How to Invest in U.S. Land Remotely from Overseas with Arturo Paturzo

Arturo Paturzo (00:00)
honesty. I mean on honesty is the most important thing is not only in business but in in life. is to be honest with and it always pays off. You know, to be honest with your sellers, with your buyers, with your lenders. you know, many times it it came to me, I was talking about this with another land investor just a couple of days ago.

How many times you see, especially but not not only young in young, I mean like new investors doing this, but also someone that has more experience just to rely on people so to borrow money from people for deals that they would never put their money themselves.

Quentin Edmonds (02:11)
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited to be here today. I am super excited about my guests. We’re gonna talk about some land today, y’all. And I I’m so excited to talk about talk to this gentleman.

⁓ he’s proficient at what he does and I know we’re gonna learn a lot from his experience and so I am super excited to introduce you all to Mr. Art. Yes, that’s what he said I can call him, and that’s what I’m gonna call him, Mr. Art. So Mr. Art, how are you doing today, sir?

Arturo Paturzo (02:46)
Hi Quentin. I’m great. Thank you very much for having me here. I’m very excited. Thank you.

Quentin Edmonds (02:51)
Absolutely. Well listen, I’m I’m so glad to have you here. And Mr. Art, I am the type. I like to dive right in, right? So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got to where you are.

And then if you do not mind, tell them what part of the world you’re in. People love to know where people are geographically. And I think it would be exciting for them to hear where you are. So what’s your what you’re up to, your origin story, and where you are. Mr. Art Tree of the Sorcerer.

Arturo Paturzo (03:23)
So I let’s start from the the last one. From where where I am from is Rome. I’m Italian. I I do like real estate in the US. I have a couple of rentals here in Italy, but my business is is in the US. what I do is I am a land investor. So this is the short version, meaning that I have never

bought and sold or fix any kind of asset like single families or commercial or anything else. Well what I do I just deal with vacant land in many ways and we can get a little deeper as we move on in in the podcast. I started real estate investing in the US with tax deeds and tax liens, not exclusively land in 2020.

But I soon realized that that was not it it didn’t really resonate with me. Plus I realized that and I might be wrong, probably there are some millionaires here who became millionaires with tax leans and tax leads, but that was not what it looked at me at that time. so I decided to move to something else within real estate that I could do while living in Italy. and

I came across a video on YouTube from a guy that today is one of my best friends and one of the biggest land investors, Seth Williams. And that video triggered my curiosity. And I realized I could do land while being in Italy. And that was 2021. And since then it’s just history. I’m still doing it.

Quentin Edmonds (05:48)
Absolutely. ⁓ Mr. Art. Thank you, sir. Thank you for walking me through what you do now, kind of how you got there. and I know you say you started in tax liens and now you’re in land. And so, Mr. Art, I I have a saying most times on the pod. I say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Destiny has no wasted moments, meaning like

Things are unfolding in our life, kind of the way they’re supposed to be. And we look at the breadcrumbs, we kind of see how we got to where we are, right? So, just to peek a little bit into you, what have you learned through the transition from tax to land? Like, what have the moments taught you about yourself? Has they taught you discipline, resilience? Has it changed your mind when it comes to strategies? Like, what is these moments taught you about yourself, Mr. Art?

Arturo Paturzo (06:34)
Well, I actually for sure discipline has been something. Now there is something to say that makes my position a little I don’t want to say unique, but probably is. Not only I am Italian, but I am also I have a W two job which is quite demanding. I am a a an Italian Navy officer. so and that is probably where discipline comes from.

Yeah. is I would say that discipline has played a a a bigger, bigger part in in what I am today. along with also a little bit like understanding that and that took a little more time not to be like

I don’t know if you ever heard or if you know who is Jimmy Carr. Jimmy Carr is a comedian. Yeah there is there is a very nice definition. He he compares entitlement and ambition. So he says ambition is where you are now, where you want to be, there are a series of things that you need to do that is ambition. Yeah. Entitled, so feeling entitlement is this is where I am now, this is where I want to be. I’m not here because it’s someone else’s fault.

So it can be the acquisition manager, I have to change my transaction coordinator, I have you know, that my disposition manager is not good enough. So many times we all fall into the trap of saying it’s someone else’s fault if I’m not where I am to be, while the problem is more about processes, systems, hiring processes, and and and so to recognize that everything that happens into your business is your responsibility, this is another thing that

is it’s been pretty pretty big.

Quentin Edmonds (08:23)
Yes. Man, thank you. Thank you for that reflective answer. I appreciate that. I always want to kind of peek into the the business owner, the entrepreneur mind of kind of how he got to where he where he is. Because as I told you, people are on the different parts of their journey. And I want them to kind of reflect on what got me started and how did I get to where I am? Because you can pull from the source whenever you need to. And so I know you talked about processes and strategies, and I love that.

Mr. Art what’s one process or one strategy that you use now that has been very, very beneficial to you?

Arturo Paturzo (09:33)
so one thing that I I like as I said before, into the land space, you can do land in many different ways. So the way that normally land investor starts is by flipping. Actually, when I started doing land in 2021, I I I started by flipping like little desert squares near Eloy in Pinot County.

