Fewer Details, More Mindset

Transcript: 

Jack Butala:                       Jack Butala with Jill DeWitt.

Jill DeWitt:                         Good day.

Jack Butala:                       Welcome to our show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about how fewer details, and more big picture mindset, is going to get you where you need to be. Before we get into it though, let's take a question posted by one of members on the LandInvestors.Com, online community. It's free.

Jill DeWitt:                         This question ties in perfectly to what I'm talking about today. Pete asked, "The vesting deed reads, "Lazy KV Estates, block gg, lot 4C, $250." On the investor's website they have it written, for the legal description as, Lazy KV Estates, filing number three, block gg, lot 4C, containing 3.5 acres, rec number...You guys get the picture, FKA, frequently known as lots four, five, six."

Jack Butala:                       Fascinating stuff.

Jill DeWitt:                         "Any advice on which one I should use? Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered. It's my first deal," key there. "So I'm a little nervous about making a mistake."

Jack Butala:                       All right. You get a free pass, Pete, cuz it's your first deal.

Jill DeWitt:                         Right. So number one; don't get hung up on details. Number two; the vesting deed, to me, looks wrong because the $250. We never have dollar amounts on properties, what we paid. Jack, I know, is going to explain more on that so, do you want to jump in here first?

Jack Butala:                       Go ahead.

Jill DeWitt:                         All right.

Jack Butala:                       Let's answer the question; which one should we use.

Jill DeWitt:                         The assessors website legal description.

Jack Butala:                       I disagree. I love when we disagree about some of this stuff.

Jill DeWitt:                         Really?

Jack Butala:                       Yeah.

Jill DeWitt:                         I'm not gonna put that 250 bucks on there.

Jack Butala:                       Here's why. We all know, Jill's right, by the way. Jill's right. The assessor's database has a correct legal description, but the recorder, if they review it at all, is really gonna have a lot to say about the legal description not matching the vesting deed. So the answer is this. Jill and I are both right. Call the recorder, and ask them.

Jill DeWitt:                         Make sure.

Jack Butala:                       The right way to do it is the actual legal description from the database. But there could be some confusion depending on how the recorder feels about it.

Jill DeWitt:                         The bottom line is Pete, whoever did that vesting deed, clearly did it wrong.

Jack Butala:                       That's right. That's exactly right.

Jill DeWitt:                         That's where the confusion started. Whoever did the deed, obviously it's like they made up some of their own information, and why they added the money on there is weird. You never do that. I have never in my life seen a vesting deed, or a deed of any kind, that has a dollar amount in a legal description. That's not what that's for too. The legal description is to describe where the property is. That's really what it is. It's a technical term, and sometimes legal descriptions will be like this; they'll have a size in there. They will have a subdivision name, and a lot, and that information, and sometimes they go way back to meets and bounds. Or they'll even go to; beginning at this tree on this hill, if you really want to go way back. That used to be how they described them in some situations; 40 paces to this rock, to this corner, to that.

Jack Butala:                       In Texas, it's all based on where the railroad tracks are agrily. It's not a meets and bounds state.