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Show Summary
In this conversation, John Harcar interviews Mariah Casanova, who shares her journey from residential real estate to land development. Mariah discusses her family’s history with land, her passion for sustainability, and the challenges she faced in transitioning to land sales. She emphasizes the importance of community, education, and effective marketing in her business model, while also advocating for responsible land stewardship and regenerative practices. Mariah encourages aspiring buyers to pursue their dreams of land ownership and highlights the significance of personal connection to the land.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Mariah Casanova (00:00)
and so that we can really start to ask ourselves, how can we self sustain again and find who we are as human beings? Because without purpose, we really do struggle. It’s just too easy. We get our coffee in the morning. We don’t wake up with a lot of purpose. And so I think my generation has a large calling to it, to be able to rejuvenate the earth, have regenerative methods that we can actually sustain.John Harcar (00:15)
Mm-hmm.Mariah Casanova (00:25)
but also bring in these small town conveniences where they can get their groceries and we can share in community resourcesJohn Harcar (02:13)
All right. Hey guys, welcome back to our show. I’m your host, John Harcar, and I’m here today with Mariah Casanova. And what we’re going to talk about, you know, besides her journey in real estate and what brought her up to today is some really cool things they’re doing in the land development space. You know, we talked a little bit off offline and it seems very, very interesting. So I’m looking forward to talking about that. Mariah, welcome to our show.Mariah Casanova (02:14)
Thank you so much, John. Thank you. I’m really grateful to be here.John Harcar (02:39)
Yeah, thank you for coming on. I love bringing new knowledge to our listeners and some of the stuff that you’re doing I think is awesome. But before we get into all that, tell our audience a little bit about you, kind of your journey and what really brought you up to today.Mariah Casanova (02:53)
So my journey in land really started when I was young. I mean, it really has to start ⁓ at the heart. My grandfather bought 17 acres back in the 20s and it was in Floorsville, really sandy soil. But he had, at that time, gotten out of the military, World War II veteran, and he knew that he had to make a move to kind of create this landscape for his family. And so that was truly his American dream.coming to life and through that 17 acres, they were able to farm the land. They were able to take vegetables and fruits to market. And they ended up having eight kids in 11 years so that they could work that farm. And it was unbelievable. And it truly is like, my dad will tell you that, you know, my grandmother and him, they kept having kids because they knew they needed, you know, help and army basically.
John Harcar (03:30)
Had to build the farm hands.More help. Right.
Mariah Casanova (03:42)
And so ⁓ it shaped the way that I grew up understanding the hardship, but also the beauty in having land. And my family would gather out there, huge family parties and just events. And it was really, really simple. My grandmother ended up having a little mobile home because they had to move out of the two story, two bedroom home that they all slept in. So obviously they grew up.you know, with real poverty issues, but because of the land, they were able to eat the food that they grew. They were able to still take it to market and in their own way, make it work. so, of course, you know, the big capitalism shift happened, industrial revolution, everything changed. And so my passion with land started there, but then I started to realize there was a huge gap in land ownership. And so in the last three years,
I’ve really focused and dedicated time to building my knowledge around it. I got my license in 2017 and I was working in the residential side,
but I just realized that suburban homes didn’t really light my fire. It was really working with the land. So being out in the field, being able to work with the good men and women of this country, and that’s a lot of people’s dreams. They just don’t know how to get there.
John Harcar (05:46)
Yeah. And that’s awesome. And normally one of my questions is kind of, if someone had any early influence in land, you already answered that for me. So what kind of turned you off about the residential real estate just wasn’t, you said not fulfilling. How so?Mariah Casanova (06:01)
Well, I got to a place where, you know, I would go out to the country with my family and then I’d kind of come back to suburbia and I felt that it wasn’t really speaking to my soul. I was looking at the four, you know, the three fence lines that I had and just kind of feeling like I couldn’t do what I wanted with land.I do believe that everybody should have the opportunity to have chickens and renewable resources through animals and livestock and being able to plant in their own land, in their own gardens. But because of restrictions, you are a little bit more confined to the rules and regulations of a neighborhood. So my thing is keep the aesthetic high so that you enjoy your property, but build around that.
be able to do creative and collaborative things with your land.
