Thread by @Levijameshere

In 2001 I decided it was time to go big and try and raise $600k for my first raw-land development deal.

I was 20 and knew literally nothing.

I wrote a 🧵 about how that circus went down. 👇

The deal was a 7.2-acre farmland tract that I had in contract for $530,000. My plan was to subdivide the land into 33 single family residential lots and to sell it to one of the big builders in the area.

Through a friend I found out about Rick, an "eccentric and super wealthy" investor who agreed to give me an hour to pitch my deal"

I was completely out of my depth, and figured I would have better luck if I brought my 7-and-a-half-month pregnant wife with me to the meeting.

We loaded up our light blue Toyota Echo and a stack of MapQuest pages to guide us along the way and headed to San Francisco for the meeting.

We pulled up to the address and saw that it was to a bar with a bunch of rainbow flags outside called Moby Dick. It was 11 AM and didn’t quite make sense why we would be meeting here, but this was the right address, so we found a place to park and made our way inside.

As soon as we walked through the door we were greeted by Rick, the most wonderfully joyful and effusive person I had ever met. He was bubbly and excited to meet us in a way that immediately put us both at ease.

Have a seat dear ones, he said as he hugged and kissed both me and my wife several times. “I know you won’t be drinking.” He said as he gestured to her stomach. “But it’s already getting late so the two of us are going to get started.”!

He flagged over the waiter, a large hairy man with a boyish smile in a pink mini skirt. She will have your best ice water and the two of us are going to start with Grey Goose Vodka, straight up, shaken, with an olive. And, make those doubles sweetie.

My wife and I had both grown up in ultra-conservative families and so this whole thing felt like something out of the twilight zone. On top of that, I wasn't yet legally able to drink.

"I... Uh, Can't" I said after he ordered for me. "I am not 21 yet." "Don't be silly" He said. "You are with me, I make the rules around here!"

“Now, show me your spreadsheet!” He said as he leaned in and grabbed my hand across the table. “I want to learn eevvverything!” I began to stutter and stammer. “I, uh… I don’t have one” I said, almost unable to get the words out of my mouth.

“Well then, tell me about the deal!” He replied, somehow unshaken by my terrible start to the meeting that I was already sure would be a failure.

Our drinks arrived and having never had anything more than a sip of beer with friends behind the gas station, I thought that mine had somehow been swapped out for cough syrup. I politely pretended to drink while I started my pitch.

I had been obsessively learning about the market and excited to share how I was in contract for a price far below value and was confident that the city would grant my request to subdivide. Once I got going, I found I was nearly hyperventilating as I tried to form the words.

About three minutes into the explanation Rick grabbed my hand again as if asking me to pause. He smiled as he turned to my wife and said. “Does he get this excited when you two are in bed too? I bet he didn’t last long when he put that thing in you, did he?”

"You should see him clean the house!" She replied, somehow remaining calm and collected while I was next to her losing my mind. "Once he starts cleaning he doesn't stop until it's all done"

I was speechless, but thankfully he was gracious and asked me to start again. “Keep going, just slower this time” He said.

After about 20 minutes of struggling my way through my unrehearsed presentation I was done. “What do you think” I said. “Do you want to invest in this project?”

He was beaming from ear to ear. I think my little over the top show was the most entertaining thing he had seen in a while.

“I don’t want to invest in your project because I don't understand it. But I do understand people like you, and I want to invest in you. I will invest the full $600,000 that you need.

He proceeded to pull a wrinkled piece of lined paper out of his backpack, he smoothed it out and started to write the terms. He would take 50% of the profit plus a 10% preferred return on his investment.

We both signed at the bottom of the page, and he then pulled out his checkbook and started to write out a check. My eyes nearly fell out of my head as I saw him write S I X H U N D R E D T H O U S A….

The car ride back home was a blur, I was floating on the clouds, hardly able to contain myself with joy. I knew that I had messed up the presentation bad, but I also knew that I had a chance to redeem myself. I would not let him down.

The next morning I deposited the check that somehow wasn’t fake like I thought it would be and closed on the property two weeks later. After 9 months of high intensity learning I got it done. We sold for $2.7M to KB Homes.

Over the next 20 years I would buy and develop more than $400M in real estate deals as GP. Rick invested in many of those deals. A year ago I sold all my residential properties and founded Harbor Capital. We invest in Class B Industrial in Texas.