JF 4052: Creative Deals, Investor Trust and Land Strategy ft. Clay Hepler

The Best Ever CRE Show

Best Ever CRE

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 996 Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this week’s episode of Best Ever CRE Show, Ash Patel interviews Clay Hepler. Clay shares his unconventional path from aspiring ambassador and multifamily investor to becoming a full-time land investor, scaling his business to 15–20 deals a month. He explains why land is less competitive than other asset classes, how he uses creative marketing to target different demographics, and how subdividing and entitling land can unlock outsized returns. Clay also reflects on mistakes, including a nightmare deal in Tennessee, and why transparency, due diligence, and aligning with investors are at the core of his approach. Clay HeplerCurrent role: Real Estate Investor and Founder of Hepler HoldingsBased in: Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaSay hi to them at: https://clayhepler.io LinkedIn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clayhepler/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRqMuZhXAMuzNI-pZjYAGFg Challenge: https://clayhepler.io/landman-challenge/ Try Gusto today at gusto.com/CRE , and get three months free when you run your first payroll. This is a limited time offer, so head over to aspenfunds.us/bestever to download the investor deck—or grab their quick-start guide if you’re brand new to oil and gas investing. Get 50% Off Monarch Money, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarchmoney.com with code BESTEVER Join the Best Ever Community The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria. Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at ⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠ Podcast production done by ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You've probably noticed this. Despite all the headlines about record investment in renewables,
0:04.8	the world still runs on oil. In fact, demand keeps climbing. But here's what most investors don't
0:10.8	realize. A lot of institutional capital has actually pulled back from oil and gas because of
0:15.8	ESG mandates and political pressure. That's created a huge gap in production and a big opportunity for
0:22.1	individual investors. That's where Aspen's oil and gas fund comes in. Their last fund has
0:27.4	delivered six straight quarters of 15% annualized cash yield from producing oil wells. With their
0:33.3	current fund, they're targeting 29% cash on cash returns in over 10 years and 8.83 times equity
0:39.9	multiple. I've personally been impressed with the way Aspen approaches a space balancing the
0:45.1	stability of producing wells with the upside of carefully selected drilling projects. And here's a
0:50.7	bonus for best ever listeners. Aspen has lowered their minimum investment from $150,000
0:55.8	down to $100,000. One of their investors, Terry, put it best. We were new to oil and gas
1:02.1	investing and quickly found Aspen's approach sound. We've been very satisfied with the experience
1:07.6	and delighted with the returns. This is a limited time offer, so head over to
1:11.9	Aspenfunds.us.U.S.Ford slash best ever to download the investor deck or grab their
1:17.7	quick start guide if you're brand new to oil and gas investing. Best ever listeners, let's go.
1:24.1	This is Ash Patel. Today's episode is with Clayton Heppler.
1:29.0	He's known as the Landman.
1:31.1	Really cool episode.
1:32.3	He's going to teach us how to make money with land entitlements and flips.
1:36.4	He's got a pretty cool marketing strategy to get off market deals.
1:40.1	And instead of flipping, he's going to show us how to get massive returns with land entitlements,
1:46.0	and he does this all remotely from Pennsylvania.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Best Ever CRE, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Best Ever CRE and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.