John Harcar (06:50)
Was it because of your upbringing on land and your experience and your memories on land? Is that why that’s so passionate for you? Or is it just, you know, like, you know, I’ve talked to other people that that transitioned to land because they just saw the concrete jungle coming and they wanted to kind of not have that happen, right?Mariah Casanova (06:53)
your experience.and the concrete jungle. I think
it’s both. think there’s a preservation in my soul that I do believe that I don’t know if it’s ancestral that I feel very deeply tied to the land, but I’m extremely passionate about preserving the natural landscape. And that’s that’s what I’m really gearing up into is is working with the the ecosystem.
that’s actually around us because if we continue to develop and we don’t take care of that, we’re gonna end up seeing really dire consequences. ⁓ But truly, yes, it was because I missed being at my grandmother’s place. I missed being able to run around. I missed being able to pick wildflowers and take them inside. And there was just something really raw about it. And I’m…
John Harcar (07:39)
Mm-hmm.Hmm?
Mariah Casanova (07:56)
I’m kind of a wild spirit. Like I just love being out in nature. So, you know, but my kids are in the suburbs, so they want my, my family wanted a good education for them. And I don’t necessarily think I’m ready for homeschooling yet. Yes. And so it’s really finding this mix of getting away from the urban conveniences.John Harcar (08:09)
Right? Yeah. No, I understand that. I’m in the same boat. I’d rather be in the mountains, but gotta keep her near a school.Mariah Casanova (08:21)
and so that we can really start to ask ourselves, how can we self sustain again and find who we are as human beings? Because without purpose, we really do struggle. It’s just too easy. We get our coffee in the morning. We don’t wake up with a lot of purpose. And so I think my generation has a large calling to it, to be able to rejuvenate the earth, have regenerative methods that we can actually sustain.John Harcar (08:36)
Mm-hmm.Mariah Casanova (08:47)
but also bring in these small town conveniences where they can get their groceries and we can share in community resourceswe like to create a good mix with the areas that we work in. so investing in local businesses and trying to tie in community in all of it.
John Harcar (09:06)
I love it. When you made this transition from residential to land, were there any struggles? Were there any things that were maybe harder to pick up or things that you just needed to really focus on?Mariah Casanova (09:17)
Yes, sir. I would say the hardest thing is that you just don’t, nobody teaches you unless you have a really strong broker or just somebody that has been in land sales before. You have to learn how to work with the utility companies. You have to learn how to work with lenders and make sure the appraisal goes through and they see the value of the land. You have to make sure you understand improvements on the land, the value of that.John Harcar (09:25)
Hmm.Mariah Casanova (10:17)
knowing how to locate a septic system and understanding how to read easements. so you do kind of go back to an engineering mind. It’s very design oriented and you have to learn all those components. Whereas with residential property, they have built out a very cookie cutter system. So real estate agents learn the inner workings of the house and they don’t have to worry about.John Harcar (10:30)
Mm-hmm.Right.
Mariah Casanova (10:44)
anything with the land at all. So it was starting from scratch, absolutely. The knowledge base was definitely starting from scratch.John Harcar (10:52)
How did you learn?Mariah Casanova (10:53)
I have a great broker. my, the brokerage is through vertical integration realty, but it’s land homes, Texas, ⁓ as a business. And so that’s where the engineering feasibility, they, they really walk you through kind of the process. And my encouragement is for more people to, to get out and sell land, but you do have to get uncomfortable. You do have to go out into the field. You have to walk the land. You have to learn how to ask really good questions. And so it’s.And it really is about the questions. It’s what does this thing do? What is that thing learning a true application of the land so that you can start to help people actually be able to live on it.
John Harcar (11:32)
Right. Do you think that it because of the other and maybe more nuances it has is what keeps people away from selling land?Mariah Casanova (11:39)
I certainly think it does. Absolutely. I encourage people all the time that are in residential to come out with me to drive with the buggy. When you start seeing land more and more and more, literally your landscape and your lens starts to change dramatically. So you see things that you’ve never seen before. like, I’ve never, you drive out in the country, I’ve never seen that building. I’ve never seen this. And it changes the way that you look at the entireworld really when you start to learn developing and you start to learn land. But yeah, there’s a huge learning curve when you get into it.
