Accounting for Land Investors 2025

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Accounting for Land Investing is complicated—Let’s make it simpler

The next class starts Thursday, January 2, 2025 

Are you ready to take control over your land investing accounting? In this master class training program, you will learn how we have accounted for over 5,000 land transactions. 

 

SESSION #1

  • Setup your online accounting system
  • Setup your Chart of Accounts
  • Setup Tracking Categories
  • Making a land purchase

SESSION #2

  • Making a cash sale
  • Making a terms sale
  • Making land arbitrage sales

 

 

SESSION #3

  • Setup your online accounting system
  • Setup your Chart of Accounts
  • Setup Tracking Categories
  • Making a land purchase

SESSION #4

  • Bank Reconciliation & Automation
  • Paying Commissions
  • Paying Property Taxes
  • Dealer v. Investor
  • Handling Zero Percent Interest Loan
  • Cool Tax Planning Opportunities and Issues
  • Coming Soon – Land Arb Accounting

 

More about the Course

One of the most challenging parts of any business is the accounting. After all, accounting is the language of business.

When starting my land investing journey, I struggled with accounting for the more complicated transactions. For example, the accounting in a traditional real estate investment transaction is very straightforward.

Let’s say you purchased a house with the intent to flip it; you buy the home for $100,000 and then sell it for $120,000. The accounting is simple: you made $20,000.

Let’s apply a similar example to land, but you sell it with owner financing instead of flipping it. In this case, you buy the land for $5,000 and sell it for $20,000. However, you receive the funds over time because of the owner’s financing. You might receive $500 down and then $325 monthly over 60 months.

While your profit is $15,000, you earn it over the sixty-month term of the loan, which makes accounting for this type of transaction more complicated. You see, the last thing you want to do is report that you made $15,000 on your tax return when you sold the land.

Doing that would require you to pay the tax on the profit in year one, even though you earn it over the loan term.
Ask most accountants, and they will tell you that’s just how it is, but they are incorrect.

My accounting degree told me there was a better way. I spent months researching the exact method needed to ensure that we account for these types of transactions (and more) accurately and in compliance with the IRS rules and the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

This knowledge and research are the cornerstones of accounting for land investors.

And this isn’t some untested pipedream. Countless CPAs have reviewed the concepts taught in Accounting for Land Investors, and even Partners at large Big Four Accounting firms have confirmed this approach is correct.

Some CPAs have taken this class and use these concepts in their practice.

WHY DO YOU NEED THIS CLASS?

 

Here’s Why!

Accounting is one of those things we think about at the end of the year.

Then, you take your books to your accountant or CPA and hope they know what they are doing.

The land investing business is different, and you need a solid foundation of the fundamentals to explain to your CPA how to handle it properly.

This class will arm you with the facts to understand what your accountant is thinking or not thinking about.

Let’s face it: Accountants and CPAs can’t and don’t know everything, and this class will give you the knowledge to speak the language they can understand.

Learning these strategies will put you ahead of the curve in building a solid foundation for your land investing business.

Why not invest a few hours of quality time in yourself with me to learn strategies and the language you need to ensure your Accountant or CPA doesn’t lead you astray?

 

How this class is structured

This class combines recorded material with live sessions. When you register, you will gain access to the first module, Fundamentals. This module covers the accounting basics you will need in the class.

Beginning on Thursday, January 2, 2025, you will gain access to another week’s lessons each Thursday for four weeks.

Each Wednesday, beginning January 8, 2025, for four weeks. Scott Todd will lead the session and answer your questions. He will also share insights into how his team manages close to 1,500 loans. Nothing is off the table; ask away.

Here is the schedule

Battle-tested and CPA-approved!

 

Accounting for Land Investors is Battle-tested.

Our accounting system isn’t theory; it’s a battle-tested fortress. Imagine having a solid financial strategy that even the challenging IRS audits couldn’t shake it. That’s what we offer. Our methods have stood the test of time and scrutiny, ensuring that what you learn isn’t just good in theory but exceptional in practice.

Endorsed by Countless CPAs: The Experts Agree!

We know that the best stamp of approval comes from experts. That’s why we’re proud to say countless Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) have given our accounting strategies their thumbs up. These financial wizards have seen it all, and they confirm our methods are not just correct; they’re the gold standard.

 

 

Accounting for Land Investors Reviews

“Very helpful course and saves me quite a bit of time in research and having to monkey around in xero to find things. One question. Is there an accounting or legal reason why you pay the property taxes instead of forwarding the invoices to the terms buyer and having them pay the taxes directly to the county? Or is it that you want to make sure the taxes get paid and don’t want to rely on the terms buyer to do it? Also one suggestion. It would be interesting and helpful to see what automation/zaps you have set up with xero, as I’m always looking for more ideas. Thanks.

By gary wilson

“I hesitated a year in taking this class as I didn’t have the money in the business starting up. That was a big mistake. I am now going through a painful migration between accounting systems to put in place the installment method. Lesson learned upfront investment in education would have saved a lot of effort now. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone who does not have accounting figured out. This course spells it out really well.”

By James Wollmer

Consistant with expectations from previous classes like Flight School. It has been worthwhile.

By LaMar Bunts

This was my second time and I’d pay for it again. You do a great job Scott! Very helpful even for accountants. 🙂

By Amy Breazele

I found the class to be very helpful. Full of great information on not just the correct accounting for land transactions but also tax tips. I would definitely recommend this class to other land investors. I got exactly what I wanted out of this class, it met all expectations I had going in. Thanks Scott!

By Jesse Ashbrook

The class provided critical information for getting the most out of your business. One takeaway – If you don’t set up accounting right in the beginning, you will end up with a large tax bill at the end of the year. Then you will go back and rework all your accounting to show that you didn’t really receive all that money yet (especially with terms sales). It will be a lot more work and very confusing to figure out… or you can just take the class and do it right the first time. Invaluable information if you intend to continue in this business. Thanks Scott for this and all the other instructions you provided!!!

By Stephanie Naquin

I thought the class was very beneficial and I am very glad that I took it. I am not sure how long or painful it might be if we didn’t take this class but I imagine it would be significant? I really appreciated that it was broke out into five separate sessions. I can see some real value there just because it is just so much information and it would be too much all at once. I appreciate the value of the facebook group as well for questions as we move forward, so overall I just think it is an incredibly valuable class and very necessary quite frankly if you want to have things in order from the start. I really liked the flow and content of the class so thank you very much. Great job, thanks so much for putting it together!

By Adrian Petrillo