, you would think that they will be there for you to fix something like that. And what I try to apply for very so far, they’re dealing from God’s miracle. Let’s call it God miracle. I had a generous neighbor that heard what I went through and was willing to give me an access to his land. So I bought an access.

to his land, okay? I bought my excess, but…

And that’s what I call God-birical because the rest of the neighbor didn’t want good. Yeah, great. She lost. She should do her due diligence. You know, sometimes you get those type of reaction when you don’t understand why. What did I do to you that I deserve this? You know, nobody deserves this. Nobody to do. Everybody deserves to use their land. Everybody deserves to use what they bought for. Regardless if you bought a cell phone in the store.

You deserve to get a working cell phone. I bought a land. And the funny thing, the land is zoned for residential. The land is zoned for residential. So finally, I thought, God help me. He listened to my pray. I find a way. He directed me. I bought a piece of land for my neighbor. Great. Now I can go build on it, right? Now I can go back to the city and expect.

Dylan Silver (28:23)
Yeah, it’s like service, yeah.

Right.

HANI LEVY (28:49)
And explain, okay, here’s the situation. Good. Now I can build, right? No, no lady. Now you cannot build. Why? Now you created flagship property. Now you’ve got to go to a zoning variance. Okay. What do I need to do? Tell me what do I need to do? How can I create this? This is was a landlock. Okay. Go back, go hire an attorney, go ask for a variance. We should be fine.

This is a, this is a weird situation. They should approve me because I should be able to lose my land. That’s the law. You read the law. The law say everybody should be able to use their land. Florida law. Great. I’d be able to get my variance by attorney explain. That’s a unique hardship. She bought the land like that. The reason why she created a flood property. Why is shaped like a flood?

Dylan Silver (29:27)
Yeah.

HANI LEVY (29:48)
is because she has to buy access to enter and exit the land. So she didn’t create the land issue. She bought it. She inherited that problem. This is inherited. But the city didn’t like the fact that, guess, and this is my opinion and my only opinion, that’s how I observed the thing.

Dylan Silver (30:14)
Yeah.

HANI LEVY (30:16)
They didn’t like the fact that this story went to the media and I told the truth that I went to the city and asked for knowing if there is any issue with the land that that wasn’t disclosed to me. I didn’t say it out of, out of hurting anybody. I say it because I want people to know so people can take my stories and not get hurt. You know, it wasn’t malicious.

Dylan Silver (30:45)
I mean, hani, when I hear your story and when I hear so many others, and I know this sounds like maybe pessimistic, especially since I’m a real estate guy and a Texas licensed realtor, I tell folks, if you are going to get a property for investment anywhere in the United States, and especially if it’s your first deal, but even if it’s not, even if it’s not,

HANI LEVY (30:46)
And I felt like…

you

Thank

Dylan Silver (31:10)
So many things can go wrong and then you went to all the people that you could have gone to on your own and they maybe gave you, maybe they were doing their best, maybe they weren’t, I don’t know and probably will never know, right? But the only way that people ⁓ can maybe address some of these issues before they happen is through a real estate attorney and it’s so expensive. mean, it feels like, especially as a younger person,

for you to go to a real estate attorney and for them to even get the ball rolling. It’s like $5,000.

HANI LEVY (31:42)
I really say that’s going to close in on this. That’s he does is an attorney on the company of the closing. How you did not protect me.

Dylan Silver (31:47)
Yeah, it’s

HANI LEVY (31:58)
How you didn’t bring me to your, that’s a question that this whole thing in litigation, but, I cannot speak about the litigation part, but that’s something that I questioned every day. have to go to sleep with this. Why didn’t you call me? Why didn’t you send me an email? Why?

Dylan Silver (32:20)
Was this the closing

attorney that owned a brokerage or was this like a separate attorney that you hired into it?

HANI LEVY (32:26)
It’s

separate attorney that handled the closing. A separate attorney.

Dylan Silver (32:32)
Okay, I’m unfamiliar with that that setup, but honestly, it sounds like something legitimate that I would do too. I’m so sorry that you went through this, hani. And I couldn’t imagine anything else that you possibly could have done. And I’m sure as you mentioned, you thought about this, you know, what else could I have done? How do I do this? On the one hand, it’s a miracle that the neighbor gave you the the easement, I believe is the term.

HANI LEVY (32:56)
So, thank

Dylan Silver (33:00)
On the other hand, it’s so frustrating that you’re still dealing with this. ⁓

We are coming up on time here though, Hani. Where can folks go if maybe they’re in the Florida area and they’d like to reach out to you? Maybe they have a deal that they’d like your feedback on because they have concerns and they’re wondering if they should take it. How can folks reach out to you?

HANI LEVY (33:19)
They can go to our Instagram page, H & M Housing and Land Development. I’d be happy to answer any question. I hope that was a valuable lesson to everybody. I hope they take something out of this information.

and protect their assets, protect their family, protect their future because the only reason that I will go and expose myself today like this is because I want to save somebody else from going to what me and my family go through and I don’t want this to happen to anybody, anybody.

Dylan Silver (33:56)
Yeah.

Hani, thank you so much for coming on the show here today.

HANI LEVY (34:00)
Thank you, Dylan, and I hope this information does work.