John Harcar (12:12)
Excuse me. So let’s talk about what your business looks like now. What is your kind of team do you have? Where are you focused? What areas?Mariah Casanova (12:19)
Yes. So we have a lot of different properties that we’ve opened up in central Texas. And specifically that those came about because there was an investor that was holding property and it’s pretty common to buy land and hold it. But they got to a point where they wanted to liquidate. They wanted to maybe get some movement with other investments. And they asked, they started asking themselves what they could do with the land. And so they came across our brokerage.our business really, and they asked us how we could develop it so that people could actually live on it. Well, there were a lot of challenges with that. When working with land, it’s not always perfect. It doesn’t always cut up great. But what we do is we created a model to keep ag exempt land ag exempt and to help people to figure out how to utilize the land.
John Harcar (13:00)
Mm-hmm.Mariah Casanova (13:11)
So we’re bringing on different resources now. We’re working with permaculture groups, edible landscape groups. We’re looking at how they can get healthier soil, how they can keep water retention on their property. A lot of different methods that people just don’t think about when they look at land, but bringing value back into the smaller properties that they could use.John Harcar (13:34)
Okay, so we’ll.Mariah Casanova (13:34)
But our modelis large, I’m sorry, our model is large acreage lots. So we try to keep that model in the design method that we use.
John Harcar (14:25)
I looked on your website. There’s some really nice properties. There’s one with a really big lake. was looking at thinking about what kind of fish are in there. It seems like you have a really a passion for pretty much sustainability, right? Better use of the land, better use of the resources, maintaining it. Did all that is all that from your from your childhood or what really drives that part of your passion?Mariah Casanova (14:32)
Yes.You know,
I don’t know I I really I’ve asked myself a lot I I just feel like we have a responsibility. I when I came into this role
⁓ It was exciting. It was really cool. I wanted to learn how to buy land to invest in land. But then I started realizing we have a stewardship with the land. They’re not going to make any more. We as human beings are destroying it. I’ve always felt very strongly about the ecosystem of our world. I truly believe that we’re not necessarily handling our resources correctly. And then
you know, it really comes down to what is, what are my kids gonna, I have two kiddos, what are my kids gonna have to deal with if we continue to consume the way we do? my desire has always been there in that, but now that I got this new found land opportunity, I love talking to people about the possibilities of what they could do and how they could actually help their environment. So I work with a lot of people.
John Harcar (15:29)
Mm-hmm.Mariah Casanova (15:51)
In Austin, especially like the Walberg area, it’s a district of Georgetown that are really concerned with water and just different businesses coming in that really don’t care about the land. And I work with them to see how we can develop more responsibly because right now these high density developments, while they’re wonderful and they provide homes to people, they’re not really as meaningful and they definitely aren’t thinking aboutthe environment that they’re coming into and how it’s affecting it. So Texas is beautiful and there’s so much land, but if we don’t watch out how our urban centers grow, we’re going to be in a really bad spot.
John Harcar (16:18)
no.Yeah, I’m in Idaho and I see the exact same thing. It’s like, it’s gorgeous. And then now you see all these developments everywhere. ⁓ So what is something for you over the time of your business or different business? What are a couple of things or key, key things that keep you going? Like, what are your keys to success?
Mariah Casanova (16:37)
Mm-hmm.⁓
So we have set up a really great calling system and we do that through helping, it’s really information and it’s education. So if somebody calls in, we take the time to actually explain the process. And if you do that, it really gives people a comfortability, but it also helps them to feel empowered. And so when they call into us, we schedule a time with them
and we kind of take them through like, where are you at with this process? And how can we get to the finish line of your dream? That’s been a really big turning point for me is understanding kind of where people are in their process. The other thing that really makes us successful is having a really good team of people ready to go on the phone. real estate agents can implement that, land or residential, it’s
It’s so much better. There’s so many real estate agents that I call trying to get a showing and they don’t answer the phone. so they’re doing a disservice. It’s unbelievable. And they’re doing a disservice to the buyer that wants to buy the land, but they’re doing a disservice ultimately to their seller. And so by putting a really simple practice in mind, there’s so many virtual assistants now. There’s so many people that want to work from home, have them answer the phone, get the basic details. It has changed the game.