I bought them for $500 and then flip in for $2,500 each. of course self-closing, no title companies. That is the way that I started. And it was the the you know proof of concept. So the the system works and then I moved to to bigger deals progressively. and nowadays what we like to do is we essentially have a three kind of line of products you can consider.

One is steel flips. We go after properties that are market value no less than fifty, sixty thousand dollars. then we do minor subdivide or or plat exempt subdivide. And this is actually something that a strategy that probably is my favorite nowadays, which consists in buying bigger recreages. generally they are 10, 15 acres, being knowledgeable or study.

today AI can help you a lot. The you know, everything that it comes to zoning ordinances, subdivide regulation, then split the land and essentially force the appreciation of the land but of the of the of the land by selling the child parcels that you have created. Because normally not always the rule, but I would say that 99% of the time the price per acre of the child parcels are higher than the price per acre of the big

part and parcel and that allows you to have a profit. This is a strategy that we love and we are trying to do on a scale. And then there is the third thing that is entitlements, which is always a kind of subdivision play, but that encompasses also, you know, bringing utilities, getting all the permits to build and then sell

permits plus land plus a project to create a subdivision to some national builder or developer. This is something that we also do, but not as many as min minor subdivide and f and flip. So I would say that minor subdivide is my main strategy nowadays.

Quentin Edmonds (11:59)
I love it. I love it, Mr. Art. So what’s next for you, sir? What’s next for the business? What are you looking to solve or scale next? What’s the next real goal?

Arturo Paturzo (12:08)
So one thing that I am looking, which is the normal evolution of the minor subdivide. You know, minor subdivide, you just take a piece of land and you split it in like you have 50 acres and you do like you know 10, 5 acres lot. Okay, that is that is a a normal minor subdivide. the next step that I am looking at, I’m not there yet, is

to jump into the land package game, which is not only to divide, so to not stop there and then sell the land, but to put a mobile home, to put you know a a a manufactured home on the land and then sell a land plus manufacture. That is, you know, taking in consideration the the shortage of housing around the US, I think that is a good way to

to to to to to work in the business while also being of assistance to someone who is looking actually for for an affordable house to live.

Quentin Edmonds (13:10)
Yeah, yeah. I love it. So, you know, helping people that’s looking for an affordable house to live in. So that lets me know your mind is obviously on helping people, serving people. So I want to hear your philosophy when it comes to this word relationship. Mr. Art, when you hear the word relationship from a business perspective, what comes to mind to you, sir?

Arturo Paturzo (14:15)
honesty. I mean on honesty is is the most important thing is not only in business but in in life. is to be honest with and it always pays off. You know, to be honest with your sellers, with your buyers, with your lenders. you know, many times it it came to me, I was talking about this with another land investor just a couple of days ago.

How many times you see, especially but not not only young in young, I mean like new investors doing this, but also someone that has more experience just to rely on people so to borrow money from people for deals that they would never put their money themselves.

That is completely wrong, you know? And and it is not a good thing to do. It doesn’t do any good to the business in general.

and it doesn’t do any good to the person that is asking for the money and of course it doesn’t do any good to to the lender who is supposed to to give this money so essentially I I I do use hard money lenders, private lenders, and you know I have equity partnership with people. Sometimes I play as an equity partner on someone else’s deals. but it’s always because

When when I don’t use my own money, for example, now we’re talking about lenders, but honesty is about everything. But when you don’t use when I don’t use my own money is just because I prefer to use my money for marketing, for example. You know, there is a better use of my money. But if I had the possibility, I would have no doubt to use my money on the deal that I’m asking money for to a third person. It’s just that I prefer to use my money, you know, you have a finite amount of money. I prefer to use for marketing.

Yeah. And and so I would say relationships for me is all based on honesty. That that’s it. And you know, nowadays also we are in in a world where your reputation counts a lot. there are a lot of scams online, and even if you don’t want to create necessarily a brand.

You know, I don’t think that someone needs to start this business, say, I need to create a brand. This is something that comes with time, but you need to think about I need to have a reputable business because people must be willing to work with me. And they, you know, they rely on me, they rely on the person that I am, on my value, and I want to serve these persons.

Quentin Edmonds (16:47)
Yeah. Mr. Art man, I appreciate you so much, man, for coming on, dropping these nuggets. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, sir?

Arturo Paturzo (17:01)
Well the the the best way is they can find me on on Facebook as well my family name is not easy to to to spell but anyway Arturo Paturzo P A T U R Z O or more easily probably just to send an email at [email protected] Diendei is spelled D-I-E-N-D-E-I. if you look for Arturo Land Investor on on internet anyway, you will find all the contacts, other podcasts, everything that I I’ve been part of, and you will you will find a way to to reach out to me. Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (17:42)
Yeah. Well listen, Mr. Art, let me say three things to you, sir. First, thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. So thank you for your time coming on and sharing these real nuggets with people. secondly, thank you for your story. You know, I think stories have a way of planting seeds in people. We may never see the growth, but the seed is there. So thank you for coming on, planting real seeds. Lastly, man, thank you for the way you think. Thank you for your mindset and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on today.

Arturo Paturzo (18:08)
Thank you very much, Quentin. It’s been a pleasure.

Quentin Edmonds (18:10)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Art. His information is in the show notes. So please get in contact with him. But definitely make sure you are subscribed here. Because I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like Mr. Art. So, sir, I say thank you again. And everyone else, y’all have a fantastic day.