John Harcar (17:41)
They don’t answer the phone.Which is beyond me. Yeah.
Mm-mm.
Mariah Casanova (18:05)
So we hadn’t, I hadn’t done that before in my career and it made a big difference to have somebody on the phone at all times 24 seven. That’s right.John Harcar (18:11)
Speed to speed to lead. That’s the name of thegame is faster. can get you know you want to make sure you help them as soon as you possibly can because they’re calling other people too. Yeah.
Mariah Casanova (18:20)
That’s correct.And then the last thing that I would say that has opened my eyes dramatically is the quality of your marketing. And everybody knows that, you know, when you’re selling something, if you don’t know, if they don’t know what the product is, which ultimately it’s, is the land or the home and they don’t know what it feels like to walk inside. They don’t know it’s the essence of the home. It’s the essence of the land. And so,
our biggest challenge is to get people to desire to even just see the property. And so I think that’s, ⁓ we do that through drones. We do that through really like good pictures of the land, trying to give perspective. If they can feel and they can even smell the clean air around, you know, it’s like fresh cut grass. it’s like, get people out.
John Harcar (19:07)
Yeah.Mariah Casanova (19:10)
to the property and that’s changed the game for us as well is getting, asking them can we get a showing going for you because I can talk to you about it all day, the trees are beautiful out here, the grass is native, it’s perfect for cows, unless they go and see it they’re not gonna be able to understand so.John Harcar (19:26)
Now you got me wanting to be out and buying some land. ⁓ Now you got my mind in the mountains. I’ve always wanted mountain land. Yeah, big time. Yeah, I’m working towards it. So if there’s folks on here that are in ⁓ your area that maybe want to talk to you about land, maybe look at some land, maybe they’re going to go on your website, which we’ll put in the notes and all that, how do they get in touch with you? What’s the best way to reach out?Mariah Casanova (19:29)
That’s right. Everyone needs it. that’s awesome. Make it happen, right?so I would go to landhomestexas.com. So that website link is really a good place to call us. It’ll have a phone number on there. they can book a showing, whatever it is. But, I also have, an ins I have Facebook presence. have Facebook presence, ⁓ Mariah Casanova. and we do this all over Texas. So if we can help people implement it, we work with heritage homesteads that
They’re worried about their neighbors having a development come in and buy their stuff. We do work with investors as well. It’s a great opportunity to build a compound, build somebody’s dream area. If I can work with more people like that, the design element is really, really a beautiful process.
John Harcar (20:18)
Mm-hmm.I love it. And we’ll put all your information in the show notes. One last piece of advice you want to leave for anybody maybe looking to get into land, either selling or buying.
Mariah Casanova (20:41)
Just do it. Literally make it happen for yourself. I mean, I’ve worked with some buyers that it was so cool. got to work with this lady that she wants an equestrian place for rescue horses. And no joke, this lady was so adamant. She worked her butt off to work with lenders, to work with figuring out what the equestrian center needed to look like. And she was a simple…⁓ country girl and she just said I’ve always wanted to have land. Literally just do it. Get on podcasts like or get listen to podcasts. Listen to every single bit of land buying. It really is so cool to help somebody build their dream out but ultimately you can lead a horse to water right? You can’t make them drink. So they have to be really thirsty but just just do it.
John Harcar (21:26)
Yep. Yep.I love it, man. I love it. Well, Mariah, thank you so much for coming on the show. Guys, I hope that you all got some great value. If you’re in the area in the Austin or Texas area, reach out if you have any interest in buying and or have some land to sell. Mariah, thank you again. And guys, I hope you enjoyed the show. Cheers. You as well.
Mariah Casanova (21:50)
Thank you, John. God bless
